A Semblance of Emotion 041

“Pull my hair~!” Blake gasped desperately, her voice dripping with lust. Jaune’s hand wound its way through her long, raven tresses and pulled, jerking her head back with a cry. Her pussy spasmed wildly around his pistoning cock, her shapely ass rippling from every thrust. The room was filled with the sound of their coupling, flesh clapping together wetly, and her ever increasing moans.

She was close. Jaune had gotten well acquainted with her body this past week, and he could tell this was going to be a big one.

At first, Jaune had been a little bit hesitant to do things like pull her hair or place his hand on her throat, but Blake had been insistent. She didn’t want him to hurt her, she claimed. She just wanted to feel that little bit of danger. The first time, he’d been nervous, but her reactions had been euphoric. Blake had climaxed so hard she’d nearly blacked out, and the way her insides coiled and milked his cock had convinced him that maybe, just maybe, he was okay with it.

But that wasn’t even the strangest thing that had developed between them.

“Oh fuck, you’re going to make her cum again. You should see her face, she looks like such a dirty little slut,” another voice said, though it wasn’t another voice at all. It was Blake’s voice, but it came from a different mouth.

Jaune grunted as he tore his gaze away from Blake’s sweaty back, feeling his own orgasm quickly approaching. Sitting in front of Blake, resting against the headboard of the bed with her thighs spread wide and her fingers frantically playing with her clit was… Blake.

After their first night together, when her mind had cleared from the shattering orgasms she’d experienced, she’d been curious. Jaune had told them about the increased potency of his semblance, particularly after he and Nora had been intimate, and so she’d wanted to try and see if it would similarly affect her.

The result was this other Blake.

She was a shadow clone but unlike any shadow clone Blake had ever summoned before. Blake’s semblance created physical copies, capable of simple tasks. They could swing a blade, they could run and jump and flip. She mainly used them for misdirection, and sometimes as a shield, and they were even capable of being infused with Dust to bring about different effects. But that was the limit of their usefulness. At most, they could remain in the world for a minute, maybe two if she pushed herself.

They certainly couldn’t remain a week later.

And they certainly couldn’t talk.

This other Blake was a perfect copy. So perfect that Jaune couldn’t tell it apart from the real Blake. It breathed, it ate food, and it felt. It felt anger, sadness, happiness, jealousy… lust. It felt everything the real Blake felt, and for all intents and purposes, it was Blake.

It had been… unnerving at first, doubly so for Blake herself. They thought it would vanish after a while but it was still here, and then one thing led to another…

Having sex had really unlocked Blake, and her kinky side was unleashed. No longer confined to her books, she had put up paltry resistance when her clone suggested that they both reap the benefits of his – in her words, not his – impressive cock.

Well, Jaune assumed it was the clone that suggested it. In truth, he didn’t know.

It may have been the real Blake that suggested it. In fact, the Blake he was fucking right now could be the clone, and the one strumming her clitoris furiously while his previous load leaked out of her twitching hole could be the original.

His eyes raked across her sweaty breasts and her reddened nipples where he had feasted earlier, the tips hard and perky, and then lower across her tight stomach, and her vigorous hand. Her clit was swollen, her vulva flushed brightly, her beautiful pussy leaking not just his load but her own arousal. Her face was filled with the height of pleasure, her molten honey eyes darkening as he sped up, fucking the other Blake as his hand on her hip tightened, digging into her flesh while he pulled on her hair harder. She wailed, her pussy milking him sporadically with her powerful inner muscles.

“Yes, yes, yes, right there,” she sobbed in bliss, her nails tearing at the sheets. Her folds vibrated around him, shuddering with every breath she took. “Oh fuck, yes – ahn! Jauuune! Mmmnngggg—I’m gonna cum! Ahhhn~!”

