The shared hot spring contained only the four of them. No one else was using the resort or, if they were, then they were in the private springs. The hot water ate away at his muscles and tinted his skin red, and it would have been supremely relaxing if not for the company he kept. Willow was chatty, asking him how he felt and how comfortable he was, but that only served to highlight the absolute silence from Weiss and Whitley. Not just the fact they weren't talking, but that Willow didn't involve them in the conversation.
"Yeah, Atlas has seemed great so far. What about you, Weiss?" He reached out desperately for her. "What's your favourite part of the city?"
Weiss Schnee would have had his heart pounding in her two-piece swimsuit with her pale skin flushed pink from the heat, if not for the glacially cold look in her eyes. The girl was stunning, but it was hard to notice anything other than how much she disliked him. And while it was a relief to know his Charisma wasn't some sledgehammer hitting people and taking control of their minds, he'd have preferred it if she at least gave him the benefit of the doubt.
I'm not the one who caused this! It's your mom you're angry at. Not me!
"Weiss," said Willow, addressing her daughter for the first time, and to chastise her no less. "Don't be rude. Jaune asked you a question."
"I like the mountains," she gritted out. "They're tall, peaceful, and secluded."
The kind of place where no one could hear a musician scream. He was sure she didn't mean it like that, but it really felt like it. Desperately, he looked to Whitley, who, against all odds, took some small amount of pity on him. Probably a bit of charity for his trying to involve them more.
"I like the museums. They have interesting exhibits of past civilisations. I enjoy watching documentary videos online about them. I do also enjoy music," he added. "My sister's especially."
Weiss chuffed. "I thought you were more obsessed with that new girl?"
Whitley winced and blushed. "Sister, I told you it's not an obsession. I just appreciate her music. Guitar Cutie – that's her name, stop smirking! – is a talented musician."
Jaune had long since let himself sink down into the water, his mouth and chin under it so he could expel his frustrated scream as a torrent of bubbles. Whitley was a fan of his female alter-ego while hating his male self. It was too much.
"That's lovely," said Willow, "my favourite place is the horse races. I'll have to take you some time, Jaune. Such wonderful animals, and a refined sport. Have you ever been?"
"I haven't—"
"Then that'll be our next excursion!"
They were already planning the next? She had promised to show him the various sights of Atlas, of which he supposed horse racing qualified, but it sounded like another case of the two of them being out together. He wasn't sure that would help in bringing their family back together – and that was his problem now, wasn't it? Thanks to his intrusive Semblance that couldn't mind its own business, he now had to deal with this family schism.
Because somehow the consequences of him not doing so were going to bounce back on him.
It was hard to tell if his Semblance was simply being prophetic and telling him what would happen if this wasn't fixed, or if it was changing reality to force consequences on him that wouldn't otherwise be there. Both were kind of insane to consider. His Semblance knowing the future suggested it was deterministic, and that was a philosophical rabbit hole he didn't want to go down.
How was he meant to fix their relationship, though? Through the power of music? That was the only thing that came to mind since he was for all intents and purposes a bard. Quests in games didn't normally screw you over by asking you to cast fireball if you were a warrior. His Semblance might well have been, but he had to work on the assumption that any quest he was given was theoretically possible.
All the previous ones had been.
So, how to fix? Playing music for them seemed like a bad idea given that Willow kept getting lost in it. Plus, his status as her personal musician was what was annoying the siblings anyway.
Maybe I could teach them to play music for their mother. Would that fix the issue, or just make them feel even more annoyed for having to "win" her love? Weiss is already a famous singer, too. Her music isn't helping currently, and it's only my Bardic Music skill that's making this work so well.
Jaune forced a smile and kept nodding as Willow talked to and at him, shifting over so that they were sat side by side, elbows touching. She had a two-piece swimsuit as well, one that she was practically falling out of. He'd have been more tongue-tied about that if he wasn't lost in his own thoughts trying to figure out how to complete the quest. As it was, he didn't actually see anything in front of him until he felt something cool and wet against his lips, blinked his eyes and took in the world around him.
"You should drink a little." Willow was pressing a cold glass to his mouth. Jaune's hand came up to take it. "It's tempting to relax and space out in here, but you need to keep fluids in you, or you'll pass out."
"Oh. Thank you."
He noticed everyone else had been given drinks by one of the serving staff while he was lost in his own thoughts. It was a cocktail, vaguely alcoholic but in a very minor way. Technically, he was old enough to drink. Just not old enough to buy drinks. It was a weird legal distinction.
"What were you thinking of?" she asked.
Her family.
But he couldn't say that.
"My family. I was thinking about my family."
"Missing them already?"
"It's the first time I've been away from them all for more than a week, so a little bit, yes. It was always comforting to know they were there." He didn't miss Doom, but he did hope his mom continued to feed the bird seed. She probably would given the feathery fiend had learned to peck on the windows. Mom found it cute. "Family is important," he said, a little lamely. It was a weak attempt at poking at their stilted dynamic. "I think it's one of the most important things in the world."
