Sunshine

Chapter 18: Ghosts in the Snow

Jaune was a bit baffled by that, "Are you serious?" Jaune asked, "Atlas is just going to do nothing for the people down here?"

The Worker nodded, "Pretty much," they told him, "You know that saying in Vacuo where only the strong survive?" They asked.

Jaune nodded.

"Yeah well, we here in Mantle have something similar," He said "If you wanna survive this place, you gotta be cold as ice and look after your own,"

Jaune sighed, "So, this place really is that heartless," Jaune said.

"Atlas is, but us down here, we know that in order to survive all the shit we deal with, we gotta work together," They told Jaune, "Of course, there's still those racists who just make things worse for the Faunus community and then there's the few posh fucks who live down here thinking they're shit don't smell,"

Jaune nodded, "I've seen a few of those people around," Jaune said. "Anyway, If the soldiers aren't protecting you guys while you work on the wall, who's protecting you guys?" Jaune asked.

The worker scratched the back of his head, "The happy Huntresses, but with them being labeled as rouge Huntsmen, they can't really help out all the time,"

Jaune's brow raised, "The Happy Huntresses?" Jaune asked, "Who are they?"

"A group of four huntresses that do some work around Mantle," The worker said, "But as I said, with them being labeled as Rouge Hunters, they can't really help much in fear of the Military arresting them,"

Jaune's interest was piqued once more, "Why are they labeled as Rouge Hunters?"

The worker's brow furrowed in anger, "Because that damn Jaques Schnee accused them of purposely stealing dust from some transport trams, though everyone saw the footage when in leaked, they didn't still shit, they used it to protect the workers from some Grimm, but due to that fucking bastard being in control of the SDC, is word is practically law,"

Jaune had always heard a bit about the supposed corruption of the Atlas government, and he never thought it could be that bad, but was seeing it with his own eyes, and he realized just how right those rumors were.

'Now I know why Weiss has a stick up her ass for so long' Jaune thought. However, jaune decided to get to his point, "Well, if the Happy Huntresses can't help, mind if I?" Jaune asked.

The worker looked at him with a raised brow, "You do that?" He asked, but then the worker looked at him with a look of realization. "How much do I have to pay you?" They asked.

Jaune shrugged, "Let's say... 50 Lien, the whole day?" Jaune asked.

The worker was a bit surprised to hear this, "50 for the whole day? Not per hour?" They asked.

Jaune just looked at him, "You're already dealing with you're workers' pay, no need to add more stress on you," Jaune said with a soft smile.

The worker smiled at Jaune, "You got a good heart kid, what's your name?" they asked.

"Jaune Arc," Jaune told him.

"Name's Perry Flynn," The worker, Perry, told Jaune, "Nice to meet you,"

"Nice to meet you too, Perry," Jaune replied.

"So, you a Huntsman?" Perry asked with a raised brow.

Jaune shrugged, "Kinda," Jaune said, "I got kicked out of the academy for the year, but I'm still able to fight," Jaune said.

Perry chuckled, "Don't matter to me kid, as long as you can fight off the Grimm that come at us, that's all I need," He said.

Jaune nodded and Perry did the same, he then told Jaune to follow him so that they could inform the other workers about Jaune being their security for the day, some were skeptical about him due to his age while others were grateful to have someone watching their back's while they worked.