#or nero

Neopolitan knew there was a problem the second she woke up next to somebody.

The fact that she woke up next to somebody being that problem.

Rolling off the bed, she landed as quietly as she could.

Normally, that would be really really quiet, being just a hair bigger than the average ten year old; instead she clattered onto the floor. Her head bonked against the floor and her vision turned yellow.

Shaking her head, she realized that it was hair blocking her vision. She grabbed the blonde locks and pulled them aside.

“Jaune?” A sleepy voice asked from the bed.

Neopolitan froze.

“Jaune, what’s wrong?” The voice moved closer, someone under the covers. “Are you having trouble with your onesie again?”

Onesie? Neopolitan looked down. She wore a bright blue single piece pajama. What kind of moron wears a onesie?

The blanket fell off the bed and the hottest woman Neopolitan had ever seen sits up. “Hey, what's wrong, why are you being so quiet?”

Neopolitan lifts her hands but she smacked the nightstand, jamming her thumb. “Jessica Nigri, that fucking hurt.” She shook her hand, infusing her aura into it, but it glowed yellow, not pink. The shock of that killed her concentration and her aura fell.

“Jaune?” The redhead from the bed sood up, her face full of concern. “What happened, you never cuss like that.”

“I, uh, um,” Neopolitan mumbled, “sorry about that, miss, I didn’t mean to startle you.” Her new voice was a rich baritone. Not as nice as Roman’s voice, but really, she could talk again.

“Miss?” Warm hands encased Neopolitan face and she wanted to melt. “Did you hit your head again?”

“Well, yes,” Neopolitan said. An idea struck in her head. “Maybe if you kiss it, it’ll be all better?”

The woman laughed, a rich sound that Neopolitan wanted to hear again. “You goof.” She leaned forward and kissed her forehead, her nose, than her lips. “There, is that better?”

Neopolitan nodded, smiling. “Yes, yes it does.”

The hot woman grinned and sat down on the bed. “Come on, we have a test tomorrow, how about we get some sleep?”

While the idea of jumping into bed with this woman excited Neopolitan, the fact that she seemed to think Neopolitan was someone else bothered her.

Also she could talk again. Not with her hands, but with her mouth. If this was a dream - and it did not feel like a dream - Cinder’s dream kisses had no warmth to them; she still wanted to keep talking.

“How about we stay up and…” Neopolitan blanked on something to talk about. “...and talk about the test?”

The woman blinked. “You want to actually study?”

“...yes?” Neopolitan said. “We’re in school, right, why wouldn’t I want to study?”

“This is the sixth test we’ve had, and you’ve never study anything but ‘Swords and Dust’ magazines,” she said, shock in her voice. “I mean, I even made you flash cards. Do you want me to get them?”

“Sure, although I’m not sure how well I’ll do,” Neopolitan said, forcing out a laugh as she rubbed her hand on the back of her hair. Who ever this was, they had really smooth, silky hair.

“Wait right here.” The woman stood up, and walked towards a set of book bags. Neopolitan loved watching her go.

If this is that combat school, I’d let her beat me,Neopolitan thought with a smirk.

On the nightstand, Neopolitan spotted two journals: one white, one red. Opening the white one, the inside cover said “Property of Jaune, do not read!”

Jaune was the name that woman had called him. The handwriting totally belonged to a boy. Legible, but messy.

Neopolitan opened the other journal. In overly neat cursive along the inside cover, the woman had penned her name, Pyrrha.

“Peer-ha?Py-ra? Oum save me, where is she from?” Neopolitan muttered under her breath. “Fuck, I mean who actually says someone’s name in a conversation?”

“Here, let’s test your knowledge on Dust for Ms. Goodwitch’s class.” Pyrrha sat next to Neopolitan, stack of notecards in one hand. “What is the best counter to Fire Dust?”

“Oh, that’s easy, Ice,” Neopolitan said, waving her hand in the air. “Using water will cause it to turn into steam, but ice will melt down and smother the fire with the resulting water. Rock and certain other ground based Dust can also work, but more as deterences and less as direct counters. Also, never use Sand, might as well just burn your lin right there.”

Pyrrha flipped over the top card. “All Goodwitch wanted was the ice answer, but credit for knowing more than you should. I guess you aren’t sleeping in class.” She smiled as she put that notecard aside and grabbed another.

“Best counter to Gravity dust?”

“Oh, Lightning dust, cause it’ll lighten it,” Neopolitan said. “Learned that from-” She cut herself off, because she learned that Roman.

“Nice,” Pyrrha tossed that one away, and grabbed another.

Neopolitan plucked it from her hand. “Are these actually hard? Anyone with any arena experience knows this stuff.”

“Yes, but every time we’ve been in the arena, you’ve not done so well,” Pyrrha said. “You tried to counter Nora’s lightning dust with water the last time we did duals.”

“What kind of moron would do that?” Neopolitan said, before snapping her mouth shut.

“You’ve been acting a bit weird, are you sure you’re okay?” Pyrrha stood up, pressing a hand on Neopolitan’s forehead. “No fever.”

“Yeah, I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be, Pie-rah,” Neopolitan said, smiling.

The woman froze. “What did you call me?”

“Peer-ha?” Neopolitan offered, trying to sound hopeful.

“I think something is wrong, we should take you to Professor Peach.” Pyrrha moved past Neopolitan. “You’ve been acting strange.”

“Is wanting to study late at night with my girlfriend really that strange?” Neopolitan stood to follow but at her words, Pyrrha froze.

“Your what?” she said, something in her voice that Neopolitan couldn’t quite place.

“Girlfriend?” Neopolitan realized that was not the right thing to say.

“We’re not dating,” Pyrrha said. “We just share a bed because I get cold and you have nightmares.”

“Pssh, that has to be the lamest excuse…” Neopolitan stopped, realizing she was digging the hole deeper.

“I, uh, need to use the bathroom.” Neopolitan spun around to run into what she hoped was safety, but the onesie’s booties had no traction, and her feet slid out from under her. The fall to the floor took longer than she expected, but still Neopolitan could not get her hands up to break her fall.

Her head cracked against the floor and the world went black.

Blinking, Jaune woke up to Pyrrha kneeling over him. “Jaune… Jaune, can you hear me?”

“Oh, Pyrrha, I had the strangest dream. I was trying to get some cookies off a shelf, but I was just too short! And there was this man with red hair, he laughed himself silly when I flailed around and I couldn’t talk! It was horrible. Then the cookies fell on my head and I woke up here.”