[Evangeline Lys de Verre]

tell me pretty lies

template by Punki of Adoxography

Argent Steele -x- 555 words -x- yes shes weird

As she took her first steps out of the Grand Hall and into the Quad, a sound of joy escaped Evangeline as she looked up at the sky, doing a small twirl at the lovely weather. The sun was peeking down at them from in between some clouds, there was a lovely breeze filled with the summertime scents of green and life, birds were chirping and singing and students were milling about! Such a wonderful scenery, an orchestra of life and living all around her. It made Evangeline smile from the sheer feeling of it, although she had already been smiling to begin with. She had to capture it! This moment, this beautiful picture around her!

Like an artist captures with their brush, a musician like her captures with her music. She began to skip across the Quad, humming to herself happily as she waved and smiled at everyone she passed, most of whom reacted with various levels of surprise before returning the greeting. Her white shirt shimmered lightly as it caught the sunlight, her uniform's jacket having been left at her locker. The standard Haven checkered skirt swished this way and that in response to her motions. She made her way towards the fountain in the middle, but then paused. This wasn't the right place. Something in her strange instincts was telling her that this wasn't the right place to paint the melody. She frowned, looking around, standing up on one of the benches to get a better vantage point. 

She looked around, before staring at one of the small forests that surrounded the Quad. "Yes!" She audibly exclaimed, grinning. That would be perfect! A clearing within would capture the melody of her song, and it would even leak out a bit to give everyone in the area a lovely tune to listen to as they relaxed! Clutching the violin case, within which rested Lis Fleurissant, she began to jog over to the forest line. She found the path leading into it , and decided to follow it, walking at a normal pace now. It wasn't long that she found an opening in the forest path, a small area with a couple of benches, probably another sitting area for students who wanted more privacy, as it was hidden from the main area of the Quad by foliage and trees, offering the barest glimpses between them. She grinned, looking around herself with another twirl, finding no one here other than the trees.

She opened her case, leaving it on the ground next to her feet as she took a place in the middle of the clearing. She placed the ornate white and gold violin to her shoulder, resting her cheek on it as she brought her bow to the strings. She allowed herself one more smile, the anticipation of painting an aural picture, before she closed her eyes, relaxing her face as she drew the bow across the strings. She began to play as her heart willed, a slow yet loving melody, the very sound of a relaxed summers day to spend with friends and to make memories together. The sounds of the violin floated out to the quad, and although her semblance was not in play, a lot of the students in the quad who heard the tune would sigh in contentment, enjoying the music.

[Argent Steele]

There’s always a king. Always a queen. Always a wolf.
But he who holds the ace, always has the last word.

❝

There was a certain satisfaction to be found in numbers, even if those numbers sometimes took drastic turns into the alphabet, the theoretical, and even the imaginary. Numbers were logical, and were bound strictly by rules - if there was a way to solve whatever equation was placed in front of him at the moment, it was only a matter of time until he found what it was. If he couldn’t, it was because of a variable he hadn’t factored in, or a previous mistake he’d made. Correcting that would correct the outcome, regardless of how much time had passed or what other issues had come between them.

But that wasn’t the case for reality. Numbers didn’t define everything, or much of anything, actually. Certainly not the mess that was life and everything else. Still, it was sometimes a relief to sink into his homework (though he really didn’t see it as such) and just enjoy the exercise in logic for what it was. And that was what the snake Faunus had intended to do, sitting with his back against a tree and drawing his legs up to act as a makeshift table for his workbook. An open textbook lay beside him, more of a “just in case” scenario than actually being referred to.

The scratch of pen against paper came to an abrupt halt when musical notes floated through the surrounding trees from somewhere close by. For a moment, he was no longer in Haven Academy, scribbling equations onto paper with his back to a tree, but back on the porch steps of a farm that no longer was, staring out at fields of golden wheat gleaming in the summer sun, beside a familiar warmth he hadn’t felt in nearly a decade.