Weiss scoffed and Whitley rolled his eyes. They could both tell what he was doing and weren't too impressed with his subtlety. Unfortunately, Willow either didn't catch it or didn't care to act on it.
"They sound lovely. Maybe you could introduce me to them one day."
"Maybe." That would feel so weird. Willow was his mother's age, and he could just imagine the look on her face if he came and introduced a forty-year-old woman to her as if she were a new friend he'd made at school. "I won't be going home for a while yet, though. I still need to travel the kingdoms."
Willow's fingers brushed down his bare shoulder. "Don't think so far ahead. You have plenty of wonderful things to see and experience in Atlas yet."
"Mother." Whitley interrupted. "Don't you think it's inappropriate to be touching him like that?"
"Don't be silly." Willow's eyes remained on Jaune's. Her palm pressed into his bicep. "I'm only resting my hand on his arm."
It didn't feel too strange to Jaune either, but he was acutely aware that it was to the two of them – which made him wonder what this looked like from the outside. Were they implying Willow was coming onto him? He wanted to laugh. Surely not! She was more than twice his age! Her children were his age. That was ridiculous.
But...
He could imagine it looking untoward when she was closer to him than her own children. It was enough to have him drawing away just a little, masking the act by moving to place his empty glass on the hot spring's wooden side. If it made Weiss and Whitley uncomfortable, he didn't want to do it.
Willow didn't attempt to follow him, thankfully. He came back and sat beside her again but with a little more distance between them. Enough to be reasonable. They sat and soaked and talked for another half an hour, mostly him talking and Willow wanting to know more about his life and childhood. Eventually, they became too hot to stay in the springs, however, and had to climb out. Jaune's eyes found themselves fixed on Weiss' bottom as she climbed out ahead of him but he had the sense to look down when she turned back.
The massage sessions that came after were something he missed on account of falling asleep during it. Something that wasn't unusual, the masseur assured him. Warm and relaxed, and wrapped up in a fluffy white gown with warm slippers, he was led out to a table where the three members of the Schnee family were just arriving. Whitley was rubbing at his own eyes as well, indicating he'd fallen asleep as Jaune had.
Weiss and Willow, on the other hand, looked like they'd sucked on lemons. He got the feeling they'd been massaged in the same room, and that the conversation had been anything but casual.
Dinner was a show as well as food, with a chef bringing out a sizzling hot plate and dicing and preparing everything fresh and before their very eyes. It was impressive in terms of the casual speed and skill the man wielded his knife with, and he was excellent at his job, but Jaune did flinch when a live lobster was brought out and thrown down.
"IT BURNS! IT BURNS! I DON'T WANT TO DIE—URK!"
The knife into the brain killed it as quickly as any good chef advertised, but that didn't stop Jaune being pale as everyone dug in. He wanted to refuse, but forced himself to eat because at that point it would have been an insult to the lobster to waste the meat it had died to produce. Thankfully, every other piece of meat came in already butchered, or he'd have had to give up meat entirely and become a vegetarian.
One nine course meal later, they relaxed with cool drinks as a woman played a lovely song on a cello. It was haunting and soft, relaxing elevator music in a sense but with deep tones. Jaune liked it, but Willow looked bored out her mind.
"You play better," she said.
"Don't be rude, mother." Weiss threw Willow's own words back at her. "She's talented."
"Hmm." Willow sipped at some red wine and leaned her elbow on the table, slumping down a little. There was an unevenness to her.
"Oh for – You haven't had that much wine!" Weiss snapped. "I was watching you!" She waved down one of the servers. "How much wine have we ordered since we arrived? What's our bill currently at?"
The man bowed and retreated to find out, then came back with a slip of paper that he handed to Weiss. He didn't appear unduly worried, but it wasn't like the Schnee family were going to rack up a tab and run without paying.
"What—? How!?"
Whitley sighed. "More than expected, sister?"
"She must have had half a bottle while I was in the bathroom getting changed." Weiss handed the list back to the man and waved him off. "It looks like we'll be retiring early," she growled, standing and lugging Willow to her feet. "Ideally before she does anything stupid with him here." Her pale eyes glared at him. "Keep an eye on him, Whitley."
Whitley raised his own glass. "Will do."
Weiss and Willow stumbled their way out, with Willow complaining quietly. "But I wanted Jaune to play—"
"In the morning. You're too drunk to appreciate it anyway."
Whitley waited for them to be gone before sighing and stretching his legs out in an undignified manner. "You'd best be grateful to my sister for taking mother away. There's no telling what nonsense she'll get up to when she's had too much to drink."
