A Rabbit Among Wolves

Chapter 20

The various designers were called to attend backstage in their private booths, and it was there that Sun filled him and the others in on his brief interaction with the Subtle Spices model. The proof wasn't definitive of yet, but Lisa hadn't led them wrong so far.

"We've got bigger problems though," Yuma said. "Beacon are here."

"He knows." Trifa eyed Jaune evilly. "Since he made out with one of them."

"Dude..."

"I know." Trifa huffed. "The enemy, right there in front-"

"Dude. High five!"

Trifa made choking motions with her hands.

"It wasn't Blake, was it?" Ilia asked insistently.

Jaune replied in the negative since Trifa was too busy throttling Yuma and he was sure Adam would rant and rage in his head if he claimed it was. Plus, he didn't want to have Ilia jealous at him as well. "Nah. It was the brunette. Coco. And it wasn't a real kiss. She staged it."

"Coco? The one with the leather pants?"

"The brunette."

Ilia looked none the wiser.

Jaune sighed. "The one with the leather pants."

"Ohhh." Ilia gave a thumbs up. "Nice."

Down Ilia. Down. Shaking his head, Jaune closed the door behind him and shied away from Trifa. She hadn't been in a good mood since his dance with Coco, which he had a feeling was less to do with any real jealousy and more the fact that she now had to act the part of a woman who was either a) too dumb to realise her boyfriend just cheated on her or b) was a gold digger who didn't care and was only after Vivian's money. Given that she was a spider faunus and the references some could make to black widows, he didn't want to consider the latter.

"The job is still the same," Tukson said. "Impress the judges and impress Subtle Spices."

"Yes. We need one of their contracts and the best way to get it will be to have one of you hired." He looked to Bane, Yuma, Sun and Ilia. "That means we need the four of you to kick butt out there. Now, I won't lie to you. It'll be hard."

"Oh. Oh." Sun grinned. "Inspiring speech."

"Yes." Jaune faced them all. "Your competition is better than you, more experienced than you, has actual fashion designers working on their outfits and knows exactly what to do to make this work, while you're all complete amateurs with no knowledge of what a strut is, being dressed by a man who thinks hoodies and ripped jeans are cool."

Sun's smile faltered. "Inspiration feels less comforting than I thought it would."

"-but I believe in you," Jaune said. "And I know you'll go out there and kick everyone's asses. You'll show them just what you're made of."

"And how will we do that?" Ilia asked.

"I have faith in you, Ilia," Jaune said, resting a hand on her shoulder. "To discover the answer to that mystery yourself."

Her eyes were flat. "You have no idea, do you?"

"I'm delegating the idea making process to you."

"You're dodging responsibility."

"No, Ilia. I'm empowering you to make your own choices. Besides, your job is to walk in a straight line. How hard can it be?"

"Harder than you're making it sound," Deery warned through his earpiece. "I've been doing some reading up on this show and it's ruthless. There's been rumours of sabotage in the past, all unsubstantiated but the accusations are still there. I'm looking through videos of the catwalk now."