SHIELDED.

As writers, we’re usually our own worst enemy. However, there are times where we just read over something we wrote and acknowledge “Oh...that’s good.” and you may or may not end up restructuring the whole reply to fit that one line just cause it was so good, and you spend hours trying to make it work haha...ha.

Anyways, go through a few of your threads/replies/drabbles/any piece of writing you got. Pick out 5 of your favorite lines that you’ve written for your character(s), and in turn tag 5 (or however many others you want) to do the same!

Repost, don’t reblog. 

1.

 Jaune knows these words--he’s heard them before. The thoughts of his father never wavering, forcing the boy to grow beneath his rule and outdated vernacular; the only reprieve the young Faunus ever finding being that in the comforting words of his mother, to which, he wonders how she’s managed to keep her confidence.

  Lips thin, jaw shifts, and that sensation of exhaustion ebbs; breaking at the middle to allow a new emotion to pass. Irritation. Frustration. Anger. Jaune couldn’t quite comprehend the toiling in his chest, the heat rising to his cheeks, and the sudden spill of a rough, tired voice that one can’t quite swallow in time.

  “Shut up.”

   2.

“I can’t do this at all!”

  Rabbit snaps, eyes sharp and for a brief moment, cruel.

  “None of us can!                        It was STUPID to think we were ready to take all of this on. That we wouldn’t lose anyone else after Pyrrha--”

  A hiccup, and fear strikes; expression suddenly faltering with regret as his steps stumble back, gaining a touch of distance between he and lightning bug. Eyes flicker, scouring downwards, and he doesn’t know where to look--where to go. He doesn’t even know where to begin to find their missing piece, the boy of two souls who sacrificed his own self.

3.

  “Esen.”

  Prince beckons; but ever soft is that wanting tone, near playful in the way retainer is called, and to accompany eyes of ocean’s blue alight with mischief that one of child’s heart would display. He was always fond of the fox--especially in their youth, and despite responsibilities heavy to shoulders and plague upon the horizon, still did lepus find room to idle.

4.

Eyes slip close, and Sun’s voice causes heart to leap; to signal a flush to touch upon cheeks shrouded by night. He can’t even speak--afraid he’d spill something idiotic in turn, unable to voice a meaningful response that wouldn’t leave him cringing. Jaune swallows, and opens his eyes again, and only then begins to shift; to take legs out from under himself, and scoot to the bed’s edge as socked feet find cold flooring.

  “And I do--”

  He begins, hands pressed to mattress in aid to lift him, and once standing, Jaune smiles back through the darkness of shared dorm.

  “Love you.             Just...think about that, okay?”

5.

  --That’s right, wasn’t it? Nothing but a fraud; a kid with a dream of heroics who wronged those around him with his incompetence, who used to stumble over his own feet and prove time and time again he didn’t belong. It’s the one thing he ever wanted, to have that one, stupid title to hang over his head, to declare himself a hero.

  And a hero was expected to die just the same; to carry that title in their actions from life to death.

Ren laughs softly at Jaune’s attempted joke. It isn’t exactly funny, per se, but it’s just funny enough that it warms Ren’s heart. He gets up from the bed, looking steadily at his team leader. “And your sister won’t mind us taking her snacks?” He inquires. After all, his family is letting them stay here without any complaints whatsoever, it would feel cruel to take something that belongs to someone actually living in this house.

Dutifully, steadily, Ren follows Jaune out of the room and down the hall. He’s matching Jaune in terms of how quiet he’s being, because if there’s one thing his sisters have in spades, it’s energy.

Thankfully, Ren knows enough about energetic people, having spent most of this portion of his life with Nora, who is probably the most energetic person he knows.

   Would Marigold mind? Likely, but that would only be if she found out--not that Jaune was going to spill that little secret outright to Ren, though. If he wanted their ‘mission’ to go off without incident, it would be best to keep a few details to himself. Thus, rabbit does when socked feet touch upon cold, tile flooring, and memorized motions flick up switch to shed light upon the quaint kitchen. Nothing extravagant, surely--fairly small, and decorated like one would expect their grandmother’s home to be. Old appliances, floral accents, and a mess of crumbs upon counter-tops left by whoever had last visited with no mind to clean their mess up. Typical.

