There had been no news of Salem or Cinder, which Ozpin quietly informed Jaune was a good thing after combat class. The lack of noticeable activity hopefully meant they were busy locked in their own little conflict, which would spare Beacon and Vale as a whole their wrath. Qrow was still out looking for them, but now it was scouting only, and he had orders not to interfere.

"Tempting as it may be, Salem is not someone who can be so easily dealt with," Ozpin told him, his younger body no longer seeming so strange to Jaune. "It is best to let her be if we can get away with it."

"Don't you have much of your power back? Enough to fight her?"

"Of course. And should she stand out in an open field and challenge me, I shall respond. She won't, though. Any battle between she and I would take place in the midst of Vale, with innocent people on every side. And do keep in mind her primary defence is Grimm. They might not be such a threat to me, but Grimm pouring down on Vale would lead to bloodshed the likes of which haven't been seen since Mountain Glenn."

All because of his impatience. Jaune grimaced. "I'm sorry, sir."

"Don't apologise for asking questions, Mr Arc. I'd much rather you seek wisdom from me than rush off on your own. Team RWBY tends to do that, and it gives Glynda and I constant headaches."

"In their defence, they've not done anything bad yet."

"No. But each and every time they have been at risk of dying." Ozpin tilted his head forward. "We don't punish them because they've inconvenienced us, nor because they've broken the rules. We punish them because we desperately hope to not have to tell their parents they have died when, one day, they take on a threat too great for them. It may not have happened yet, but Torchwick? Terrorists? What is next, Mr Arc? Cinder herself? Salem?"

"I hope not."

"As do I. As do I." Ozpin chuckled softly. "But they're good girls and we're glad to have them – we just don't want to lose them. If that is all? I have a meeting with Glynda, and I do believe you're meeting with Bartholomew to talk more about your Semblance."

"Yes, sir." Jaune stood, taking the dismissal for what it was. "Thank you for your time."

The meeting with Oobleck was more of what he was used to – the two of them discussing the small progress in being able to predict which dreams he might end up in, albeit with less than perfect accuracy.

"Even middling accuracy is better than none at all," Oobleck said. "But I'm more interested in this new application you've discovered. I'd love to have Miss Valkyrie visit with you next time so I can ask what she noticed as a passenger in the dream."

"I'll ask her if she wants to. I'm more worried about what would have happened to her if she died in the dream."

"That's harder to say. There's a good chance the answer would be nothing."

"Really? But my Semblance has caused permanent changes before."

"Only to the person who you are in the mind of. Semblances that alter reality are rare but not unheard of – even if they're less powerful than this. In all cases, the user needs to be pouring their aura into the victim. Or patient, as there have been limited healing Semblances. The point I'm making is that you were primarily using your Semblance on Miss Belladonna, with Miss Valkyrie's consciousness brought along for the ride. If she died, I expect she would snap back into her own body and likely wake up, jolted by the shock."

Jaune let out a breath. "That's a relief."

"It is if I'm correct. While I fully believe you won't be changing the bodies of people who come along, that doesn't mean there isn't some small risk. For one, people have died in dreams before – normally due to heart attacks, and in people who already have weak hearts."

"I think I've heard stories like that but I always assumed they were urban legends."

Doctor Oobleck rolled his eyes. "I'm sure many of them are, and it's hard to prove anything since they could have died from a heart attack for other reasons. However, there have been some medical cases where a dream has caused a lesser injury which could have led to death. For instance, I know of at least one case where a man had a nightmare which caused such shock that he ruptured an aortal artery. He then went to a hospital complaining of pain, where it was discovered. He was treated and survived, but the only thing he could remember that could have caused it was a violent dream in which he relived the death of his wife to Grimm."

"Horrible..."

"Indeed. But, as I said, he was a very old man of sixty years, while Miss Valkyrie – and anyone in Beacon – are younger people of such incredible fitness that I can't imagine it happening. The average resting heartrate for a huntsman can be as low as forty beats per minute. And you're trained to stay calm in life or death situations."

"No heart attacks, then."

"There shouldn't be. I'd be more worried about a coma – but not that worried," he hastened to say, as Jaune tensed up. "I just mean that you are taking the consciousness out of a person, so if there was something that was going to go wrong, it would probably be related to that. But Miss Valkyrie went back into her body just fine. Semblances tend to have safety mechanisms. Miss Rose doesn't break every bone in her body when she accelerates. Miss Xiao-Long doesn't set her hair on fire. Miss Nikos doesn't perforate herself with every metal object within a small radius."

