#teamsloth | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

luccie-eclair · 7 years ago

Text

Open When (Renora Week: Anniversary)

Warning: anxiety and panic attack(s). Will be addressed again in the author’s note in the next post.

“Now that you are all third years,” Professor Goodwitch began into the microphone on stage. “Your missions will be a little more varied than you are used to.” There was a murmur amongst the students. She held her hand up and a hush fell upon them. “On top of your team missions, you will each be required to go on partner missions with anyone from your team and solo missions.”

Team JNPR warily glanced at one another. Nora and her partner Ren held an indifferent gaze for some time before turning to pay closer attention. “While it is good to rely on your classmates, it is just as important to be independent and self-reliant. Your team will not always be with you. So, do continue to work hard this year. You are dismissed.” The white haired huntress left the stage as the third year class hesitantly cleared the auditorium.

Lie Ren, once left to his thoughts, felt his hand firmly grasping Nora’s. He didn’t quite enjoy the idea of her being alone…

A full semester into the new school year and the team was called into Professor Goodwitch’s office. They were the second team to be given their solo assignments, the first being Team RWBY, of course. Ren would be the first to depart, followed by Pyrrha, Jaune, and Nora leaving towards the end of the week.

“Nora,” Ren lightly called to her at dinner. She snapped her head away from her partially eaten food.

“Yes, Ren?” Her voice seemed to lose the bright, jingle bell qualities it always had.

He took her small, calloused hand in his larger one. “We’re going go be okay.”

She nervously glanced down at her lap. “But what if you get hurt? What if I get hurt? We probably won’t have good enough service to keep in contact. We’ll be alone with no one to help us. What if we’re lonely or scared?” Nora continued to ramble. Her eyes getting wider, scarier. Her breathing accelerating. Ren firmly squeezed her hand and activated his semblance. He watched the bright color in her cheeks fade to grey. He witnessed her quickly losing energy as her anxiety seemed to recede. “What if we lose you like we lost Pyrrha,” she whispered.

The color returned to her at a rapid speed as did her energy. She’d caught him off guard. That was not something he had in mind. He quickly looked at his table of friends. They each looked at the pair, uncomfortable and worried, especially the other half of his team. One of them looked almost guilty.

Ren looked back at his girlfriend of almost a year. Her eyes glazed over and watery. He knew how much she hated crying in front of peers. He grabbed his water bottle and took her out of the dining hall to an empty courtyard. She quietly cried into his shoulder as he held her. “I can’t lose you, too,” she said.

He gently held her away by her shoulders and grasped her chin to force her eyes on him. “You won’t. I promise I will be back by the time you get back.” He took her smaller hands and closed her fingers around the bottle. “Drink.”

“What if-”

“You’re going to come back fine, Nora.”

“But-”

“And when you get back, it’ll be our one year anniversary, right?”

She nodded and swiped at her tears with the back of her hand. She fiddled with the water in her hands and opened it it to take a sip.

“Then when you get home, me and you are going out for pancakes and have a movie night in the common room. Or, whatever it is you want to do. It’ll be a night to celebrate our first, successful solo mission and being together for a year.”

She sniffled just a tad. “Can I have chocolate chip pancakes?”

Ren lightly bit his lip and laughed. “Plain, chocolate, blueberry, whipped cream, extra syrup. Whatever you want.”

Nora lightly smiled. “Coffee?”

He gave one of his rare, louder laughs and kissed her cheek. “Don’t push it. You know you can’t have coffee.”

She lightly pouted, but then smiled when his arms engulfed her. He pressed his lips to the tip of her nose. “Boop,” she whispered.

Everything appeared okay for the moment. Her panic attack had subsided, but he could tell by the tension in her muscles that she would be anxious for the next few days. It would take more than pancakes and movies to put her at ease.

~*~

Teams JNPR and CVFY stood in front of the airship to see Ren off on his mission to Vale for a standard extermination. Everyone but Nora had given their good lucks and hugs. When he did get her, she almost didn’t look at him.

Ren went into his small backpack that had his ammunition and tools for Storm Flower and pulled out a pink box with a yellow crown on the lid. She gaped at him. What would he be giving her a gift for? “You have to promise that you won’t open it until you’ve left for your mission,” he instructed.

Nora nodded and gingerly took the box. Curiosity almost got the better of her. “You’ll be back, right?”