   “Hey, uh...”

   Tapering as he’d begun, Jaune makes his way to cabinets overhead, easily reaching with the height he towered when pulling doors open and scrounging around inside. Though he speaks clearly to lotus, it seems there is difficulty in eye-contact and finds distraction in moving aside half-eaten boxes of crackers and canned goods.

   “I know it’s kind of a madhouse here, I really should have warned you guys before. But I--...y’know, I couldn’t just--...I thought bringing you two here would be...safe.”

   Jaune dwindles, pausing his idle search as shoulders sag.

@lepusheart​. || short starters !

    “you could have told me, you know.” rèn’s voice was soft; he wasn’t looking to make jaune uncomfortable, but he wanted to understand why blond’s faunus heritage was something he felt the need to hide. he could understand, perhaps, why jaune would want to hide it from the general public — after all, to have one’s faunus trait forcibly removed must come with a sense of shame, of fear. what he didn’t understand was why it took their leader so long to tell his teammates. now, having gotten jaune in a room without family members, rèn took his chance to reassure the knight. “it wasn’t my business until you decided to tell us, but … why hide from your teammates? your friends?”

   It was one thing after another--exhaustion set within knight’s bones, a tragedy that lead he, and those beside him, home; to a home that, in the end brought forth apart of himself that he perhaps was not quite yet ready to show. Difficulty came though when keeping one quiet as a gaggle of both rabbit faunus and humans greeted new arrivals and forced Jaune was to shed the visage he wore. He wasn’t upset--not entirely, more so...nervous, fearful even for the words and glances he may receive. 

   But, at the very least, Ren’s reassurance was gentle, and that anxious rattling within chest was easily quelled at present.

   “I just--it’s not really that important, y’know?”

   A deflection--voice dipped to near murmuring, and eyes of deep blue scour away from lotus in a sense of shame despite how fear had lessened. Jaw shifts, chest heaves, and lips part once before trying a second time to further spill his voice.

‘   i have though.   ’   dragon’s utterance was forlorn, regretful, amaranthine gaze drawn down in shame as they recalled misgivings that now made so much more sense. jaune was a faunus too, how hadn’t they noticed ? for one who was so highly regaled for their observation skills they felt pathetic. how many times had ren narrowed eyes in suspicion when jaune did or say something that felt off ? when he attempted to assuage inquiries of doubt with sunny smiles and the ever telling “ i’m fine’s ” ren’s emotive senses had gone haywire, attuned from traumatic childhood to spike whenever they felt mistruths. why couldn’t they grin and bear it ? this affluent need to understand whether jaune was hiding something ? spanning from beacon to atlas, the paranoia had never settled completely despite ren’s loyalty to the jaune he’d come to know. trusting a leader that didn’t trust you could cause some irreparable damage.

‘   whenever you would act evasive, change, or drop a subject suddenly i’d behave dismissively, aggressively.   i react accusingly whenever i perceive someone as lying.   ’   heart ached, still in the grip of all instances that would explain why jaune had done some of the things he did, things that ren in turn had done once upon a time, before their horns grew back once more. but jaune’s … they would never return. how many times had ren assumed jaune would never fully understand that plight ? when ren could never understand the true severity of his ?   ‘   it’s — it’s hypocritical isn’t it   ?   when i expect some acknowledgement that something’s amiss when i haven’t offered up anything in turn   ???   i’ve been selfish, petty to you, and i am so sorry.   ’   another shaky sigh, a hand coming up to rub at their neck nervously.   ‘   …   was cardin so awful to you because he knew you were a faunus   ?   ’

   Mouth running dry and Jaune knows the truths in Ren’s words; yes, perhaps they had been quick to snap, to dismiss, misunderstanding the rabbit’s uneasiness or unwillingness to divulge--and while at times it stung, paladin knew better than to take it to heart. Ren didn’t know--Jaune never spoke up, no words to defend his own self, still living in a world of fantasy and comfort that one wished to never fully escape. It was selfish, faunus would believe, to hide in plain sight before one who would, ultimately, understand more than most, and yet Jaune’s own fear gripped tight and never once let up.