Jaune leaned back, nodding along. He'd not put that much thought into it, but it made sense that people unlocking wild and esoteric abilities would need some protection against their effects. Knowing what he did from Ozpin, his first thought was "gods" and "divine design" but he shoved that away. Ozpin had even said they abandoned Remnant, so this was probably more of the body's ability to adapt to any situation.

"From a scientific point of view, I'd love it if you could take me along as a passenger," said Oobleck, "but I also worry at seeing things I should not want to in the minds of my students. I might see people differently, and I don't want that."

"Welcome to my world..."

"Yes. And quite a troubling one it is. No matter. You said this was outside your control, and I'm hardly about to flash you to provoke it again." Jaune blushed. "I'll advise keeping track of who comes along for the ride and notifying me. If it's anyone outside your team, call me immediately upon waking up and I shall check on them to see if they're safe."

That was a huge relief, especially since he wouldn't know if they were okay or not if he took someone like Ruby or even Cardin along for the ride. He didn't want to cause a fuss by rushing around the dorms in his pyjamas banging on doors.

"You should also put some thought into how you'll explain this way if you're unfortunate enough to bring someone not of your team along on your next dream journey."

"It's not like that's easy. What am I meant to say – that they imagined it all?"

"Yes." Oobleck shrugged. "It was a dream. They imagined it. Play dumb, pretend like you did not have the same dream, and let them come to the obvious conclusion that it was their imagination running wild."

Oobleck leaned in, then, and fixed Jaune with a serious look.

"But such excuses will only work so far as no changes are made that they can refer to. Turn Miss Xiao-Long's hair pink in both a dream and the real world, and you'll struggle to convince her sister that the dream you shared where you dyed her hair was only in her imagination."

"I'll keep that in mind. And refrain from doing anything that'll get me killed by Yang."

"A wise move."

/-/

"How do we get taken along?"

Predictably, every single one of his teammates wanted to experience his Semblance. Jaune thought it reckless, but they argued it was even more reckless for them to leave him to explore on his own.

Two months ago, he would have flown off the handle and accused them of having no trust in him to look after himself, like he had when Pyrrha tried to help with Cardin. Now, he realised their concern for what it was, and it was touching that they wanted to help. He also imagined they were more than a little bored of having to wait all the way until morning to find out what happened.

"You should flash him," Nora said.

Pyrrha hit the back of her head.

"I'm not sure that would get the same response from me," Ren joked, with only the barest of smiles. "But if Jaune wants to see, I've no issue."

"Temping, but I'll say no for now," Jaune quipped back. "It's not like I haven't seen it before in the changing rooms."

Nora fake-gasped and rounded on Ren. "You whore! Seducing our team leader!"

Everyone laughed. The day had been a quiet one, meaning he really had no idea where he might end up dreaming. Team RWBY had been low on drama, though he'd heard from Ruby that Blak had been forced to contact her parents, and that the rest of the team had tagged along to meet them over call. Kali and Ghira were, apparently, super sweet and nice, and Blake was very much in the doghouse with her team for making them worry for so long.

Yang and Ruby, especially, reacted poorly to the idea of Blake neglecting a living parent, and it wasn't like Weiss had a happy family ether. Practically the whole team had made sure Blake knew how lucky she was, and how much she was taking it for granted. With Team RWBY busy and Team JNPR managing to not have any problems of their own, that didn't leave a lot of obvious people for him to bounce around to.

"Maybe we could do something before bed to be memorable," Pyrrha suggested, and then hit Nora with a pillow when she started wriggling her eyebrows. "Not like that. I just mean play some games or something. Anything to make it so Jaune falls asleep with us on his mind. Maybe we could all get in a dream as a team."

"Is there a chance that would tax his aura?" asked Ren. "Taking three extra people into a dream could be hard work."

Jaune shrugged. "No idea. This is new territory for me as well."

In the end, they sat in a circle and played cards and told stories. It wasn't a big thing, but Ren and Nora told stories about their life in Mistral, Pyrrha did the same, and then he told them about his family. If nothing else, it was fresh information about them in his mind, and that might have been enough to trigger his Semblance.

They went to bed soon after.

/-/

He found Pyrrha standing in her pyjamas awkwardly in front of a beautiful home.

