/ - New chapter.

Hope you enjoy.

It's a Wednesday afternoon in the Xiao-Long-Rose household. School has just ended, and two young, academically fatigued students have taken to lounging about, as expected.

"That... is so much better." A tired yet fire-spirited girl gasps a sigh of joy, flopping onto cool sofa fabric, having just removed her third pair of denims and swapping them for a looser pair of sport shorts. "Sweet relief."

Once the time had come when Yang was no longer required to wear the demons that wrapped her legs, she had darted to her bedroom as casually but quickly as possible, thrown them off, and hurried for anything that didn't endanger the precious blood supply her legs so dearly needed. She had had a rough few days, each one requiring she wear jeans for the benefit of warmth, and while they did their job very well, Yang was growing sick of them.

Ruby glances at her sister with an amused look, still wearing her own. "You're really not good with jeans."

"I hate the things." She stretches her legs out, soothing the skin with a few quick rubs. "Squeeze the life out of me. Pretty sure they're making my butt smaller, too."

"Maybe they don't fit you?"

"Maybe." She pushes trapped hair out from behind her head, and a cool breeze of air rushes past her neck. "But I can't be bothered to buy any new ones." Nor could she exactly expense it.

"Because you'd never wear them?"

"Yeah..." She tilts her head to look at her sister. "You hungry?"

Ruby shakes her head, still typing away on her phone.

"Alright." She mutters to herself, taking ease in her duty to do nothing. She also takes advantage in the short absence of Tai, and props her feet up on the intricate birch-glass coffee table opposite her couch. "Who're you taking to?"

"No-one."

"Hm." That can only mean one other thing. "Looking at cars?"

An ephemeral smile flashes on her sister's face. "Maybe."

"Ahem. Feet off the table." Tai emerges from the kitchen doorway, and despite his distance immediately locks onto what he doesn't like about Yang's setup. "Who knows where they've been."

She shifts her feet reluctantly. "Who knows where your coffee table's been."

"I clean that thing every week, and so does your mother." He kneels behind the couch Ruby sits on, peering over the top. "Have some respect."

As he looks down to his youngest daughter, sat in-front of him and clued out, there are scrolling images of cars and vast lists of numbers and designations that go by so fast he wonders how Ruby even keeps up. He fiddles with a strand of black-red hair lovingly. "How's my tame racing driver doing?"

The girl shifts her head forward in embarrassment, though her face shows a melted smile, and the strand of hair in Tai's hold slips. "I'm fine..."

"Buying yourself a car now, are you?"

"No." She shifts in her seat. "Just looking."

Yang, taking advantage of being on the subject of cars and the fact she actually has a driving license, tries her own luck. "Can I get a car, dad?"

"Nope." He shoots it down quickly, and looks at Yang apologetically. "Bad investment."

Violet eyes aren't convinced. "It just isn't though."

"Yang, you have a metro pass. You don't need a car." He narrows his eyes with a smirk. "Here's an anecdote from an adult who actually drives around the area you'd be going; you'd go about... two miles, and then get stuck in traffic. That's it."

She's hit the same stump Weiss served her the other day, but she recalls an objection she'd manifested a while later and tries it now. "Fine then, how about a motorbike? You can just go through it all down the middle of the road. Problem solved." Yang's logic is sound, but she forgets she's talking to her father.

He scoffs in disbelief. "There is no way you're having a bike." Deathtraps. "Just save your money, Yang. Don't throw away your trust fund on a car."

Tai shakes his head at his oldest's attitude, attending to the nagging thought in his mind that he was here to say something else.

Oh, right.

"Oh, there was actually something I was going to tell you two." He stands up, leaning on arms that are planted on the back of the couch. "Qrow's been organising a Christmas 'party', it's a family thing - so you two are absolutely invited, no questions asked." He tilts his head. "It's also happening here, so there's no escaping it anyway." Thinking to the back of his mind, he pulls a date forward. "Think it's happening on the 23rd, which is this Sunday."

Yang fiddles somewhat unsurely with a loose string of white fabric that dangles from her t-shirt. "How much of a family thing?"

"Whole family." He nods. "So, Raven is coming too."

The fiddling stops, and Yang's hand comes to run through her hair. "Well, that sounds like a great idea."

"Don't be so pessimistic, alright? It's Christmas."

The younger girl on the other couch speaks up, bringing a more innocent touch to the conversation. "Does mom like Raven?"

Tai makes a strained look behind Ruby, pulling at his t-shirt collar jokingly, eliciting a snort from Yang. "Well... did I ever tell you they used to be best friends?"

"You've never told us that." The blonde in the corner hums sarcastically. He's brought it up many times, but it doesn't really answer Ruby's question of current affairs. "I presume that was until you came into the picture?"

