Team RNJR travel to Higanbana

The cocoon that was Ruby's sleeping bag cracks open at the break of dawn. Ruby stretches her wings with a long, sensual sigh as the sun kisses her face. She arches her back and pushes her chest out to embrace the morning sun. She then rolls her neck round and round. The tension in her neck unwinds easily. Ruby woke up feeling limber and sexy! Ruby had yet to put words to the erotic, empowering energy pulsating through her body- she was ovulating.

Jaune managed to catch her at the right time to turn on a switch that lay dormant in Ruby's body.

Ruby was a late bloomer. Some people thought Ruby was a child when she first joined Beacon due to her physique and squeaky voice. But since the Fall of Beacon, her body had matured. Ruby had a growth spurt and her chest was becoming noticeably larger in the seasons that followed the 40th Vytal tournament. At the age of 19 years old, Ruby's womanhood was now in full bloom. And her manhood was lively as ever!

Ren noticed something different about Ruby, opening an eye to look in direction. Her liberated sighs broke his concentration while meditating.

"Good morning?" Ren says, puzzled by what has gotten into Ruby this morning.

"It is a good morning..." Ruby smiles.

There was a new layer of base to Ruby's voice this morning. There exists a stereotype of people believing futanari all have androgynous or manly voices. This misrepresents the nuance of vocal ranges futanari can have. Some develop more masculine voices during puberty. Most have voices which are indistinguishable from a woman. However, a certain variety of futanari develop what are described as "cougar voices". The Mistrali expression for this is "ara-ara" which literally translates to "age-age". The phrase is used to describe futanari who sound twice their natural age! Ren knew that Ruby's voice was developing towards the "ara-ara" vocal range!

Ruby's attention darts towards Jaune like a laser pointer. He was still getting his beauty sleep. Ruby rises from her sleeping bag and flutters toward Jaune. Ren observes her silently.

"Jaune... wakey wakey Jaune... good morning..." Ruby says playfully while stroking her fingers along his neck.

"Stop it! Stop! You're tickling me!" Jaune giggles.

"We got to get a move on big boy..." Ruby teases as she kneels at Jaune's side.

"Alright! Alright, miss!" Jaune replies.

Within his subconscious mind, Jaune thought Glynda Goodwitch was waking him from sleeping in a lecture. Her inviting tone and willingness to touch him made Jaune excited at the prospect of "extracurricular activity". Jaune awoke to see it was Ruby beckoning him instead. He froze. Partly out of embarrassment. Partly because of his thick morning wood.

Ruby was really happy to see him. Jaune smiled at her to play off his awkward awakening. Her rosy cheeks and toothy smile were not the worst thing to see first thing in the morning.

"Breakfast is served!" Nora shouts.

"Breakfast? Nora, how long have you been awake for?" Jaune shouts while looking past Ruby.

"Long enough! I'm tired of camping and I wanna reach civilization today please! Let's eat up and boogie!" Nora replies enthusiastically.

"Nora, you used all our food supplies for breakfast!" Jaune remarks upon seeing the selection of dishes Nora has whipped up.

"I tried to tell her not to..." Ren comments.

"You are gonna need all this energy! We are not stopping until we reach another town to restock!" Nora answers.

"Do you understand how expensive food is nowadays?! Grimm ruined trade routes everywhere! We can't afford to pig out Nora!" Jaune snaps.

"I will eat your portion if you won't!" Nora claps back.

"Hey! Don't you dare! Pass a plate!" Jaune orders as he frantically unzips out of his sleeping bag.

As Jaune strides past Ruby, she catches the glimpse of Jaune's erection swinging in his pajama bottoms. His manhood was about twice the size of Ruby's! They gasp as their eyes follow Jaune stomping towards Nora. A naughty smile accompanies her sultry gaze. Ren also noticed Jaune's erection and Ruby's reaction to it. He chose to keep this information to himself. Nora on the other hand...

"Jaune, why are you so happy to see me?!" Nora shouts, looking down at Jaune's crotch.