"Jaune!" she gasped, running over with a huge smile on her face. "It worked! You're here, right?"

"I'm not a figment of your imagination if that's what you mean," he replied. "So, I guess it worked and I brought you along tonight. Have you seen Nora or Ren anywhere?"

"No. But I don't know how long I've been here. My memory is a mess. Have I been here hours, minutes, or just a few seconds. I can't tell."

"That's normal. We can't remember falling asleep and we may have done at different times. For all we know, I've plucked you out of a dream you were already having to bring you here. For all we know, Nora and Ren may still be trying to fall asleep."

"Or I could be behind you," said a familiar voice. Ren was in his pyjamas as well, arms crossed, wearing a pleased little smile as he nodded at them both. "It looks like Pyrrha's little idea to play games worked out. I've not seen hide nor hair of Nora, though. I suppose two out of three is still an achievement." He looked at Jaune. "Can you do something about our clothes? I feel a little awkward being outside in a dream in my pyjamas. I tried imagining myself in my normal clothes but nothing worked."

"Give me a second—"

Instantly, Ren's clothes turned to his regular white pants and green top, and Pyrrha's to her combat gear. Ren nodded. "Thanks. That feels better."

"I... didn't do anything. I was about to, but I didn't get a chance."

Ren raised an eyebrow.

"I think I did it," Pyrrha said, looking both surprised and a little pleased with herself. "I imagined Ren dressed like normal and he was, and then I did the same for myself and it worked. Does that mean we're able to use your Semblance?"

"Surely not," said Jaune. "How – or why – would that work?"

"Your Semblance is what has brought us here," Ren said. "If you think about it, we're consciousness wrapped up in your Semblance, so maybe that means we can use our consciousness to influence your Semblance...?" He phrased it as a question, unsure himself in the validity of this new hypothesis. "It's a thought."

"I'll ask Doctor Oobleck tomorrow," Jaune said. "For now, try not to use too much of my aura. Worst comes to worst, I should just wake up, but it's a school day tomorrow and I'd rather not spend it all on close to zero aura."

"Sorry," said Pyrrha.

"It's fine. I don't feel drained at all. Honestly, I didn't feel my aura dip even a fraction. Maybe clothes aren't a big change, especially if they're imaginary."

"Moving on, then." Ren walked between them, drawing their eyes along with him as he touched and opened the wrought iron fence of the building they were stood outside of. There was a big garden surrounded by a tall privacy hedge. "I doubt this is Nora's dream since we never lived anywhere like this. It doesn't look like what Jaune described of Ansel, either. Pyrrha?"

"It's not a house I've ever seen," she said, shaking her head.

"Then we must be in a random person's dream," Ren surmised. "It can't be Weiss knowing her wealth, and Blake grew up on Menagerie. I think the surroundings would be a little more tropical."

"It isn't Ruby or Yang's," said Jaune. "I've seen their house in their dreams. It's a log cabin in a forest. Cosy, but not as big as this."

The house was two floors, square, with a front door in the middle flanked by bright flowers with a neat path leading up to it, and two bay windows sticking out both on the ground floor and on the first further up. The roof was peaked with a single chimney.

The garden was large but honestly a little boring. Too much open lawn. There were flowers around the edges, on the insides of the tall hedges, but the place desperately could have used a flowerbed or a tree, or just about anything to break up the sheer expanse of perfectly cut grass.

"It's... well... it's very neat..." he said.

"Almost too neat," Ren added. "It's unrealistically so. Not a blade of grass out of place."

"Does that mean we're dealing with a neat freak?" asked Pyrrha. "Or is it just that the dreamer isn't paying much attention to what the house looks like, and it's defaulted to being basic?"

"Good question," Jaune said. "It could be either."

It was a novel experience having people to talk to and figure stuff out with. Not a bad one, either. He was so used to having to do this all on his own and it was nice to be able to bounce ideas off other people.

"I guess we knock on the door," Ren said, shrugging. "Or do we just let ourselves in? Is it breaking and entering in a dream?"

"Good question. Every dream I've been in before tends to skew to find a way to include me," Jaune explained, taking the lead and walking toward the door. "So even if we broke in through a window, the dreamer would probably not notice or explain it away. But they might dream us as intruders or part of a nightmare."

"Then it's better for us to be as friendly as possible," Pyrrha said. "And give them as little reason to worry as possible."