Tai makes a jestful scowl at Yang, who only smiles back. Ruby, still engrossed by four-wheel-drive sports cars, doesn't notice the exchange, and her dad ruffles a hand through her hair. "Don't tell them I said that, alright?."

Ruby nods, finally looking up from her phone, bending her neck all the way back to look straight up at him. "Can you make me something to eat?"

He's taken aback slightly by the quickly shifting attention-span, but he takes the request willingly. "Uh, sure, what do you want?"

She shrugs. "Just whatever there is."

'Whatever'. Tai can work with that. "You got it." He turns on a heel with an embarrassing show of finger guns, heading for the kitchen.

Yang whines from her lax seating. "I just asked if you were hungry, Rubes."

"Well, I wasn't back then."

"That was less than five minutes ago." She frowns in jest. "You don't like my cooking?"

Remembering his other daughter, Tai peers around the kitchen doorway, cutting her off in the process. "You want anything, Yang?"

She only waves him off in response, sighing. "I'm fine."

"...yeah, Ren's going on holiday for the full two weeks, which means, alas, I will be all alone."

"Where's he going?"

"He's visiting his family."

"Are you going to be okay?"

A laugh rattles the connection down the phone. "Of course I'm going to be alright, dummy. I was... y'know, in a home, for three years, and Ren's been on holiday before. No need to worry for the almighty Nora."

"Well, if you ever need to speak to someone, or somewhere to sleep, you can always come to mine, you know." Jaune smiles at Nora's unwavering optimism. "We should have a free couch or two."

Jaune felt genuinely sorry for Nora. She's a joyous, bouncy girl who's full of the spirit of life, but somehow her life story was both the opposite and gruesomely complicated. To put it softly, and as far as she had shared, she lost both her parents at twelve from a car-crash, which, with no immediate next of kin, had launched her into foster care, which in itself only led to being juggled between homes and different people. An equally traumatic experience.

It made sense then that, once she was fifteen, sick of it all and wanting a new start, she had taken the immediate opportunity of an academy education by throwing everything she had at earning a place at Beacon.

Which was both a blessing and wise choice on her part, because not only did she meet Ren during the process, her now roommate and seemingly soulmate, but upon acceptance, Beacon provides a bursary care fund for 'disadvantaged' students, which carries all the way until you could make it into university. For Nora, that meant financial support, guaranteed on-site living space if she ever needed it, and legal representation that permit her to things a teenager normally wouldn't have.

But, being Nora, she had decided to go further, and between acting on her legal benefits, part-time jobs and equal effort from Ren, who found himself in a similar position by having to leave his family behind to benefit from his own acceptance into Beacon, she had managed to land herself a two-bedroom, cosy apartment in the city.

Which made Jaune a bit jealous.

The apartment, that is.

He can almost hear her own smile in the voice that comes whistling down the other line. "You're so sweet."

"Are you ever going to meet Ren's parents?"

There's a sharp silence for a moment. "I dunno."

"Nora..."

"I don't know!" She laughs, but it's slightly nervous. "Don't ask me stuff like that."

Jaune only sniggers, and Nora whispers something about him shutting his mouth.

Jaune plays with the clean duvet that he sits on, but Nora pipes up soon after. "Hey, a little birdie told me you're going to Pyrrha's on Saturday."

He nods, even though Nora can't see it. "Yeah, we're doing revision for the practice exams after Christmas."

"Are you?"

She's always pushed Jaune and Pyrrha together, and as much as it makes Jaune it uncomfortable, he's noticed it bothers Pyrrha too, so he tries to deflate her attempts as much as he can. "Yes, Nora."

"Alright..." He can hear her smile again. "I'll take your word for it."

He flips the subject quickly. "Did you know she had a brother?"

"Oh, yeah." Nora's tone is proud. "She told me a while back."

Jaune blows air from his mouth. "I only just found out, inadvertently at that."

"Well, that's sisters before misters for you."

Jaune rolls his eyes. "Have you met him?"

"Nope. I did see him at the park last week, though."

"Are you sure it was him?"

"Jaune, he had red hair, green eyes, and he was tall. Who else could possibly have those genes?" A knock sounds from Nora's end of the line, interrupting her. "Oh! Um, that must be our pizza, I'll talk to you tomorrow."

The boy clears his throat, nodding out-of-view once more. "Alright, see-ya."

"Bye~."

The call goes dead with a beep, and Jaune sits with the phone held same for a moment. He had hoped to be speaking to her for a while longer, sitting at home got boring, but she clearly had her own plans and he wasn't going to ruin them. He throws his phone to the end of his bed in defeat, flops backwards, and though he remains oblivious, his head just narrowly misses the wall it sits against. He huffs a worn breath from his lungs, gazing at the flat white paint-job that adorns his ceiling in boredom.