"I'm sorry—"
"This one isn't your fault. It's just the way she is." Whitley downed his own drink and stood. "If you don't mind, I'd rather relax on my own and listen to music. Stay in the resort and stay out of their room. I'm sure someone can show you back to ours if you get lost."
/-/
Family mediation, how to fix family dynamics, advice for those with broken families. Jaune browsed the various sites with the beginnings of a headache. They were all filled with good tips, and there was plenty of charities to refer to, but they were all from the point of view of protecting vulnerable people or where you could call for help if you felt you were being abused – very good things to have so easy to reach, but not helpful in his current situation.
Most of them ended by saying therapy was the best option, and he 100% agreed, but therapy required that the person – or persons – agreed to go, and he very much doubted Willow would. The obvious follow-up idea was to handle the therapy himself, but that went out the window just as quickly. He could play good music thanks to his Semblance, but he wasn't about to master therapy and the nuances behind it all.
.
Through performing for an audience, you gain +1 Charisma.
.
That didn't help his concentration, either.
"It really doesn't feel like there's anything I can do. This isn't any of my business and I'm not equipped to fix it all. All the advice says to just up and talk to them, convince them to do therapy." He bit his lip. "I guess I could try that..."
He didn't expect it would work well but he could try.
Though maybe it should wait until Willow was a little more sober.
It was on his way back to his room with Whitley that a door ahead opened, and Weiss came stumbling out, in a similar white bathrobe to him. She froze on seeing him, the two of them in a standoff in the corridor. Jaune looked away first, not wanting to come across as insulting or offensive. Weiss was Lvl.26, though. That was impressive, but below Pyrrha.
"Willow is drunk," she said, flatly. "I hope you weren't planning to visit her."
"No. I wasn't."
"Good."
"Yeah."
"..."
The two of them stared at one another.
"I'm sorry if I'm making things worse for you and Whitley," he blurted out.
Weiss' eyes closed, and she let out a long sigh. "Damn it, Whitley," she whispered. "You're not making things worse. Things haven't changed at all. And we do not... We don't dislike you." The way she said it made it sound like she very much disliked him. "You've not been half as much a pain as you could have been, and you don't harangue me for time or to sing for you." The compliments hardly even felt like them. "You're not bad. And I'm not blind to the fact you were the one who got mother to invite us along."
"Should I not have? I thought it'd be a nice gesture, but this looks like it's been anything but."
"Again, not your fault." Weiss crossed her arms and looked off to the side, off to Willow's room.
"Whitley suggested I leave the Schnee manor as soon as possible."
Weiss winced. "I wouldn't have put it in those words. You're not a problem by any means, and there's a part of me that thinks you might even be helping her in some small ways. Mother is more active, and even father has noticed. But..." Weiss teased her bottom lip. "Tell me. What do you think about her as a person? Be honest."
"I think she came across a very nice and friendly women but that she seems lonely and, if you don't mind me saying it, a little distant where family is concerned."
Weiss snorted, her lips peeling upward. "That's an understatement, but I meant what do you think of her as a person. Do you like her? Are you fond of her?"
"I guess, I mean." Jaune shrugged uncomfortably. "But it feels weird to talk about fondness to a person as old as my mother. It's weird to even think of her as a friend when she's that much older than me."
Weiss stared at him long and hard, seemingly searching for something. Whatever she found, she seemed to approve of, because a rare and pretty smile appeared. A satisfied one. "That's good. Better than I hoped, in fact. I happen to agree that mother's relationship with you – be it friendship or some odd addiction – is unhealthy. It wouldn't be a problem if it was someone close to her age. Do you mind if I ask what you get up to in your... private time with her. When she takes you to her private quarters."
"I play music." The answer was immediate, simple, because it was the truth.
"That's it...?"
"That's it," he agreed, with a nod. "Willow just relaxes and closes her eyes and asks me to play, and I do. Sometimes it's for a lot longer than I'm comfortable with." He hesitated, then said, "It feels unhealthy."
Weiss blinked. "Unhealthy...?"
"Yeah, like she's addicted to my music."
"That's... well... there are worse things to be addicted to, surely. Alcohol for one. Mother has been drinking less since you came to the manor. I'd assumed she was trying to impress you but... hm." Weiss cupped her chin. "Maybe I was wrong," she whispered. "Which is a crushing relief, frankly. Let me ask something potentially quite crass. Have you... Have you seen my mother in a state of undress?"
Jaune's jaw dropped open.
"I'll take that as a no," she said.
"Weiss..." he rasped. "What the fuck?"
"Don't swear at me."
"Fair, but... what the fuck!"
Weiss blushed, frowning and huffing. "I'll let your foul language go this time given the... ah... odd question. Forget I asked it. Really, forget it. Things are not as bad as we feared."
"You thought I was sleeping with your mom!?"
"Well..." Weiss cringed. "Yes."