Ren shrugged. "Sounds like a plan. Ladies first."

Pyrrha rolled her eyes at being left to ring the doorbell but did so. The sound was quiet and stereotypical, pretty much exactly what someone expected from a doorbell. Funnily enough, it was that which clued Jaune into what he'd noticed earlier. "The house is stereotypical," he said.

"Hm?"

"Look at it." He pointed. "Perfectly square, door in the middle, exactly four windows evenly spaced on every corner. A flat garden with grass and a hedge, with no other decorations. None at all."

Ren and Pyrrha looked. It was Ren who caught it first. "It's what someone would draw if you asked them to picture a house. The perfectly stereotypical depiction of a house as drawn by someone. You're right. Interesting. It's not obvious since it's in perfect colour and detail, but if this were black and white then it would almost look like a child drew it. No real house would look this unremarkable."

It was just real enough to look normal but had an uncanny valley effect. That wasn't to say Jaune hadn't seen a lot of dull housing, especially back home, but even the cheapest places in Ansel still had some personality to them, some degree of irregularity. It might be that they were squashed to fit between two buildings, or angled differently, or they would have more windows – or different sized ones. This was too uniform, too symmetrical. It made Jaune realise this wasn't a dream someone was having about a place they'd lived at before; the dreamer was imagining a house unrelated to them.

And then the door opened and Jaune stepped out onto the porch.

For a second, Jaune wondered if he was the one who had transitioned – if the door had opened and he'd teleported to it and stepped out via some strange dream transition, but a quick look at Pyrrha and Ren – who were looking back at him – told him that wasn't the case. This was a second Jaune Arc.

And he was hot.

That was a strange thought for Jaune to have about himself, but the Jaune Arc in front of them was a little older, with a perfectly chiselled jaw and light stubble that grew in a handsome way Jaune had tried many times and failed to cultivate. His hair was a little longer, a little scruffier, and yet it was scruffy in that supermodel sense, where it was meant to look wild and untamed but over which a stylish probably had to work for a whole hour each day. He was also just a little buffer than Jaune was, with lean muscle and a chest practically straining to escape the confines of a shirt a size too small for it.

Jaune immediately disliked this perfect version of himself and felt inadequate standing in front of it. And then the Jaune smiled, showing rows of perfect white teeth, handsome dimples, and striking blue eyes.

"Darling!" he said, lunging forward and scooping up a shocked Pyrrha. He dragged her against his chest and twirled, spinning her around, before, in front of Jaune and Ren, dipping her back and kissing her.

"MPHHH!?" Pyrrha's legs and arms kicked.

Her face burned bright red.

"Ahem." Ren coughed, glancing aside, and it seemed to stagger the older, handsome Jaune into releasing her. Pyrrha sagged against the hunk's chest. Her eyes dizzy, her lips parted as she panted for breath.

"I'm so sorry. I was so excited I didn't see you there, Ren. And you, Nora."

"Yes, well—" Ren paused. "Nora...?"

He turned to Jaune, and Jaune looked down at himself. Immediately, his vision was obscured by development in the chest region that had not been there before. Curious, Jaune poked at one of his boobs. Ren slapped his hand away before he could do it a second time.

"Kids!" older Jaune called back into the house. "Your mother is back! And Uncle Ren and Auntie Nora are here as well!"

Three children blurred out with excited cries of "Mom!" and "Mommy!"

Pyrrha staggered under the sudden assault, hemmed in on all sides as she looked down with wide, frightened eyes at two redhead and one blonde child, none of which were older than ten. All of which had either brilliant green or deep blue eyes. All of which bore a staggering resemblance to either Jaune Arc or Pyrrha Nikos.

"W—W—What is this?" Pyrrha stammered, feeling herself be tugged every which way by the excited children. "J—Jaune, Ren, what...? I don't understand. Who would be dreaming about something like this? Why would someone dream of this?"

Ren figured it out first. "We were wrong."

"What...?"

"Jaune didn't bring two people into someone else's dream."

It was obvious Pyrrha didn't understand, a little too frazzled as handsome-Jaune held onto her from behind and nuzzled at her neck. Pyrrha squirmed and blushed, caught between an absolute hunk and three loving children.

"I don't... I don't get what you're saying. We're both here. Jaune must have brought us both into the dream."

"Unless you were already here."

Pyrrha's eyes widened.

"This is your dream, Pyrrha. You're lucid dreaming."