   Until now, that is. Until the one, tiny spark lit the wick and roared into flame. A grasp of courage, a perhaps convenient pair of scissors, and an action one could not walk back on freed him of his own shackles. 

   ...Though, an apology was not exactly what he expected it to lead to. A moment to wet lips, swallow down the toil of anxiety, and fingers drop from nervous tangling of cropped tresses to fall and motion upwards to his own chest.

   “Ren, it’s fine--really. I didn’t say anything, I didn’t expect you--or anyone--to understand, and I guess I sort of...didn’t want you to.”

   Trailing off, he’s unsure what to do with his hands; anxious energy twitching at fingertips, and next, he finds them drawn to the hemming of his new attire to pick at.

   “I didn’t want any of you to pity me just because I was...hurt. People, uh, people used to look at me different, like there was something wrong with me. I didn’t want to have to see that from you guys too.”

   A shift of stance, a thick swallow, and rabbit tries to keep his voice steady; to be the unwavering leader those beside him deserved, and thus, he hides it with a smile--a laugh, even, when eventually picking his hand up and dropping it back down in dismissal to the memories of Beacon’s number one bully.

It looks to Ren like his returned question back to Jaune has caught his leader off guard, and Ren honestly can’t say he blames him for that. Jaune’s probably just as unused to being asked after his well-being as Ren himself is, if not moreso because at least Ren has had Nora all this time. But Jaune, before Beacon…it didn’t seem like he’d had friends.

But he did now. He had a family, outside of his biological one. And Ren hoped he knew that.

He gave a nod when Jaune gave a similar response to Ren’s own. “That’s fair enough. We don’t have to talk about anything we don’t want to.” He reassured his friend, his brother.

The thought of finding something to eat was a good one. “I could use something to eat.” He said with a small but no less warm smile.

   “--Good. Yeah. Uh, I can’t really cook, but I sure can heat up some leftovers.”

   An attempted quip, one that dwindles with an uneasy bout of laughter dispersing as it had begun. Fingers trail along the back of neck, further discomfort swelling, but with a moment to breathe and gather courage, he steps back, and returns to the threshold to pause and peer down the hallways dim lit light.

   “C’mon, I know where Marigold hides all the good snacks, too.”

In truth, Penny would have rather worked with Ruby on outer kingdom grimm control. She didn’t dislike Jaune, or any of Ruby’s friends, but that was the thing. They were Ruby’s friends, and…well she wasn’t quite sure what they were. Having spent so little time on a team, she’d never quite figured out how to tell when someone was or wasn’t your friend. 

Was it the amount of time you talked? How long you’d known one another? The number of battle combos you had together? Her papa said that it had to do with how they made you feel, but Penny way happy to see most people, but very bad at telling how happy most people were to see her in return. 

“Excellent! As Atlas’ current employee of the month I am working on both my teamwork and teaching skills!” She replied, bouncing on the ball of her feet with her cheer. 

“Mantle defense is very simple, if the alarms do not go off! We walk the wall for half of the shift, and remove any grimm that are too close! Then we stop for lunch before going back to the wall for the rest of shift!” 

   Rabbit can’t quite help the loft of brow and quizzical stare that overcomes him--employee of the month? It wasn’t as if she had much competition...one would certainly ponder, yet, knew better to merely keep his lips thinned tight, and nod in acknowledgment to such a title. A shift of shoulders, a needed inhale, and Jaune works up what he could of his own smile if only for Penny’s benefit.

   “Right...sounds easy enough. More exciting than crossing-guard duty, anyway.”

   Arms cross, weight shifts, but something seems to spark in paladin’s head; momentarily furrowing his visage and lifting a finger to trail along chin.

