Jane woke up before the students, took a shower in the locker room and got dressed before heading out and grabbing a coffee for herself, courtesy of the gourmet quality coffee machine she was almost certain was Ozpin's doing. Glynda and Qrow met her in the auditorium, seeing the early riser students beginning to stir.
"Hrm.. I thought we'd have to wake you up. You give 'night owl' vibes." Qrow grunted, ignoring the nudge of Glynda's elbow hitting his arm.
"I'm pretty adaptive I'll have you know." Jane stated, taking a sip of her coffee, then continuing. "And I'd call myself a 'Night Rat' rather than an owl, Mister Qrow."
Qrow snorted and spotted Yang and Ruby, still asleep. Yang was reaching out and making a squeezing gesture Qrow was very familiar with. He slapped his forehead and looked over to Jane, who was watching his niece while sipping her coffee with a small smile.
"I'm sure she's dreaming of driving.." Qrow coughed and eyed Glynda before continuing, "Anyway.. ya tell her what she'll be doing?"
Glynda nodded, "Ozpin hadn't clarified so he's leaving the details to me. Miss Doe, you'll be participating during the initiation test. You see, we've had an overflow of students accepted into Beacon's initiation this year. Beacon being a popular choice is something New Vale prides itself on but it does come with its downsides.."
"Said downsides being too many students applying? I see. Well correct me if I'm wrong here but doesn't Beacon's test usually filter out around eighty percent of its applicants by making the would-be students sign a form that relieves Beacon and its staff of responsibility should said would-be student die during the test?" Jane replied, seeing Glynda's shoulders sag as she sighed.
"Yes.. that is the case. But even with just the remaining twenty percent left, the number of students are over three hundred. This would normally be something to celebrate.." Glynda trailed off with her brows furrowing.
"If every entree was properly trained, right?" Jane asked, glancing at Jaune Arc, who had just woken up and started stretching in an oddly adorable bunny onesie.
Gylnda nodded, knowing exactly who she was referring to. In truth, Jaune's acceptance into Beacon was entirely due to Ozpin's intervention. Whether it was due to chance, the Arc's lineage or something else entirely, only Ozpin knew. But as was often the case in Beacon initiation, some entrees weren't exactly Beacon material.
Some entrees thought to enter Beacon and let the course and teachers make them strong enough to be Huntsmen. Some entrees only entered for clout. Some entrees only entered to hone their skill so they could more easily partake in illegal activities.
There were some issues and failsafes however. Any untrained student would likely be filtered out by the initiation by either dying or forfeit. And if they had somehow passed? They would either be pushed to improve at an incredible weight or fail and flunk Beacon. For the ones who only sign up for clout? One of two things happen. They either give up because it's too hard or they die in the initiation or first year missions.
As for the last one? It isn't unheard of to see trained and powerful criminals and bandits. But there's multiple factions throughout New Vale that take care of those people. Huntsmen, HAND, Yunkui Summit, The Military and Public Security. All of them handle rogues, bandits and criminals. Even some student teams are known to apprehend or eliminate such defectors.
After explaining everything to Jane, including her task during the initiation, both Qrow and Glynda left.
Breakfast passed and the entrees would be given exactly an hour to prepare and gather on the cliffs overlooking Emerald Forest. Seeing the students getting ready, Jane watched Jaune, thinking he'd try to preemptively pair with Weiss and grab Pyrrha's attention. Instead..
"Alice? Alice Thymefield?" Instead of approaching Pyrrha, Weiss walked up to the rabbit girl with the disposable rapiers.
"Aaaaah!! W-Weiss? You scared me there.." Alice jumped in place, then gradually calmed down, seeing it was Weiss who approached her.
The little display on Alice's belly showed she was nervous. Weiss looked at the anxious emoji face on Alice's belt and sighed.
"You're still so easy to scare, Alice. And stop looking so anxious. We're friends, after all." Weiss stated, her voice uncharacteristically soft yet still reproachful.
"Ah.. sorry Weiss. I'm just nervous is all. It has nothing to do with you, truly." Alice shook her head and smiled, her displayed emoji also smiling too.
Weiss snorted in amusement, still not quite understanding why her friend had that mood display on her belt. Seeing Alice wasn't anxious due to her, Weiss calmed down and started chatting with Alice.
"Huh.." Jane muttered, watching the two heiresses interact like long time friends. Then, two more people approached her.
"Uh.. Jane?"/"Miss Jane?" Both Jaune and Pyrrha called out to her at once and drew her attention.
"Jaune? Pyrrha? All ready I see." Jane replied, seeing the two armored teens on different sides of her. One blushing and looking away from her eyes while the other looked into her aqua eyes with a silent intensity.
Pyrrha looked at Jaune, her eyes not unkind but still maintained a certain distance. Jane found it odd.
'Shouldn't she be excited he didn't treat her like a celebrity by now..?' Jane asked internally before Jaune spoke up.