The stereotypical home, the boring garden, the hastily made abode, and then the exceptionally detailed husband waiting for her, with meticulously imagined children. Jaune caught on to what was happening a second after Pyrrha and got to watch her entire body turning redder than Ruby's cloak. It was a wonder she didn't set the person holding her on fire.

Awkward, Jaune thought, as he coughed into his fist and looked away.

"DON'T LOOK!" Pyrrha shrieked, waving her hands at them. Ren joined Jaune in looking the other way. "DON'T LOOK! NO, NO, NO! GO AWAY! GO AWAY!" Pyrrha squirmed even harder as her perfect fantasy version of Jaune kissed her neck romantically. "S—Stop! Beacon! Beacon! Imagine Beacon!"

The world melted away, including the husband and children. Thankfully, they vanished without screaming or making things even more awkward. Jaune wasn't sure what he'd do if people made up in a dream became self-aware and started begging Pyrrha not to erase them from existence. That level of meta would become painful.

They were in Beacon – outside the auditorium, by the looks of it.

"Well..." Ren said, sounding as awkward as Jaune felt. "I guess that explains why Pyrrha could change our outfits without Jaune needing to. It was her dream all along."

Pyrrha was burning red. "Nooooo," she wailed, covering her face with her hands. "My life is over! It's over!"

"This..." Jaune coughed. "Come on, Pyr. It's not that bad."

She looked like she might burst into tears.

"It's not like we weren't aware of your... um... feelings." That didn't seem to help if her quivering was anything to go by. "And I'm flattered, I really am. It's not like I don't think you're beautiful either. If I still could have my own dreams, I'd probably dream of you as well."

"Mgrbl..."

The sound that came out of her suggested his comfort was less than comforting, but, honestly, what was he meant to say? He wasn't upset she was having a saucy dream about him. As he said, it was flattering, especially to see she thought of him as that attractive. He didn't even think Yang would have an issue with this.

On the other hand, he couldn't say he'd want people to see a saucy dream of his.

"We won't tell anyone," said Ren.

"Kill me..." Pyrrha whispered. "Kill me now."

"No." Ren cleared his throat. "Also, you've put us in suits."

Jaune glanced down. He was not in a suit, but rather a dress. Nora's specifically. "Why am I still Nora?"

"Because your image is taken up by that."

They all turned to see sexy-Jaune on the dancefloor, chest to chest with Yang, the two of them gazing lovingly into one another's eyes as they twirled about a dancefloor under a beam of moonlight shining in from a high window. As they twirled, Yang's white dress grew and grew until it was a long wedding gown, while Jaune's rented tux... well, it didn't change much. The back grew a little, but that was about it. Men's formal clothing remained much the same from one event to the next.

"I guess this is the nightmare version where Pyrrha sees you with someone else—" Ren's summary was cut off by Pyrrha slugging him in the gut, bending him over her fist. He wheezed and crumpled to the floor.

"This is just a memory of the dance," Pyrrha lied, waving her hand back and closing the door to the auditorium. Several chains wrapped over it, and padlocks appeared, locking it shut. "There's nothing unusual about this."

A wedding march began to play through the door.

But then two huge speakers slammed down and started belting out jazz over it.

Pyrrha kept smiling.

A bead of sweat ran down Jaune's forehead. "Yeah," he lied. "I remember it being like this. I guess you're just going through memories now."

Pyrrha nodded quickly. Stepping up to him, she looked past and waved her hand. There was the sound of an engine running and then a vehicle screeching away. Jaune turned, but Pyrrha yanked his head back. "It's just some car," she said. "No point looking."

"White limo—" Ren choked as Pyrrha kicked him in the ribs. "Ugh. S—So violent. A—At least it's not a dirty dream."

Pyrrha picked him up and shot him a scowl. "If I ever end up in your dream about Nora, I'm going to narrate every bit of it. Mark my words."

"My dreams about Nora involve us almost dying to Grimm as children," Ren grumbled. "You know I don't feel that way about her – about anyone, really. I don't know if I'm capable of it. Also, you could have silenced me with a gag. It's your dream. Don't hit me."

"Don't say embarrassing things, then!"

"It's just a dream, Pyrrha." Jaune tried to sound like he wasn't effected by everything he'd seen. "It's nothing bad. Now, why don't we see if we can run some tests while we're here. Take our mind off things. How about you imagine us up a beech for a holiday? Somewhere away from Beacon and any awkward ideas."