"I'm not! Pass the bread!" Jaune yells.

"Would you like some condoms with that?" Nora replies in a store clerk voice.

Ren nearly spit-takes as he is caught off guard with a sudden fit of laughter! Ruby howls out laughing next! Ren tries to cover his mouth to withhold his smirking. He fails spectacularly. Jaune swivels his head towards Ruby and Ren, then back Nora. It dawns upon him that he may very well be stuck with these goofballs forever...

"I need to get laid..." Jaune thinks to himself.

Nora's recklessness turned out to be the kick in the ass Team RNJR needed to reach the next town, Higanbana. It took them from morning till night for them to finally arrive at an inn. Nora immediately suggests buying a great big dinner to celebrate! Despite being strapped for cash, everyone needed a good meal due to skipping lunch.

Team RNJR is in high spirits, riding off their apparent luck of not encountering a single Grimm all week! They order a table with Nora and Ren sitting on one side while Jaune and Ruby sit together on the other. They glance over the menus briefly. Nora concludes that she will try anything with pork!

"Pork sounds great! Jaune, what do you think?" Ruby comments as she subtly nudges Jaune's arm.

"Pork is it! What joy juice are we drinking?" Jaune replies.

"Drinking joy juice?" Ruby responds. She's never heard someone call **** 'joy juice' before.

"No way! You don't drink ****?" Jaune says.

"I did... Once! I hated it! Most **** smells and tastes like garbage!" Ruby answers.

"Your dad probably gave you something awful on purpose to keep you away from drinking," Ren comments.

"That sounds exactly like something my dad would do..." Ruby adds.

"I'll order something nice for you!" Nora says.

"Not so fast! I know you will try to get Ruby hammered! I will order her drink," Jaune intercepts.

"What's the occasion?" Ruby asks.

"We don't need an occasion to be happy! And getting hammered is part of the fun!" Nora declares.

"Did your sister never take you out drinking?" Ren questions.

"Yang cooled off from her party girl phase when she joined Beacon. I don't think she goes out drinking anymore," Ruby explains.

"That's not true! She drinks with us!" Ren responds.

"WHAT?!" Ruby exclaims.

"She's a riot! Yang is one of the only people I have seen handle as much beer as me in one night! Though she can get a little rowdy when she's drunk..." Nora comments.

"Yang hangs around a group of friends she knew from before she enrolled at Beacon as her other set of drinking buddies. We bump into them from time to time," Jaune adds.

"There are times we basically have to scrape her off the floor and deliver her back to your room when she drinks with us. Especially on Fridays! Did she never tell you?" Ren explains.

"My time has been fully invested on Team RWBY and she's been partying it up with everyone but our team?!" Ruby yells.

Jaune, Nora and Ren look at each across the table. "Yeah!" they declare in unison.

"To be fair, sometimes she invites Blake out with us too..." Nora confesses.

"Motherfucker..." Ruby curses.

"Language!" Ren comments.

"You're not my dad, I can say what I want!" Ruby replies.

"Oooooohhhhhhh..." Nora instigates, stirring the pot. Hearing Ruby swear for the first time felt out of place. Nora was among those who thought of Ruby like a child during her early days at Beacon (which somewhat explains why Ruby never got invited out drinking). Nora is fascinated to see where a standoff between Ren and Ruby would lead to now that Ruby must assert herself as an adult.

"You got a new attitude to go with that voice?" Ren responds cheekily.

"What's different about my voice?" Ruby replies.

"You sound more..." Ren tapers off. He realizes that Ruby may get the wrong idea if he says what he is actually thinking the wrong way.

"I sound more what?" Ruby goads.

"Kind of like Glynda Goodwitch," Jaune jumps in.

"Yeah, like a teacher..." Ren mutters, thankful that he dodged a bullet.

"Or like a MILF!" Nora adds.

"Really?!" Jaune snaps.

"I just said what you were thinking! She is getting a cougar voice! Tell her Jaune!" Nora announces.