Just as he opts to lie there and hopefully drift to sleep, his phone buzzes again, persisting in the rhythmic style of an incoming call. He leans over and swipes it up, taking note of the name.

'Yang'

"Hello?"

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Hey."

There's a break of silence, and Jaune has to restart his brain.

He clears his throat. "Uh... you called me?"

"Yeah, yeah." Yang pauses for a moment. "So, me and Ruby are taking Zwei for a walk when our mom gets home, which'll be at around five. You wanna come with us?"

He perks up at the offer. "Sure, anything to get me out of the house."

"Great. Park at ten past, alright?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Sweet. Don't be late - Zwei waits for no man."

When ten minutes past five comes finally around, the forecast has improved and there's a generous showing of unclouded winter sun that helps to keep the air warm.

Jaune turns a corner around a mossed brick wall, one of many in this park, when he finally spots his three accomplices. Ruby, standing next to a bench across which Yang is laid length-ways along, seemingly sunbathing, spots him almost immediately, and she greets him with a beaming smile and a wave. She mutters something to her sister, who darts up and throws the sunglasses from her head, revealing surprised eyes.

She leans down to the floor from her seated position to reclaim them as Jaune waves back, and she calls out with an impressed look. "You're on time."

Jaune holds his words back until he's in speaking distance of the two, but he returns her look with an offended one of his own. "Yeah, of course I am." Yang returns the shades to her head, pushing them up to sit atop it. "Why are you wearing sunglasses?"

She gestures to the sky. "It's sunny."

He chuckles through his words. "Yang, it's winter." He looks to her clothing, and she's even dressed in a pair of sport shorts. "You're dressed for summer."

"It's warm, my phone says it's fourteen degrees out." She stretches her back that's grown stiff from the wood of the bench. "If it's above ten, then it's warm enough to wear clothes I actually like."

Jaune looks to Ruby, who's dressed in a red raincoat, t-shirt and jeans, and she returns his disbelief with a shrug. "I don't get her either." She speaks to the both of them. "But Zwei's getting antsy, so we'd better get moving." The lead she holds onto jangles with anticipation as the dog of the hour paces back and forth.

Yang clears her throat and stands up. "Alright." She pats Jaune on the back, egging him onwards. "Forward march, then."

Yang and Jaune are set near a different, more comfortable bench that sits near to the edge of a small lake that's decorated with patchy gatherings of vegetation and debris, but holds a clear stretch of water down the middle that the two are throwing stones across.

"My family are having some Christmas get-together on Sunday."

"Oh yeah?"

Violet eyes are slightly dim. "Yeah."

"What's up with that? Sounds like fun."

A widening of eyes indicates Yang feels different about it. "Well, Raven's coming too."

Jaune looks at her for a moment, but he still doesn't see the problem that she does. "I thought you two were on good terms?"

"Yeah, we are. But I'm sure there's going to be some problem anyway."

"You're one-hundred percent certain?"

She nods.

"Yang, come-on, you can't predict the future."

She smirks cruelly. "Yeah, but I can know my own mother enough to know what'll happen." There's a shrug, and a coursing of stress brings forward more words. "And even if she isn't the problem, there's plenty of broiling drama there just incase."

"There is?"

She rolls her eyes. "Raven was with my dad, then she had me, then she bolted. Then my dad got with Summer, she had Ruby, and now there's going to be a Christmas party with all of us fifteen years on. And if that isn't enough, Raven and Summer used to be best friends."

"That last one sounds more like a good thing."

"How?"

"Because there's more to link them than the fact they were with your dad at some point. If they were best friends, then they'll have plenty of other history together, right?"

She fiddles with another small stone. "I guess."

Jaune holds his confident tone. "Yeah, so no problem."

"Okay, well my mom's a chronic anti-social, how is she going to manage?"

"She'll manage fine." He throws his stone, but it doesn't quite make the distance Yang set earlier. "She's with her family, half of whom are her childhood friends."

Yang tongues the side of her mouth, trying to find a new problem she can pity over than Jaune won't stamp out. "Alright, well what am I going to do? I'm going to be bored stiff."

He shrugs. "You could come to mine if you want." But as the words leave his mouth, he thinks to his sisters. "No. No, maybe don't come to mine." He ponders for a moment. "You could go to Blake's. You go to hers all the time, right?"

"My dad says I'm obliged to stay." She launches the stone as far as she can into the lake. "No way I'm getting out of it."

Jaune sighs in fatigue of the discussion, searching for a more aerodynamic stone in the floor of many that lay at his feet. "Stop worrying about it, Yang." He picks out a stone that's curved and gray. "If it's really so bad, you can call me when it's over and tell me you told me so." He launches it into the lake. "And if it's actually good, you can thank your lucky stars I was right."