He couldn't believe it. He didn't want to believe it. Willow could be called hot, sure, but so could a lot of women – Pyrrha's mom included – but that didn't mean he wanted to bed her! Ew. Jaune stuck his tongue out and made a retching sound.
"She isn't that hideous!" Weiss snapped, still embarrassed. "Look, it wasn't a completely unreasonable thought—"
"You thinking your mother is into young boys isn't unreasonable!?"
"W—Well, okay, it is unreasonable, but I meant more in the sense of a man like you being stupid enough to come onto any woman who will look his way despite her age. I've heard stories of how wild men from Vale can be—"
"What? Seriously, what...?"
"Am I wrong? Tell me there aren't men who would see any interested woman as another tally on a scoreboard."
"Well, yeah, sure, but me?" Jaune pointed to himself. "Do I look like a playboy?"
"Is that a question which deserves an honest answer...?"
"Yes!"
Weiss sighed. "Then yes, you do."
His jaw dropped for the second time. "H—How?"
"W—Well, you're attractive, tall, athletic, quite handsome, a skilled musician, you have a confident smile and a very alluring presence..." Weiss' eyes widened in absolute horror at what she'd just said, but Jaune was too flabbergasted to notice. "Not that I'm saying I'm interested! Don't get the wrong idea! I'm just saying you're handsome enough that I could imagine you being arrogant about it!"
"Me...? I'm average at best!"
Weiss scowled. "Don't pull that false modesty nonsense. It's insulting."
"It's not false modesty. I'm gangly and uneven and my hair looks stupid—"
"Are you a vampire, too?" she asked, sarcastically. "I can only assume you can't see your own reflection. Look, it doesn't matter. I judged you wrong and for that I am supremely grateful because I don't want to imagine the scandal that could come from my mother having an unprofessional relationship with someone as young as you." She pulled a face. "Someone as young as me. Ugh."
He didn't know if he should be feeling pleased, embarrassed, or offended. On the one hand, Weiss apparently thought he was very appealing to the eye. That could be both pleasing and embarrassing. On the other, she and Whitley apparently thought he was Willow's boytoy, which was equal parts embarrassing and horrifying.
"C—Can we get back on track?" he begged.
"Yes. Yes, we can. So, your music..." Weiss was as happy as him to leave the prior topic. "It seems strange to me that mother would be as addicted to music as she is wine, but it's hard to argue with what I'm seeing." She frowned. "And it is better than drinking herself to death. Maybe... no... but we could..."
"We could...?"
"You're going to perform at the gala, correct?" Weiss waited for his nod. "Well, I'm curious to see how far this addiction goes. If it is one. Maybe she's just focused on a new passion, but if so then it wouldn't be a bad idea to test it. I'll also be performing at the gala, singing one of my new singles. I was going to use a backing track, but would you be willing to play on stage with me?"
To play on stage with an actual popstar. It should have been an honour. It still was, but the reasons behind it felt a lot less glamorous. Still, he was playing at the event anyway and it wasn't like she was asking him to perform in front of tens of thousands of people.
"I guess I can, but I don't really know your music." Her eyebrows rose dangerously, and he amended his statement. "I meant I don't know the sheet music! I love your singing!"
"Right. Good. I can assist you with learning the backing track once we're back at the manor."
More time with Weiss.
Was that a good thing...? Maybe it'd help with the quest.
"Then I should be able to learn it with your help but... well... what's the aim here? Is there something we – or you – are specifically hoping to make happen?"
"I want to see if mother's reaction is limited to you and just your music, or if she'll have a similar reaction to mine combined with yours. If mother is discovering a love for music, that's something I'm more than happy to encourage. But if this is an unhealthy obsession with you, and the music is immaterial, then it's something I'm not."
Theoretically, it should still work. He could use his Bardic Music on stage with Weiss and it should have the exact same effect as any other song. He didn't think it would prove or disprove anything.
On the other hand, it might make Willow more appreciative of Weiss' music. Could this be an opening for them to start talking more? Maybe this is the way I'm meant to go with the quest.
If Willow wanted to spend more time listening to Weiss singing, that'd be mother and daughter bonding. Whitley wouldn't be fixed there, but it was a step in the right direction and right now he was stood lost in the wilderness. Even one step was progress.
"Okay. I'm in. I'll perform with you. Just as long as my name doesn't get out there."
Weiss raised an eyebrow. "I'd have thought you'd like a little fame from playing with me. It would surely help you find more work."
"A little exposure is nice, but I don't know if I want to become famous overnight." Not when he'd already achieved that with his alter-ego. "But I'm good for everything else." He offered his hand to her. "Partners?"
"Partners? In what?"
"I don't know. Fixing your mom? Learning music? Not bringing up the fact you thought I was sleeping with her?"
Weiss' hand slapped against his. "Partners in not bringing that up ever again," she agreed, shaking his hand firmly.