The vision of the past faded as quickly as it had come. Argent blinked once, twice - and wondered why his vision had blurred. It must have been some irritation from the wind, he decided, wiping the unshed drops away from his eyes. Nothing else to it. The song was beautiful and warm, but it was a bittersweet warmth to him, and one best kept at arm’s length. Or, as he intended to make the case, much further.

Argent stood, head knocking into a low hanging tree branch with a dull thud, and froze for a moment, locking eyes as he did so with a small blonde girl with an ornate violin on her shoulder, ostensibly the one who was playing the tune he heard earlier. A slight dip of the head in polite recognition, and the snake Faunus stooped to grab his study materials, beginning to make his way back towards the school proper. Perhaps the library would be a better place to focus.

@ ● 456 words ● 456 total words

MADE BY MIZO

[Evangeline Lys de Verre]

tell me pretty lies

template by Punki of Adoxography

Argent Steele -x- 303 words -x- (violin scratch) yup that's me, you're probably wondering how i got here

The melody of the song being played on the violin carried her like a leaf on a wind. It was a song of peace, serenity. Of times far gone and of days to come. Of hope and love, and loss and acceptance. The special strings of Lis Fleurissant glowed dimly as she drew her bow across it, even without using her semblance the heat of her motions to create music caused the metallic strings to give off a glow, albeit very dim, barely a silhouette around the strings themselves. It gave her an almost ethereal look as she played the violin.

She was so enraptured in playing the music, so caught in the moment, so utterly enchanted by the auditory explosions of colors she was creating with sound, that when Argent banged his head against a branch, she jumped, startled. Her bow drew across the Lis Fleurissant in surprise, creating a horrible screeching sound in the middle of the music. And then, silence. She turned around to look at who made the noise, confused as to the reason for the sound, and saw a grey haired man standing near the treeline, staring at her, frozen in the moment of eyecontact.

She saw some lingering emotions on his face, and even from this distance, she felt like he was... troubled. But before she could say anything, he nodded his head and began to pack up his things in order to move. She blinked, quickly turning and running to grab her violin case. She put Lis Fleurissant back in the case, clasping it shut and quickly beginning to head towards the boy. "Hey, wait!" She called out, trying to find a comfortable position to carry her violin case so she could also move at a fast pace, which slowed her down a little bit.

[Argent Steele]

There’s always a king. Always a queen. Always a wolf.
But he who holds the ace, always has the last word.

❝

The word “wait” came through the trees, and unseen, the snake Faunus’ face crimped up in a grimace of annoyance. For a moment, he considered simply making a run for it. The girl’s violin was unwieldy and no doubt weighed too much for her to carry while moving with any semblance of speed. If he took off through the trees by the border and sprinted through the main path of the quad, he could probably be in the building and safely away from anything remotely incriminating before she was anywhere near.

It was a tempting thought to entertain, but reality settled over him like a heavy cloak. She might not be able to catch up to him, but he would certainly be seen by any number of students on his way back, and that would be more suspicious than anything else he could possibly do. Not to mention that he had gotten into a fight with those four guys just the week before. If there was any inkling of trouble, it was probably best to take it on the chin now instead of getting blindsided by some wild accusation later.

The snake faunus turned, his expression carefully guarded.

“Yeah? You need something?”

@ ● 202 words ● 658 total words

MADE BY MIZO

[Evangeline Lys de Verre]

tell me pretty lies

template by Punki of Adoxography

Argent Steele -x- 350 words -x- boing boing boing

Evangeline stumbled a bit as she tried to catch up with the boy, lugging her violin case with her. Luckily, however, the boy had stopped and waited for her. Evangeline came up to him, pausing to steady her breathing and catch her breath, before straightening up and... oh he was tall. Very tall. He had almost like 40 centimeters of height on her. The top of her head came up to his collar, so she had to look up at him to see his face. However, Evangeline still gave him a warm smile, "Hey, you were listening to my music, oui?"