"Yes. Yes, that sounds like a grand idea. And maybe I can imagine you without breasts while I'm at it."

"That would be appreciated. I'm scared to touch anything in case Nora finds out."

Pyrrha closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The transition was not instantaneous, for Pyrrha had to fight against her dream trying to pull her back to a nightmare version of the dance. She was determined, however, and soon a bright and hot sun high in the sky broke through Beacon's roof, and ocean waves eroded one wall. After that, the floor started to turn sandy, and before long they were on a tropical beech with crystal blue waters. It was probably better than any real beech, with absolutely no litter, no kids screaming. Nothing. Her imagination conjured up a level of perfection that wouldn't be seen anywhere else in nature.

"This is more like it," Ren said. "Can we have shorts?"

Ren flashed naked for half-a-second, enough for his eyes to widen, but then a pair of swimming shorts in green appeared over him. The same happened to Jaune, though thankfully his nudity was in his male body.

A quick look at Pyrrha showed she still had her eyes shut and was concentrating, so she hadn't seen or even realised their wardrobe malfunction. It was probably more that she had to cancel her image of them in their suits and replace them with shorts, and her subconscious did that literally by removing one and then adding another. Jaune was sure she'd have been blushing if she had noticed she did it, so Ren held a finger to his lips and they silently agreed not to tell her.

They also turned away swiftly when Pyrrha's dress began to shimmer. When she opened her eyes, she found herself in a red bikini and her two male teammates looking out over the ocean.

"There!" she said, proudly. "I did it!"

"You sure did," Ren said. "Did you change your own outfit?"

"Yes. I'm in a swimsuit."

"Thank goodness," he mumbled, turning back. "It's a shame we can't feel temperature—"

"Don't try!" Jaune insisted. "Messing up clothes means us looking silly. Messing up making the beach being boiling hot could have our skin melting off."

Pyrrha blanched. Ren, too. "Y—Yes. I think it's best not to experiment that much."

"Is there any risk of this turning nightmare on us?" Ren asked. "If we swim in the water, are sharks going to appear?"

Instantly, a fin appeared in the shallows.

It was gigantic.

"That answers that question," he said, stepping back from the water.

"It's your fault!" Pyrrha hissed, focusing on the fin with a scowl. It vanished. "You're putting ideas in my head and it's making them happen. You can't just mention there being sharks in the water and expect my brain not to react."

"She's right," Jaune came to her defence. "Lucid dreaming is new to me with my Semblance, so Pyrrha will likely conjure up anything we say before she can think whether she wants to or not. She can control things here, but that doesn't mean it's all under her control. Watch." Jaune faced Pyrrha. "Oh look, thunderstorms."

Pyrrha blinked and looked back. Crackling thunder and dark clouds were racing across the sky toward them, though she had the time to concentrate and disperse them before they unloaded a shower on the trio.

"Ah..." Ren hummed. "I see what you mean. Pyrrha has to fight her subconscious thoughts. That must be strange."

"It really is," she said. "I'm both in control and not at the same time. It happens before I can even think."

"That does make sense." Ren cupped his chin. "Biologically speaking, neurons fire faster than thought, and a lot of our bodily functions happen outside our awareness or control. Dreams are supposed to be when our subconscious takes over. This is honestly fascinating."

"Doctor Oobleck is going to want to speak with all of us," Jaune said. "And he's going to be bummed he didn't get to experience this."

"This being a beach," Pyrrha hissed. "And only a beach. Nothing else happened, right?"

"Of course."

"Absolutely."

They both knew better than to disagree. Ren changed the subject, though not in a way Jaune fully liked. "Since this is lucid, I wonder if Pyrrha can evoke permanent changes to her body using Jaune's Semblance."

"Ren, no!" he said.

"Changes?" Pyrrha was intrigued. "Like, cosmetic changes?"

"This is a bad idea!" Jaune argued. "And you don't need cosmetic changes, Pyrrha. You're beautiful as you are."

"Thank you, and that's sweet, but I'd love it if I could improve my body's performance to be stronger against the Grimm."

Trust Pyrrha to completely dodge the cosmetic angle and go straight to combat. It was a relief in a sense, because he didn't want to imagine her having body issues, but, at the same time, the idea of toying with someone's muscle mass and bone density sounded even more dangerous.

"Playing around with my Semblance is a bad idea. Look how it went for Nora."