Jaune groaned darkly as her pussy seized up, clamping down on him viciously before pulsing in orgasm. He kept thrusting into her, harder and harder, her voice bouncing off the walls as she screamed her pleasure, as if trying to alert the entire world. His eyes remained fixed on the other Blake as her face collapsed, her thighs trembling as they tried to snap shut, her hand tensing as it cupped her pussy, her own moans joining that of her doppelganger.

His cock flexed powerfully as he sealed his pelvis against Blake’s plump ass, grinding his glans deeply as he came. Boiling hot cum rushed into her womb in heavy gushes, his balls leaping with every ejaculation. Blake whined as she felt his liquid heat rush into her deepest place, shivering all over as he unloaded his lust within her, extending her own orgasm. She writhed beneath him, her eyes rolling up into her head as he stuffed her full.

When the flow of semen finally slowed, Jaune pulled out of her. Blake moaned in loss, her entrance gaping up at him lewdly as he released her hair, letting her fall forward, her ass still upturned. His cock was drenched in her syrupy arousal, glistening as it throbbed, red raw but still hard. Slowly, her entrance sealed up, and she toppled to the side, cupping her belly.

“Oooh, it’s so warm,” she cooed, finger tips stroking her tender tummy.

She looked incredible, pale skin slick with sweat, her eyes hazy as she gazed up at him lovingly. The other Blake was giving him the same exact look, and his cock jumped in excitement, not at all cowed.

The other Blake grinned, her eyes full of hunger as she began crawling towards him. “Let me clean that up for you. We can’t leave it in such a mess~”

Her lips parted easily around his glans, and his post-orgasm sensitivity made him groan as her tongue lashed the underside of his crown. She proceeded to lavish his cock with attention, slurping and sucking heartily until Blake’s vaginal discharge was replaced with her saliva. At some point, Blake joined her clone and they worshipped him, tongues dueling together as they kissed around his shaft.

Having two tongues lapping at the tip, swirling and lashing his most sensitive spots was mindblowingly good. The softness of their pouty lips as they mouthed each side of his wide, swollen crown, their hands fondling his balls was just too much to handle.

When he came again, it was across their faces and tongues, Jaune’s brain almost shorting out from the pleasure. The first time he’d come on her face, he’d been worried but Blake had quickly assured him that she actually liked it. It turned her on, and seeing their expressions as he shot long, sticky ropes across their mouths, noses and brows, he saw nothing but the truth of her statement.

They licked each other clean, and Jaune struggled not to pin them down and fuck them both all over again.

They all fell together in a tangle of limbs afterwards, sweaty and spent. Glancing at the window, he saw that the rain clouds had yet to clear. Rain lashed against the window, and it only made him want to stay in bed, but he couldn’t.

He had somewhere to be.

Blake – one of them – was tracing the tattoo on his back with her lips, peppering it with small kisses. Just as with Nora, his intimacy with Blake had marked his skin in ink. Her symbol was etched onto his body, surrounded by familiar imagery. With Nora, it had been eldritch Grimm, and the most prominent of all, he now knew to be the visage of the Nuckelavee. Blake’s was different, though maybe looked similar at first. Grimm masks, those worn by the White Fang, as well as their new radical symbol, the wolf’s head with the three claw marks. The other Blake was curled up in front of him, kissing and nipping at his chest, her hands caressing his recovering balls. They were trying to entice him again, and his cock was still hard, as it always was, no matter how skillfully they tried to drain him, but as much as he would love to continue ravaging the pair of them, he needed to go.

They both complained as he slipped out of their embrace.

“Couldn’t you call her later?” the one that had been at his back asked, sulking. “You have all day.”

“I do but she doesn’t,” he said, and seeing the pair of them on the bed, naked, recently ravaged… it was a sight to behold. “I always call her at the same time. She’ll be expecting it.”

The Blake that had been at his front sighed. “It’s her turn now, we’ve had ours.”

They both pouted.

It was very cute, and it really was hard for Jaune to turn away from them.