She wouldn't even wait for him confirm or deny it, pausing only a second or so before her smile widened, opening to reveal her white teeth. "Did you like 'zee music I played?" She asked, but then she studied his face and saw the scales, the markings. Her sapphire eyes widened and her smile turned into more of an O shape of surprise and awe. "Oh mon dieu! You are a Faunus, oui? That iz so cool! Wow!" Evangeline enthused, almost bouncing on her tip-toes in an effort to look at his scales closer up. The energy of her excitement was palpable, and even her eyes seemed to be glitching out, rainbow-colored hues shooting around within the confines of her irises. "What kind of Faunus are you? A lizard? A dragon! Can you breathe 'zee fire!? Where are your weengs?" Evangeline shot off her words rapidly and excitedly, until she realized that his face held some measure of a guarded expression, his eyes staring at her none too warmly. She froze for a moment, the excitement seeming to leech out of her like air out of a balloon as she settled back, taking a step back and giving him some breathing room. An embarrassed blush came across her face as she gave him a sheepish smile. "Pardon moi, I tend to forget my manners." She said, her eyes looking at him with the hope that she hadn't offended him or made him dislike her.

[Argent Steele]

There’s always a king. Always a queen. Always a wolf.
But he who holds the ace, always has the last word.

❝

Being around this girl was exhausting.

While normally not the most conversational of folk even in the best of times, the sheer energy that she radiated, like a lighthouse in the middle of a stormy night, was more than enough to scorch his desire to speak into wilting faster than a burning straw. It hadn’t even been a minute since they’d met.

Argent opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it as her questions continued to wash over him like an endless torrent of sunlight that wouldn’t stop seeping into one’s room despite already closing the blinds, his eyes gaining a tired look as he glanced off to the side. He supposed this was the other coin of being stoned out of town when it came to being a Faunus, but at the moment, all he could think of was how much better it sounded when she used her fingers to play a tune and keep her mouth closed.

At least she seemed to pick up on his exasperation, though, deflating quickly afterwards when she noticed that he wasn’t responding much to those questions. Despite wanting nothing more than to disappear back into a quiet place and focus on the numbers again, Esmeralda certainly hadn’t raised a child without manners. It wouldn’t be polite to simply leave her be.

But by the gods, did he wish that he could dispense with such niceties.

There was a small dip of the head in acknowledgement when she excused herself, the guarded look he wore relaxing ever so slightly. Opening his mouth again, the belated realisation that he didn’t know which of her questions to answer first hit him, and the snake Faunus paused for a moment to organize his thoughts.

“Not on purpose,” he finally said, though it came out shorter than he meant to.

“Was working on math when you started playing. It was…” Argent trailed off, searching for a word, then finally allowed a quiet “good” to pass his lips.

“And yes, I am a Faunus. A snake Faunus. No wings.”

The question in his eyes was clear - if she’d never seen a Faunus before, from the way she’d reacted to him.

@ ● 365 words ● 1023 total words

MADE BY MIZO

[Evangeline Lys de Verre]

tell me pretty lies

template by Punki of Adoxography

Argent Steele -x- 429 words -x- sad puppy eyes

Evangeline relaxed and breathed a small sigh of relief once she was sure Argent wouldn't just run off. She gave him a tentative smile and said, "I'm glad you liked my music. I like playing to help people feel good from 'zee music." Once that growning tension had been defused, Evangeline began to study Argent's scales with more interest.

"Oh, a snake faunus? 'Zat iz also very nice!" She said, unconsciously getting up on her tiptoes again to lean forwards and get a closer look at the scales on his face. "Zey're very pretty. 'Zey catch the light in such a faszinating way. Do you have 'zee fangs? Poison?" She asked, getting slightly excited over her interest once more. Her eyes flickered up to his questioning stare as she dropped back from her toes, reigning herself in again, looking away as she absently pushed some locks of her hair behind an ear. "I'm from Atlaz. We do not see much Faunus, so it iz always interesting for me to meet someone who iz. And I've never met a snake faunus before." She said, giving him a happy, friendly smile.