"Blonde hair is not the end of the world."

"It is according to Nora."

"Also, Nora's issues came from her being caught in the dream and seeing you as her father," Ren reasoned. He didn't sound nearly as worried as Jaune felt. "Pyrrha is fully aware and cognisant here. We could try something small, something that wouldn't cause a big problem if it became permanent."

"Guys," he begged. "Bad idea."

"Like what?" asked Pyrrha.

"How about longer hair? If we make your hair twice as long, we can cut it back to normal when we wake up. If we're only playing with the length, that will make it fixable. We just shouldn't make changes we can't fix on our own."

That... didn't sound so bad. Jaune still wasn't keen, mostly because they were toying with things they didn't understand, but Ren had picked out a good way to test it with minimal risk. Shortening Pyrrha's hair would have risked permanency until she grew it out again, and playing with her body risked incredible health risks. Here, though, the could always cut it back to how she liked it.

"That doesn't sound so bad," she said, bringing her ponytail forward and stroking it. "I wouldn't mind seeing it thicker as well. It'd stay the same colour, though. Right...? You're not going to Nora me."

"Genetically adopt you?"

"Or that," she mumbled, blushing. Oh, right. Genetic adoption would make her last fantasy even worse. "Let's try it. Make my hair... I don't know. Twice as long. We're going to have to cut it in the morning away or everyone will ask how it grew so suddenly, so we might as well make it a noticeable change to make sure it worked."

"I'll imagine it the same shade of red," Jaune promised. "I wouldn't want your hair to change colour anyway. Are you ready?"

Pyrrha took a deep breath, then nodded. "Yes. Do it. Twice as long."

Jaune flexed his aura.

And Ren spoke. "Just make sure you don't subconsciously think of anything that could mess it up."

/-/

Nora flushed the toilet and washed her hands. It was a bummer she hadn't been brought along with Jauney's Semblance again, but two nights in a row would have been a little too convenient. Part of her had wanted to wake him up so they could try again, but that'd be unfair, and as much as she wanted to ride along she didn't want to ruin his sleep.

One boring night won't kill me, she thought, looking at herself in the mirror.

A frown overtook her as she peeled her bangs back and looked at her hairline.

Pale yellow was showing at the roots.

Stupid Jaune and his stupid Semblance. The wash-in hair dye wasn't expensive, and Pyrrha helped her use it in the shower, but she still didn't like seeing her roots turn blonde. Against her orange hair, it almost looked white. It wouldn't have been so bad if it was a darker shade.

There was an ominous crack out in the room that made Nora freeze.

"What was—"

The window shattered.

Cinder!?

Nora slammed her shoulder into the toilet door and rushed out ready to throw down if that bitch had come to try and assassinate her team leader. Her teammates would have already woken up from the shattering of glass, so she made no attempt to be stealthy and readied a battle cry.

Only to charge two steps out the toilet and run into something soft.

And red.

"Oomph! Whfff!?" she struggled to get the words out past something soft and bloodred squashing into her. Working a hand up, she pulled down what felt like hair, and finally caught the scene before her. "What the hell?"

Pyrrha was laid out on her bed, rolled onto her side with her crimson hair spilling out over the blankets, and the bed, and the floor, and Ren's bed, and Ren himself, and more of the floor, and the wall, and it was now pushing up the walls and forcing its way out the window, which had shattered under the pressure. A bulbous tumour of red hair must have been jammed out the window frame at this point.

And it kept on growing. It was up to Nora's neck and pushing her back against the wall. Ren and Jaune had already been devoured, just eaten up by what might as well have been fifteen kilometres of hair.

Nora took a deep breath. "WAKE THE HECK UP!"

Jaune jolted awake somewhere – his voice muffled by hair. "What? Where— What is this!? Where am I?!"

"Mmm." Pyrrha stirred. "Jaune? Ren? What happened?" She tried to sit up. Tried, and failed. "W—Why can't I move? Am I paralysed? Oh no, I—"

"Morning sleepyhead," Nora said, waving at her teammate over about a metre and a half of hair pinning her to the wall. It had stopped growing, thankfully, and seconds before it could swallow up the whole room. "Bad hair day?"

Pyrrha blinked and looked around her, and then reached up to touch her hair – and found herself with a whole lot more of it than anticipated.

"REN!" she yelled. "YOU AND YOUR BIG MOUTH!"