Yang can't help but smile at him, and she bites her tongue in between her teeth to stifle a laugh. She shakes her head. "Alright. I'll trust in you, then." She jabs a finger at him. "But if it really does turn sour, then it's over for you."

Having watched his stone once again not breach Yang's record, Jaune flops down onto the similarly old bench the two are stood infront of. He smiles at her in a glance. "Whatever you say."

Taking pleasure in his capitulation, Yang takes a seat next to the boy and flicks her own stone at him. It hits his neck at a glance, eliciting a momentary glare of blue. "What're your plans for the holiday, then?"

"Well..." He leans back into the bench, although it doesn't exactly mould to his form. "I'll be putting your money to good use for a start."

Yang licks her lips in amusement. "Right. Thinking of buying me anything?"

Jaune shakes his head in a mocking solemn. "I'm afraid you aren't factored into my financial calculations."

She scoffs. "Well, it's good to see how much you value our relationship."

"I apologise, dearest." He dons a regal expression. "And what were you going to buy me in return for the vast amount of gifts I presumably bought for you?"

She shrugs, breaking Jaune's regal act with a cruder one of her own. "Nothing, I was just going to blow you the morning after as a thanks."

Jaune shakes his head in response. "Good one."

Yang snorts at him. "You know when a girl actually becomes sexually interested in you, what are you really going to do?" She makes a jolted motion. "Are you just going to freeze up like a tortoise and play dead until she leaves you alone?"

He runs his hand through locks of blonde awkwardly, moving bangs that had come loose in the wind from his face. "Very funny."

She tries a bit further. "Or is it just me? Are you secretly obsessed with me?"

He looks at her incredulously, still a dash pink. "You're the one that takes it too far. I would say you're obsessed with me."

"Well, I've got a real thing for blonde idiots then."

"Which is why you're so full of yourself, I presume?"

She narrows her eyes at him, but she's distracted by another sight.

Ruby, pink-faced and breathless, donning an energetic smile, comes striding down the stone path that encircles the lake. Zwei, without leash and seemingly just as exercised, comes darting between her legs, shifting to a pattering jog as he approaches the two blondes.

"Here she comes." Yang grins at Ruby, who comes to a stop a few feet away with a pant. She pushes hair from her face, and gives the two a thumbs-up. Yang looks to Zwei, who's now catching his own breath on the floor. "Been on a run?"

She smiles. "Mhm, me and Zwei did an entire lap of the park." The smiles falters slightly, and she makes a displeased look. "Then he saw a squirrel, and I kinda had to chase after him. Then I almost lost him... it was a whole thing." But the smile returns. "But we're both back! Happy and healthy."

Her sister nods. "I can tell. I guess you're ready to head home now?"

Ruby nods back, and Zwei opens his eyes at the mention of home. "Oh yeah, I'm exhausted."

"Jauney."

"Hm?" Looking up from his phone, Jaune is met with the face of Saphron, who is knelt beside the couch and peering over the arm against which Jaune rests.

"Listen, I know it's kinda late." She licks her lips. "But, do you... maybe... want me to get you something for Christmas?"

"What about our agreement?"

Right. The 'agreement'. A confidential pact that Jaune, Saphron, Violet and Lavender (the third oldest daughter of the Arc family) had all made to be as economically-efficient as possible during Christmas. They would all prioritise buying presents for solely their younger sisters, who are the most reliant upon the magic of Christmas and all, and thereby get the most 'bang for their buck.'

"Yeah, but..." She shrugs. "...I've still got some money left over. You sure you don't want anything?"

Jaune shakes his head with a smile. "I'm alright."

She bites her lip in thought. This meant she'd have to buy a present for Violet, given how benevolent Lavender was - she'd rather be found dead than taking up on Saph's offer. "How about we go to the cinema on Saturday then?"

He looks at her with amusement. "The cinema?"

Saphron nods slowly. "Yeah, you used to love going to the cinema with me."

"I'm seventeen now, Saph."

She scoffs. "Oh, you're too good for me now, are you?"

The boy shakes his head at her. "Well, I can't anyway, I'm busy on Saturday."

"Since when? What are you doing?"

"I'm uh..." Jaune regrets revealing his schedule. "...just going to a friend's house."

Saphron coos, lowering her voice. "Someone giving you an early Christmas present?"

"No." He frowns at her. "We're just doing some revision for the practice exams after the holidays."

Saphron pouts. "Hmm." She shrugs. "Alright, well I hope you have fun." She stands from her knelt positions slowly, wincing slightly at the discomfort in her knees. "And don't worry, I won't tell Violet."

Jaune widens his eyes, a small rush of anxiety hitting him at the idea. He swallows. "Thanks."