"What iz your name?" She asked, before using her free hand to clutch at her skirt, giving him a small curtsy as she then said, "My name is Evangeline. But most people just call me Eva." She gave him another friendly smile, her sapphire eyes looking up at his eyes, which were striking shade of gold. She felt like he was a very... troubled person. Then again, most people in this academy was. Still, right now, she was talking to him, so he would take precedence.

"Would you like to sit and talk for a while?" She asked, glancing back at one of the benches, and then over near the trees where he had been, before looking back at him, clearly letting him choose either one if he decided he would like to. Her smile got a bit of a forced edge to it as she added, "I've been in 'zis academy for a short time and I'm trying to make 'zee friends. I haven't been very successful..." She trailed off, shaking her head and fixing a bright smile on her face once more as she fixed her gaze on him once more, "But I'm still trying!" She said, hoping he'd agree to spend a bit of time with her so she could learn more about him, and maybe make a friend in the process. It was a lovely day after all, and it'd be a shame to waste it.

[Argent Steele]

There’s always a king. Always a queen. Always a wolf.
But he who holds the ace, always has the last word.

❝

Too close, too close. Even though she was a good amount shorter than him, the snake Faunus still leaned back a little when she pushed her face closer to him, slightly uncomfortable at the close proximity. Very few people ever came that close by choice, and even fewer called his scales… pretty? Was that what she had said?

For a long moment, Argent studied the girl’s face, searching for any sort of deception or duplicity. Atlas. A new city that was aiming to replace Mantle as the capital of the selfsame kingdom. Shin had said once that the city floated, but he could never be sure if the older Huntsman was joking at his expense or not. He had not heard anything about how Faunus were treated there. Perhaps it was better than here.

Well, not here in Haven, obviously, not in a place where someone as obvious as Shadecloak could attain a position as professor - but outside those walls people were a lot more superstitious and willing to single out those different from them to be the scapegoat for various things, or even just to sate their own need to lord over someone weaker, someone different. He’d been on the receiving end of that hate a lot more times than he could even count, especially in the further reaches of the wilderness - but this girl didn’t seem to have any of that hidden away - none, at least, that he could tell.

Argent cleared his throat.

“Steele,” he said, hoping that he wouldn’t regret opening up. Memories flashed through him, of watching a familiar face on a screen throw him under the bus and deride him as an idiot for trusting her in the first place. They were not memories he enjoyed, but they had taught him an important lesson - not everyone was who they appeared to be. It was a lesson he would keep in mind as he turned his gaze back to Evangeline, keeping his expression neutral.

“Argent Steele.”

There was a pause, and then, almost as an afterthought, a glance down at the mathematics books and the workbook he had in his hand, clutching a pencil in the other - and then to the bench where her gaze had landed.

“There… I guess. Easier to talk.”

@ 377 ● words ● 1400 total words

MADE BY MIZO

[Evangeline Lys de Verre]

tell me pretty lies

template by Punki of Adoxography

Argent Steele -x- 479 words -x- urge to boop intensifies

She nodded as Argent decided he'd rather sit on the bench, walking over to the one he had pointed out. Placing her violin case down first, she straightened out her skirt and then sat down, scooting closer to Argent if he decided to put too much space between them when he would sit down, although not uncomfortably close. Just close enough that anyone looking at them would know at first glance that they were in the middle of a conversation. A gentle breeze wafted through the clearing they were in, carrying with it a pleasant, earthy smell of leaves and grass and all the other things you would expect nature to smell like. Evangeline herself smelled a little like vanilla and orchids, which was quite expected from someone like her.