He smiled. “As long you will, too.”

“One minute until launch,” a crewmember called from the ship.

Ren looked back at Nora and hastily brought her in for a kiss. It would be his last for a three or four days. He pulled away and pecked her cheek, almost missing the cat calls coming from Coco. “I’ll be right here when you get back. You can do this.” He gave a salute to the others before jumping onto the airship as the doors were closing.

~*~

Nora slept with Pyrrha that night and when the rest of her team was gone, she went to sleep in RWBY’s dorm as they returned from their assignments the same week. RWBY stood together at the docks to see her off the next morning with hugs and a good luck.

She sat on the airship alone with her bag and weapon next to her when she remembered what Ren had told her a few days before. She pulled the small box out of her bag and opened it. There was a note on the lid that read: “I know you’re nervous about doing this alone, so I left you a set of letters in case you needed one of us. Think of it as an early anniversary gift. I miss you more than you know. You’re going to be okay. -Ren”

A small smile graced her lips and she looked through the envelopes. There was one that instantly caught her eye: “Open when you miss me.” In the envelope was a card that held a picture of Ren grinning down at her as she laughed. “I miss you more” was written underneath it in his green scrawl.

Throughout her next few days in a village miles away from Mistral, she’d open one of the letters that matched her less than cheery mood almost every day. Each had a special card with a picture or a note, sometimes both.

“Open when you’re anxious” had instructions for grounding herself. “Recite ten things you see, six things you hear, four things you feel, two things you smell, and one thing you taste. Remember to take deep breaths and drink cold water if you can.”

“Open when you need a laugh” was written in Yang’s sharp letters. “You are a-NORA-ble! P.S. Weiss just hit me”.

“Open when you miss home” carried a picture of their professors with the message “At least you don’t have homework -Oz/car.”

“Open when you need a kiss” had a bright, red lipstick mark signed from Ren. The fact that he actually put on lipstick was better than the distant kiss itself.

“Open when you miss your friends” held a picture of the group, plus teams CVFY and SSSN, smiling into the camera.

And so on with the rest. Nora opened each one when she felt sad, stressed, or weak. She opened a letter when she needed to smile a little more or just a little bit of support. She opened one just to read how much he loved her, though she didn’t need much reassurance there. She opened them all except for one.

On the airship back to Vale, she rejoiced over her successful mission and the wonderful people she’d met in the village. They even gave her a few souvenirs! She released a sigh of relief and looked around the ship. It was dark save for a single overhead lightbulb. Oh! The last letter!

Nora took the pink box from her bag, the corners slightly worn from use by then. The last, unopend envelope sat in the back of the box. “Open when it’s our anniversary.” On the left of the card was Ren’s loopy cursive in green ink: “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you in person, but I miss you so much. Happy anniversary. I can’t wait to see you, love.” On the right, was the picture Velvet took at the previous year’s dance. The two trapped in a passionate kiss (Nora remembered being on her tip toes). Her arms were wrapped around his neck and his were around her waist.

Soft tears welled in her eyes and she swiped them away as fast as she could. Can’t get puffy eyes before seeing the gang again, right? Right.

~*~

They waited at the docks which were unusually crowded that day. Foreign exchange students came in for the festival, families visited, tourists came to see the sites and fesrival, the Schnee Dust Company made deliveries. It didn’t help that the person they were looking for was the shortest in their group and could actually be anywhere given her history of disappearing out of the blue.

“Do you see her,” Ren called up to the youngest, Ruby, as she clung to the streetlamp.

“Not ye-” she stopped herself short. “Nora!” Ruby frantically waved her arm to get the red-head’s attention. She looked down to Ren who was attempting to see over the wave of students. “She’s at Port Three,” she told him.

The black-haired hunter took off in her direction. Bad stamina be damned. He spotted her speaking to the pilot of her airship. She gave a small bow, shook his hand, and turned to walk away. She froze the second she saw him. An ecstatic beam broke out and she ran to him.

Ren was ready for once. He wouldn’t be plowed again. Once Nora was close, he scooped her into his arms. Her jingle bell giggles sounded off in his ears. Gods above, he missed it. He separated his chest from hers. “Happy anniversary,” he said to her before being pulled in by her soft lips.