He showered alone because if he didn’t, there was no way he could escape them. When he returned to the room, fully clothed, they’d cleaned themselves up a little bit and were waiting to use the shower themselves.

“Tell Weiss I said hi,” Blake – the real one? – said before leaning in and kissing him. Not to be outdone, the other Blake stole his lips after they parted, adding a little tongue.

“I will,” he said. “I’ll talk to you later.”

Jaune left the love hotel and caught a taxi to the airship terminal. While the rain was heavy, the wind was minimal, so the flight up to the school was calm, all things considered. The heavens had really opened up in the last couple of days, and Vale had been swamped with endless rainfall.

The farmers in the surrounding settlements would be happy. Rain meant growth, so long as the valley didn’t start flooding. That wasn’t good for anyone.

His mind settled on the continued presence of the second Blake. Jaune knew that his semblance had pushed Nora into an entirely new realm when they’d fought against the Centaur, but this was beyond his wildest dreams. Increasing the strength of someone's semblance was one thing, but what they’d created with Blake’s shadow clone was essentially a whole new person.

She was capable of thinking for herself, and making decisions. It could fight, just as well as the original. It could also take a hit and not vanish. In fact, Blake had admitted that during a spar with her other half that it also had aura. Not just aura, but it could bleed.

This was something he would need to report to the school when they returned from their holiday. If Jaune could do this to Blake’s semblance, then what could he do to other’s? Nora’s, for example. She could absorb lightning and make herself magnitudes stronger. How far could they push it? Or would it manifest in a different way?

Just what was Nora’s semblance, at her core?

When he started thinking about it, he couldn’t help but think of other applications. Weiss’ semblance was already incredibly versatile. What could it accomplish if they were intimate with one another? She’d already revealed that she could summon defeated foes. What else could the Schnee family semblance produce?

Perhaps it was wrong of him to think about it, but he thought of Yang and Ruby. Yang’s ability to absorb kinetic energy and bolstering her own strength, and Ruby’s speed – just how far could those abilities be pushed?

And Pyrrha – well, he didn’t know Pyrrha’s semblance. It was still a mystery. Wasn’t that a scary thought? She was that good, and he hadn’t even seen her trump card. He had a theory, but that is all it was. He’d seen glimpses, but it could be any number of things.

Jaune shook his head. He shouldn’t even be thinking about this. With Weiss, it was warranted, maybe. But the others – it would forever remain a thought, and nothing more. The fact that Nora and Blake were both willing to coexist was one thing. Anything more was just pure ego if he was seriously considering it.

Ridiculous.

Jaune pulled his coat closer to his body as he stepped off the airship when it arrived. It was raining just as heavily here, and he ran through the pouring rain towards the CCT, umbrella doing its best to keep him dry.

It was mostly successful.

When he entered the lobby, there weren’t many people around. Jaune couldn’t blame them. It wasn’t the best day to go out and make an international call. The receptionist knew him on sight, a young woman in her early twenties with curly brown hair, and smiled brightly, waving at him. Jaune waved back as he collapsed his umbrella and gave it a shake before hanging it on the drying stand by the door. Removing his coat, he also hung that up before approaching.

“I need to make a call,” he said the familiar words, and she nodded at once, tapping away on her keyboard for a moment before handing him a card. It was now a practised routine with them, and Jaune scanned his scroll against the reader to pay for the hour he’d purchased.

“I’ve set you up on the third floor, terminal nine,” she said. It was his usual spot. “Have a nice day.”

“Thanks.”

The first time he’d come here, he’d been a little amazed. Jaune wasn’t sure what he’d envisioned when he’d thought about the CCT before but it wasn’t the cozy, lounge-like atmosphere that they’d created. Numerous couches were positioned around the circular room with coffee tables settled between, potted plants giving the place a more vibrant look. The terminals were in the middle of the room, large pillar-like structures that had four terminals to each pillar, one on each side, capable of being enclosed in small booths for privacy. There was a cafe for refreshments, an information kiosk, and even a travel agency for those looking to make plans for overseas trips.