"You think I sound like a MILF?" Ruby says to Jaune.

Ren's eyes open wide- he realizes that Nora's is shit stirring. She revels in the chaos of putting people in a bind! If Jaune says something stupid, it could hurt Ruby's feelings. Ren thinks of something to shut down the conversation before Jaune digs himself a hole. He doesn't want Nora's blabbermouth to complicate RNJR's team dynamic.

"You don't have to answer that, Jaune. I was thinking it too," Ren intercepts, taking the heat upon himself.

"Ruby! Say 'ara-ara' in a really deep voice!" Nora goads.

"Why?" Ruby asks.

"I will explain..." Ren opens, attempting to bore Ruby with a long winded explanation to diffuse Nora's antics.

"Just do it! Look Jaune in the eyes and say it!" Nora cuts in.

Nora's mischief knows no bounds. Try as you might to deter her, she will find a way under your skin. For tonight's entertainment, Nora plots to weaponize Ruby sex appeal against Jaune! Ruby turns in her chair to look Jaune in the eyes just as planned.

"Ara-ara..." Ruby groans with a deep, foxy voice. Her vocal cords must have reached down to her core, extracted desire from the depths of her soul and shot it out her mouth to produce such an alluring sound. Her voice felt as if it grabbed you by the genitals. Even Nora felt aroused despite having no interest in girls (until now?)... a pause leaves RNJR's table silent. They all needed a moment recoil from Ruby's siren call.

"Waiter!" Jaune shouts, trying to fish himself out of his situation.

"What's the matter Jaune? Need some liquid courage? Are you trying to get some 'pork'?" Nora teases.

Ruby giggles uncontrollably at Nora's brazenness! Her face flushes red as she tries to cover her mouth. Ren knows he cannot save Jaune now...

"What do you mean?!" Jaune replies, flabbergasted.

"You know what I mean! Do you want it hot and dripped in honey?" Nora quips.

"I just want to order some drinks!"

"Wow! You hear a woman say ara-ara once and you immediately try to order some drinks? Go get 'em tiger!"

"Nora stop!"

"You seemed to be really energetic this morning!"

"That has nothing to do with tonight!"

"So you were thinking about me this morning and now you want a piece of Ruby?"

Jaune kicks Nora underneath the table. Nora kicks him back. A frenzy of kicks begins to rapidly exchange between Nora and Jaune under the table! Ruby has become breathless with laughter at this point. Her cheeks hurt like they are being pinched. She catches her breath by looking to the side and fanning herself while Jaune and Nora barrage each other.

"Ren! Jaune is trying to play footsies with me! Aggressively! Help me!" Nora yelps.

"You set yourself up for that one..." Ren replies.

"Yes?" the waiter says he approaches the table. Jaune and Nora put an end to their childish behavior quickly.

"I would like to order some drinks for myself and the little lady across from me," Nora declares.

"Are you paying for Ruby's drinks? If you order, it's your tab..." Jaune clarifies.

"...Democracy it is. My team would like to order some drinks for me and the little lady across from me!" Nora rectifies.

"No way I'm paying for your drinks!" Jaune rapid fires, recognizing that Nora is trying to pull a fast one.

"I abstain my vote," Ren adds.

"Dammit. Ruby, I'm the best drink connoisseur for a night of drunken fun, so long as you are prepared to pay the consequences!" Nora jokes.

"Nora will drink anything which smells like ****! I can order you something that tastes nice and will get you reasonably tipsy out of my pocket," Jaune says to Ruby.

Ruby was left with an important choice to make- how responsible was she prepared to be tonight? She didn't really need any joy juice at all. She didn’t need to let Nora or Jaune decide for her what to drink. But the propositions behind why they intended to order for her were uniquely promising…

The conundrum of adulthood is choice. During childhood, almost everything is decided for you. As an adult, you can choose to lead or be led, but you must always bear the consequences.

Was this choice a question of who she trusts? Of what she wants? Maybe her answer signals who she wants…