32 notes · View notes

luccie-eclair · 7 years ago

Text

Keeping Score (Renora Week: Dress Up)

“Stop moving.”

Ren sighed. If his eyes were open, they would have been rolling. A soft sponge coated in green foundation patted away at his once olive complexion. This had been going on for a good few minutes. He felt the skilled hands travel under his jaw, so he took it as his cue to open his, now green eyes. His best friend, partner, and girlfriend sat on his lap with her brows scrunched in intense focus.

Her face was patted to a light blue and she temporarily dyed her hair black with a white streak. A stitched scar ran at the bottom of her left eye and she wore black lipstick on her top lip with black contacts. Her costume consisted of a form-fitting, short navy blue lab coat that flared out under a black belt and reached her thighs, black leggings, and matching combat boots and gloves that sat next to her.

Nora had worked incredibly hard in between her classes and the occasional mission to create her costume. To create all of their costumes, actually. Ever since Jaune had gotten them all hooked on Kim Possible, they’d taken to binging it on team bonding nights rather than actually going out. Thus, their team costume for the Hallows Eve party materialized itself in a few weeks time. Pyrrha and Jaune’s costumes were relatively easy and the champion had makeup for herself and Jaune’s freckles. However, Nora never half assed anything and simply made her and Ren’s costumes from scratch. (She really should consider making a career out it. She certainly had the talent.) But that brings us to a female Drakken, or “Drakkene” as Nora called herself, meticulously covering “Hego” in green foundation and contour.

“Drop your jaw,” she commanded lightly. Ren hesitantly opened his mouth. He knew what was coming and they bickered over whether it was truly necessary to wear lipstick. Then his teammates sided against him. Then he lost… Point one for Nora. The cold, black solid brushed against his top lip and glided across, then again to fill in any light gaps. “Do not rub your lips together or so help me, Ren,” she warned. “But, you’re done!” She happily jumped off of his lap to put her gloves on and he did the same. He began to miss the pressure of her weight upon his lap.

Ren stood from his and Nora’s bed to inspect her handiwork. Despite stating that he didn’t mind temporarily dying his pink streak, Nora elected it to stay. It made his costume seem more suited for him, she’d said. Speaking of, the costume itself wasn’t skin tight which was a blessing. It took her hours to sew it in a way that he wasn’t restricted and his “goods” wouldn’t be seen. His boots and gloves were two different hues, black and green. She’d completed his look by styling his hair into gentle waves that morning. His girlfriend always did an amazing job on their costumes, but this one had to be his personal favorite despite the lipstick that he’d be more than happy to remove.

“Ren,” Nora called from the hallway. “Quit checking yourself out so we can take pictures and party!”

~*~

Pictures actually took longer than they thought, especially when RWBY and SSSN and CVFY and Penny and Oscar all decided that they wanted pictures as well. It was quite the spectacle seeing eighteen hunters attempting to squeeze into a front facing scroll before giving up and asking for outside help.

Eventually, after nearly an hour, the group had arrived when the event was in full swing. The ballroom was decked in dark colors with spider webs, blood, and Grimm corpses. Everyone dressed in either actual scary costumes or cosplaying as pop culture figures. RWBY toed the line and accomplished both at the same time.

Ren had given his first dance to Nora, of course, before she quickly jumped off to dance with everyone else. He’d seen her give a dance to Jaune, Sun, and Neptune at some point, but mostly stuck to Pyrrha, Penny, and RWBY. Later, Sky Lark got brave enough to ask her to dance before he was shot down almost painfully. The dark haired man himself had danced with Pyrrha and most of RWBY (the leader herself felt too shy to even ask before he asked her onto the dance floor). However, he mostly stuck to the sidelines watching his girlfriend smile and dance with everyone.

It was hypnotizing, he thought. The way she moved her hips and swung her hair every which way. Her dancing was both erratic and controlled in a way he couldn’t describe. Nora knew how to dance and how to move to any beat -the two of them often learned routines from their favorite Mpop groups together. But when she lacked any set guidelines and she was amongst trusted peers, she liked to hang back and go with the flow of whatever felt right.

“How are you holding up,” the voice of his leader, Jaune took his attention away from his girlfriend who had gotten rather close to a zombified Goldilocks. The young man himself looked a little worse for wear. His hair even more disheveled than normal with a brown top lip marked on his jaw.

