More Info

Velvet didn’t say anything of course, being paused, so Jaune was free to do what he wanted.

“I’m going to try a few buttons out, but first I want to test something.” Jaune chatted conversationally, as if the girl could hear him. “Let’s see if the channels are the same.” He clicked the Up Arrow of the Channel button.

Instantly, Velvet’s outfit changed to a suit, and she started to talk. It seemed some of the buttons would unpause the person so they could take effect.

“Tomorrow is going to be sunny and expect the weather to hold all weekend until Monday, where we have a chance of rain-...”

Jaune changed her back to Channel 0 so Velvet was in her normal outfit before quickly pausing her.

“Hmm, so the channels are the same?” Thinking about it, that made sense. Even if you swapped a television, it didn’t change the channels. So whatever system this magical remote used, it followed some kind of rules. “That makes it easier for me. I’ll have to see how many channels there are at some point.”

Jaune debated doing that now, but his curiosity about the other buttons was stronger. He wanted to know what they did so when he started having more fun, he could have options and not accidentally do something regrettable. Of course, the Rewind button is handy, but there would be a limit to his imagination with only a few choices. Once he knew what everything did, he could really go at it. Because of this train of thought, Jaune went for the Info Button. Normally, that would show some information about the show on the channel he was watching at the bottom of the screen.

But no screen appeared around Velvet.

Instead, she jerked like she was awake and turned to Jaune, giving him a simple smile, while her eyes appeared glossy and out of focus.

“Please state inquiry.” Velvet stated. She sounded like herself, if a little more monotone than normal.

“Er… what?” Jaune blinked.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that. Please restate the inquiry.” Velvet almost sounded like one of those AI devices.

“Can you explain?” Jaune asked.

“Certainly. I am here to answer questions on this device.” Besides when her mouth was moving, Velvet’s smile stayed plastered to her face.

“Device…” Jaune’s eyes widened. She meant herself! Anyone the remote targets is considered a device to it. So he’s treating them like a TV when they are under his control. There were some differences, as they weren’t a prerecorded show, so they could interact with real people. Like when Weiss flirted with him on the stripper pole. The Info Button couldn’t bring up a floating screen on a person, rather it had them answer questions about themselves.

Of course, being a teenage boy, there was one question he blurted out before anything else.

“What’s your breast size!?”

“38C.”

Jaune examined Velvet’s chest and figured that was probably accurate. It seemed right at least. Living with 7 sisters taught him a few things and the number of bras laying around the house never decreased. Though, just to be sure, Jaune walked before her and pulled her shirt back to look at the bra tag.

“Yep, it’s right.” Jaune chuckled. “Great! Now I can learn anything I need to about people! I don’t suppose you know about this remote, do you?”

“What would you like to know?” Velvet asked.

“Wait… you KNOW about it?!” Jaune gasped.

“I am here to give information about this unit.” Velvet explained.

“Where’s this remote from?!” Jaune asked eagerly.

“I do not know.”

Hope came crashing down around him.

“Why?” The boy asked.

“I do not know how it was made, only how it works with this unit.” Velvet answered simply, still smiling.

“Okay, shoot.” Jaune rolled his eyes and decided to test Velvet’s knowledge on the remote. “Then what does… the Record button do?”

“The Record Button allows you to save an action one unit does and replay it on the same unit or another one.” Velvet explained. “Simply press Record to start and then press it once more to end before hitting a number from 1-4 below it. You can save up to four actions at a time. To access a recorded action, just hit one of the numbers with a saved action while pointing the remote at a unit. Be careful, as you can overwrite previous recordings.”

“That might be fun if I can find someone at the right moment.” Jaune grinned and looked at the ceiling. With the Rewind and Pause feature, he can always make sure he can always hit Record at the best moment. “Even if I can’t learn about who made the remote, now I have a way to learn about the buttons.”

Though, this felt like cheating. Like using a guide to beat a new video game. Part of the fun was the adventure itself. Struggling and learning at your own pace while cursing constantly when you get stuck. He didn’t HAVE to use the Info button, it was just there in case he did.