The floor was carpeted, the walls decorated with portraits of various important men and women from Vale’s past. Every twelve feet or so was a large window, and the higher floor you were on, the more impressive the view was.

It was practically empty today. Jaune spotted a young girl with who he assumed was her younger brother, and an elderly man, and that was it. Finding terminal nine, he sat down and closed the booth so they would have total privacy.

Weiss answered before the second ring could even register.

She looked amazing, as always, her beautiful face filling the screen. Instead of her usual sidetail, her hair was down, and he saw that she was still in her nightwear, the light blue gown showing off the delicate line of her collarbone. That was odd, since it was almost ten in the morning where Jaune was, and Atlas was two hours ahead, making it almost noon.

“Jaune,” she greeted, and even her voice lacked the usual enthusiasm she held during these calls.

It instantly put him on edge.

He knew things with her family were bad. Weiss liked to vent to him during these calls, and Jaune was happy to give her an outlet for her to let out her frustrations. Since they’d parted at the end of the semester, despite the distance between them physically, Jaune felt like they were closer than ever. It was a sign of supreme trust on her part to let him see into the ugly truth of her upbringing.

“Weiss,” he returned. “What’s wrong?”

She blanched. “Who said anything is wrong?”

“You didn’t have to say anything. I can see it written all over your face.”

Weiss looked away for a moment before she sighed, meeting his eyes head on. “I should have known you would notice immediately. In the future, you should let a girl deflect for a bit before she spills her secrets. It will let her salvage a bit of her pride.”

“Sorry,” he said.

She shook her head. “No, don’t be. You wouldn’t be you if you ignored it. You wouldn’t be the…” she trailed off, shaking her head again. “Nevermind. I’m rambling. Just forget it.”

It must have been serious. To see her like this, shaken almost – Jaune dreaded what had her so despondent.

“Weiss,” he said softly. “I don’t want to forget it. What’s wrong? You know you can talk to me.”

“I both love and hate this about you,” she said tiredly, before sighing. “My… father is hosting an auction in a couple of weeks. The proceeds will go to some much needed infrastructure projects in Mantle. The wall that protects the city is in desperate need of an upgrade, and the Atlesian council is dragging its heels when it comes to providing funding with the Vytal Festival taking up all of their attention. The heating grid that keeps the lower city from freezing also requires maintenance.”

“Isn’t this a good thing?” he asked hesitantly. “I mean, it sounds like your father is stepping in where the government is failing to do its job.”

Weiss frowned. “It is completely performative on my father’s part, but… yes, it is good that the funds raised from this auction will be going into projects that desperately need it,” she conceded begrudgingly. “Even if it’s purely a PR move for the company. It’s the only reason I’ve agreed to take part.”

This was where her angst was coming from.

“What is he making you do?”

Weiss scoffed. “What else? I’m to be his little songbird and perform on command. There will be a show – two shows, actually, with the auction taking place on two separate days. In truth, my father could just dump money into these projects without going through all of this, but he wants to make it an occasion. Some glitz and glamour to dazzle the people. It’s going to be televised.”

That sounded nerve wracking.

“I was lying when I said the only reason I’m doing this is because of the charity aspect,” she then admitted. “My road to Beacon… it was very different than most, Jaune. My father did not want me to be a Huntress, but he did not forbid me from trying to follow in my sister’s footsteps. He wanted me to try and fail, and show me that I wasn’t cut out for this life. He set me test after test, each harder than the last, and when I finally conquered his last obstacle, it was only then that I was allowed to venture out into the world. I can say a lot of things about that man, but he kept his word.”

Her voice was brittle, and he could hear something in it that he disliked. He wanted to comfort her, to hug her, but he couldn’t. All he could do was lend an ear.