“I’m doing well. You seem like you could use a break, though,” Ren replied a smirk gracing his lips.

“Pyrrha has way too much energy. This is the first break I’ve gotten all night.”

“You should use this break to wipe off her lipstick.”

Panic set on Jaune’s face as he excused himself to the bathroom. Ren chuckled and turned back to Nora who now shuffled with Oscar, the latter seeming a tad awkward though still enjoying himself. She laughed and looked in his direction. Black contacts met green ones as she winked at him and turned back to their circle of friends. She said something before separating herself from the clump and skipping her way to Ren.

“Having a real group of friends is actually a little tiring,” she said as she got closer. “I almost wish it were just us again, but then who would I hang out with when you’re doing your meditating thing?”

Ren huffed out a small laugh and turned to get her a cup of punch, but took a small sip to make sure there was no alcohol. He couldn’t have her getting drunk. Once failing to taste anything out of ordinary, he handed her the cup. “I guess you’d have to sit and get bored waiting for me to finish.”

She scoffed. “I’d rather sit in class. At least there’s background noise.” She took a sip of the bright red drink, her tongue lightly poking out to nab a lost drop on her blue, bottom lip. The innocent move shouldn’t have affected him as much at it did, but there he was staring at her plump, black and blue lips. They quirked into a small smirk. “Ren, you’re not good at hiding your stares.”

He looked into her eyes. They dazzled despite her colored contacts. “Well, it took you years to figure out I was even staring in the first place, so I believe I am doing something right,” he gave her a coy smile as though he’d one-upped her in a game. Ren: 1, Nora: 1.

“Oh, but everyone else seemed to notice, so you clearly didn’t do as well as you think.” She gained the upper hand.

“And whom are you referring to?"

Nora gave him an incredulous look and pulled out her scroll. Ren knew that he definitely lost this one. She scrolled through her gallery and began to show him various pictures of him staring at her when she was turned away. "This one was taken by Jaune.” She flicked her finger. “Pyrrha.” A flick. “Yang.” Flick. “Blake.” Flick. “Ruby.” Flick. “Sun.” Flick. “Coco.” Another one. “Os-” He pressed his lips to hers in an effort to gain the leas once more. He was still down by a point.

The female Drakken brought her gloved hands to the back of his neck and pulled at his waves until their lips parted. Bits of blue foundation stuck to his green bottom lip as green foundation stuck to her blue lip. She chuckled and leaned onto her tip toes to reach his ears. “What do you say we leave and turn our makeup teal,” she seductively whispered into his lobes before playfully nipping at them.

After that pick up line, Ren honestly couldn’t take her seriously. His chest rumbled as he laughed and clutched her closer to him. His head lazily fell into the crook of her neck as his laughter got a tad softer since it was muffled. “That was very bad, Nora,” he said once he got a little more control over himself. She definitely lost a point for that. They finally tied.

The blue woman whined and tried to push him away, but his kept a firm hold on her. “I was trying to be sexy,” she exclaimed before lightly swatting his chest. “Bully.” She pouted and crossed her arms. Gods, did he love this girl.

“You don’t have to try for me. I already think you’re the sexiest woman alive.” He kissed her pouted lips and watched as it melted away into a tiny smile. Yet another point for the young man. “Can I still take you up on that teal offer?”

She peered back at their friends, still having a ball before looking back. Something told him that they’d be doing a lot of one-upping for the next few hours.

A/N: God this took so long 😧 There’s bits of fluff. Lots of my headcanons at work here (sorry if Ren is a tad OOC, I tried). I totally think that Ren and Nora have little battles of one-upmanship before it dissolves into either laughs or kisses. Mostly playful fluff with implied NSFW after the ending. Jaune and Pyrrha are dressed as Kim and Ron. Ren and Nora are Drakkene and Hego. Ren’s costume is the same as Shego’s just for males (this is my way of getting out of drawing a trash illustration). The inspiration for Nora’s Drakkene costume came from my favorite Kpop group, Gfriend 😍😍😍, during their Fingertip era (link: https://www.gfsquad.com/forums/topic/2075-170306-starcast-gfriend-jacket-photoshoot-behind/). Dammit, every time I think of Hego, I think of He-man, then I start singing that dumbass song 😒😒😒. I need sleep.

2 notes · View notes