"Uh w-well I just wanted to ask you something personal. I can wait till after." Jaune scratched the back of his head and took a few steps away, giving Pyrrha the opportunity to ask.
"If you don't mind my asking.. are you truly a teacher? You don't seem much older than me and you even slept in the auditorium with us. And so.. if you aren't...." Pyrrha trailed off, searching for the right words.
"If not.. could we be partners, Miss Jane?" Pyrrha asked after taking a deep breath.
Jane's tail swished in amusement, her ears flicking as they picked up two faint gasps from two separate blondes. She smiled, shook her head and answered Pyrrha.
"Unfortunately, I am. I would have no problem teaming up with you, Pyrrha. But I am a combat instructor. But does that mean we can't be friends?" Jane asked, a slight tilt of her head conveying her sincerity.
Pyrrha blinked. Once, twice then three times. Then she smiled and nodded emphatically.
"Yes! I'd be happy to be your friend. Those words you told us last night.. they resonated with me so well. Part of why I chose Beacon was to develop bonds on equal footing with my peers here." Pyrrha quietly confided.
Jane nodded sympathetically. Having been a champion in Mistral for multiple tournaments, Pyrrha was lonely. Many of her friends were just those interested in her fame. That surely made for a lonely childhood.
Jane pat her on her shoulder with a quiet confidence.
"I think you'll find exactly what you're looking for here, Pyrrha. Now, it's almost time for the test so I advise you to get ready, okay?"
Pyrrha nodded and strapped her javelin/gun to her back, "Thank you.. I look forward to learning from you."
After Pyrrha left, Jane looked over to Jaune. He was almost a nervous wreck. Initially, he was going to show off and try to ask Weiss to be his partner. The other boys he'd seen overnight almost all had confidence. But then he saw one Faunus boy with bulging muscles spar with a mischievous red haired girl and suddenly, all his confidence shattered.
Seeing him have some sort of shield cover him made Jaune curious. So he asked a few other entrees, all of them looking at him like he was an idiot.
Thus, Jaune learned what aura was earlier than he should have. After asking Jane if he needed aura to be a Huntsman, she looked at him with an unreadable expression.
'Will Pyrrha be bailing him out? If she doesn't, that fall off the cliff will break his legs at best. Then he'll be helpless as the Grimm swarm him. Better not to risk it..' Jane decided, then placed her hand on Jaune's shoulder and led him out into the hallway with her.
She spotted Yang tailing them but couldn't be bothered to be discreet with how much time they had left.
"Yes, Jaune. You do need aura to be a Huntsman. I'm going to guess you were totally unprepared when you signed up for Beacon. No training, no aura and an old style shield and sword. Before I offer you this, I need to know. Do you want to be a Huntsman?" Jane asked as she pulled him into an empty classroom nearby.
"I do. I want to be a hero. The kind like my Dad.. and his Dad. My-" Jane sealed his lips with her finger.
"All I needed was answer, Jaune. Not a dramatic protagonist speech."
Jaune blushed and nodded his head.
"I'll be unlocking your aura so you'll have a chance in the assessment. Hopefully, you get a good partner and you're quick on your feet. Ready?" Jane asked, circling behind him after getting him to sit on the desk.
"Y-Yeah.. will it hurt?" Jaune asked, feeling Jane's palm press onto his back.
"No. It's sort of a.. personal thing but I'd rather not see you die today so I'll make a rare exception." Jane answered before her scarlet aura flared and poured into Jaune, making his body still.
From outside, Yang and Ruby were watching in stunned silence as they watched Jane unlock Jaune's aura for him. Yang huffed silently.
"Lucky bastard.." Yang muttered, confusing her sister.
"Why didn't he already have aura though?" Ruby whispered, seeing the room glow Jane's scarlet before a white glow lit up the room.
Yang rolled her eyes and folded her arms. "He's probably one of those idiots who did it for clout. No way I believe that 'hero' stuff. If he really wanted to be a hero he would have trained. Guy's so scrawny.."
Ruby hummed, "Hmmn.. maybe he has some special circumstances? Hey, c'mon Yang, they're finishing up."
Ruby urged, dragging Yang away by the arm as Jane finished.
Seeing the white glow fade around him, Jaune gasped and clenched his fists with a smile. Then, bowing his head to Jane, he thanked her.
"Thank you..! I can feel it. With this, maybe I can do something now..!"
Jane pat his shoulder and walked past him, opening the door.
"No, Jaune. This is just the beginning. You just took the first step. It's up to you how far you'll go now. Come on, the test is going to start soon and I have a very special job to do during that~" Jane smirked, giving Jaune the shivers as he followed behind.
"Riiiight.. what kind of job...?" Jaune asked, clearing his throat.
"Ah-ah-ah~ I can't spoil the fun, Jaune.." Jane kept smirking as they met with the crowd of students going over to the Emerald Forest cliff's edge.