   “...Wait, I don’t really, uh, have anything I can throw...or shoot at the Grimm from the wall. It’s pretty high up there.”

   Now, it was making sense as to why he wasn’t assigned to Mantle defense before. Jaune could only assume they hadn’t another available if they were picking him up by the scruff and placing him to the wall’s protection, leaving him like a fish out of water beside the girl who could shoot actual laser-beams from her body.

   Oh. Right.

Ren doesn’t have any doubts that Jaune knows what he means. After all, the three of them have all experienced the exact same tragedy. Unlike with Kuroyuri, where it had been just him and Nora, this time it’s all three of them-and countless other people, of course. But, unsurprisingly, sharing that trauma with so many other people does absolutely nothing to make him feel better.

But then, why would it?

He considers Jaune’s question. It’s solid and simple enough, he supposes. Does he want to talk about it? “I wouldn’t even know where to start.” He admits. And then he looks at Jaune.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

   Wonders turned back upon him, such that rabbit should have expected, and yet, he’s stunned. Blued eyes flicker, attention fidgeting back to nothing more than socked feet; as if for a moment, Ren merely didn’t exist, and Jaune gained a brief, wanted second of loneliness. Time is fleeting, and with a breath he raises eyes again, features solemn and sorrow harbored.

   “I--I don’t know.”

   Jaune admits with an exhausted sigh, calloused fingers risen to rub along the nape of his neck; uncertain what to do, feeling the need to fidget, to garner distraction, but that would only give him but a second of reprieve. He knew it wrong--to deflect, ignore, and swallow down the sensations writhing in his chest, and yet despite his discomfort he does just so, and slowly drops that rubbing hand to motion vaguely to lotus’ direction.

   Jaune is both extremely and pleasantly surprised to Ren’s offered meal; something that the young paladin held memories fond to that tied back to his very roots. A simple dish, yet homely and personalized, easy on the stomach yet warm to the core--a dish, that he would be foolish to reject. Homesickness was no rare bout of emotions for Jaune to dwell in, a lingering, empty ache in his chest difficult to shoo, and yet, something as small as a bowl of soup seems to fill that hole, and leave rabbit settling in relaxation for a night of easy rest.

   A rather uncouth slurp, a low, pleased hum to follow, and eyes of deep blue are alight with delight when peering from the bowl’s contents to Ren’s features.

   “This is good--like, really good! How did you know about the stars?”

   Pausing, he then gasps--though, it’s all in good fun when leaning forward with a false, accusatory stare.

Have some more twin verse things because I’ve been going back and forth with Lime for it. So this version is somewhat specific to Lime’s Ren twin, Ai, being present in the verse. But it’s some good shit so I wanna shove it here for my fellow Jaune’s who I do twin verse stuff with and anyone else who is ever interested. 

Aurele, unlike Jaune, is not the leader of his team; he’s far less strategic and more of a full-fledged tank. His weapon is similar to Crocea Mors because he designed it that way--given Jaune got the family heirloom, and Aurele was a bit envious of that. Though, when built, the shield has various slots for dust built in of hard-light, fire, and lightning, and the sword, of course, is also a gun for the times he may need a ranged approach. 

Aurele’s team did not qualify in the Vytal Tournament, and he was quite scorned by that--especially since his brothers team, JNPR, made it, and Aurele knows of Jaune’s forging to get into Beacon to begin with, while Aurele, got in on legitimate terms. He’s just a little salty.

What I take for Aurele, is if Jaune hadn’t cheated his way in--if he was a trained fighter. Less awkward, less clumsy, and rather strong to begin with rather than growing into it slowly but surely to someone else’ offering of aid. He’s still very kind hearted and emotionally lead, but, without so much second guessing, embarrassment, or self-esteem troubles. He’s still a huge dork much like his brother, but, he’s the more confident one of the two.

While after the fall of Beacon Jaune returned home with Ren and Nora, Aurele took Ai and went straight to Argus to stay with their sister Saphron rather than furthering the numbers in an already packed house.