“I am his heir, and as his heir, he will be forever testing me. This is just another test of his. I know that if I had refused, he would have found some way to make me pay for it. I wouldn’t have put it past him to pull me out of Beacon against my will. As of now, I am still dependent on him – if he decided to do this, I could not stop him.”

It was defeat. That is what he heard in her voice.

Weiss Schnee felt defeated.

Jaune hated it.

“Weiss…”

“I know,” she said. “I could give it all up, right? If I really wanted to, I could just walk away from it. Typical rich girl, can’t bear the thought of parting with money… but it isn’t the money. The Schnee Dust Company… it was the legacy of my grandfather. It is important to me, on a personal level. Maybe some people wouldn’t understand, and just see the riches, and roll their eyes. I wouldn’t even blame them.”

“I understand.”

“Do you?” she asked. “Really?”

“It isn’t the same, but… I’m proud of my family, Weiss,” he said. “I’m proud of the name they forged, of the legacy they left behind,” reaching down, he unclipped his sword from his belt. It was newly reforged, perhaps no longer the same blade, but it carried the same name, and was built upon what came before. He showed it to her. “I know it isn’t a company, just a sword – but I wouldn’t give this up to anyone, not if there was another way. The land my family farms – I feel the same way about that. It’s important to me, to my sisters, beyond its monetary value.”

Weiss stared at his sheathed blade for a long moment in time before she met his eyes.

“You do get it.”

“I do.”

“Damn you, Jaune Arc.”

What?

She shook her head, hugging herself. “I have a favor to ask you… it is a favor I do not wish to ask, a favor I perhaps shouldn’t.”

“I’ll do it,” he said instantly.

“Wait until I’ve asked first,” she snapped. “You have no idea what it is that I’m about to ask for. Don’t just offer yourself up!”

“I don’t care what it is. I know you wouldn’t ask something unreasonable of me,” he smiled. “I like to think I know you at least that well.”

“Your kind nature is going to get you into trouble some day, I just know it,” she said ruefully. “Maybe it already has gotten you in trouble…”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, don’t worry about it,” she glared at him. “My favor is this; if it isn’t too much trouble, would you be open to the idea of… coming to Atlas, and meeting my family?”

Jaune blinked.

“Uh… what?”

Weiss rolled her eyes. “If I’m to go through with this… show… I’d appreciate it if I had someone here, in my corner. I know Nora is busy and Blake – well, that just isn’t a very good idea, is it?” Yeah, no – that would be like throwing oil on a campfire. Talk about an inflammatory situation. But you… if you aren’t busy, and it isn’t too much trouble, I’d like it if you could come out here… and support me.”

To Atlas.

Before coming to Vale, Jaune hadn’t even left his small little region in the north, and now he was going to be traveling across the globe. Because he wasn’t going to turn her down, not with that expression on her face; half-hopeful, half-dread.

Part of her wanted him to say no.

But all Jaune saw was the hope.

“I’m there. Uh – well, I better save a lot of money because flying to Atlas can’t be cheap.”

Weiss looked at him as if he was an idiot. “Do you really think you have to pay for anything? I’ll be handling everything, and don’t argue,” she commanded sternly as he opened his mouth. “I’m the one asking you to travel halfway around the world, you will not be paying a single lien – do I make myself clear?”

Jaune could see she wasn’t going to back down.

“Fine, fine,” he gave in. “You win.”

“Good. It’s settled, then,” she said haughtily, and it was nice to see a little bit of her spunk back.

For Weiss to invite him to meet her family… she was showing him an extraordinary amount of trust. She already had been, but this was something else. His actions could affect things for her in a way that he didn’t know, so Jaune knew he would have to be on his best behavior. Her situation was a difficult one, so he wasn’t about to make it worse.

It wasn’t for a few weeks, so he had time to prepare. When Weiss gave him the dates, he realized that it was during the last week of their holidays before they returned for their second semester. He’d only have a couple days in Vale before they were back at school.

His agreement put her in a much better mood, and the rest of their conversation was much lighter as a result.