The sounds of birds singing and chirping was a harmony that flitted around them as Evangeline absently stared down at her shoes, leaning forwards to do so. "Where are you from, monsieur Arzhent? What was it like 'zere?" She asked, turning her head around in that leaned position, so her face was mostly sideways, looking up at him. Her golden hair hung downwards from the influence of gravity, revealing the skin of her slender neck towards him. Her eyes studied him curiously, still inspecting the iridescence of his scales. "I'm from Atlaz myself. It's kind of cold 'zere. I do not know if you share 'zee cold blood issues with actual snakes, but would 'zee cold be good for you?" She said. Her excitement had mostly dimmed down to a very stable, normal thing, and right now, she was simply asking questions in a way that could be easily taken as genuine interest from someone who was curious and inquisitive, nothing that would imply she had any hard feelings against Argent as a Faunus, but rather, someone who was actually interested in learning about her new friend as both a person and a Faunus.

"Can I..." She paused, raising a hand with a single finger poking out, but not moving it closer to him. "Can I touch your scales? I'm curious." She asked, fixing him with slightly hopeful but mostly curious look, so if he said no, she would not press the issue and respect his wish. She had been inspecting his scales for a long time, and as was the case with curious people, she had the urge to touch it, to see how it felt beneath her fingertip. Would it be smooth? Rough? Would it feel like her fingernails? Or something entirely different? Would they feel solid, or fragile? So many questions, all in the name of science. But she respected his privacy and if said no, she would listen. After all, if someone wanted to study or touch her prosthetic limbs, she'd also understand why she wouldn't be super comfortable with it, depending on the person.

[Argent Steele]

There’s always a king. Always a queen. Always a wolf.
But he who holds the ace, always has the last word.

❝

Argent’s breath caught for a moment, eyes glancing down to his hands, folded in his lap, when she asked where he was from and shifted closer to where he’d parked himself on the far side of the bench. Not because of the increased proximity, but because his mind had cast itself back to times that he didn’t want to think about. He could have said that he’d come from the city that stood below them - indeed, Nova’s mansion was located on one of the ground layers, and those were the memories that sprang to mind.

The snake faunus exhaled quietly, and forced those memories into the back of his mind where they would simmer and fester for a while, but eventually dissipate, and instead cast his mind even further back, to warm days in the summer sun among fields of golden wheat, or pressing his forehead against cold glass to watch his breath fog up the windows while his mother tended to the fire. “Pine Crest,” he said eventually, looking back to Eva and not seeming to notice that she had come closer while he was otherwise preoccupied.

“I’m from Pine Crest. Small village, near the border.”

Or it had been, before Nova and his goons started stinking up the place. Vast acres of farmland had been flattened and built over to become a (newly rebranded) Nova Industries redistribution and resupply depot, which was a fancy way of saying that it stored goods that could be shipped to either Mantle or Mistral, with rows upon rows of warehouses, and large maintenance garages and parking lots for shipping transport, whether said transport was by air or by land. And of course, there were turrets, armed guards, and other assorted defenses around the perimeter. With the amount of jobs that had been created for the thing, the town had slowly adapted to providing for it, and like a strangler vine that had grown too big for the tree it curved around, the place had choked all the rustic charm and life from Pine Crest to be replaced with… less.

He, however, chose to remember it as it used to be, and not as it was, currently. Nova had taught him a valuable lesson - you can’t go home again, not if there’s nothing to return to. But that didn’t mean that he couldn’t hold the memories dear in his mind. Argent focused on his companion in an effort to keep himself centered in the present, only to find her gazing at him curiously with a finger extended.

"Can I touch your scales? I'm curious."

Absolutely not, were the words that instinctively crossed the snake Faunus’ mind. Words that he had spoken many times before in similar contexts, so he should have no issue with speaking them now. It was always better to be safe than sorry, especially since he had had firsthand experience that people could be perfectly comfortable with throwing others under the proverbial bus when just so that they could get what they wanted. Even those that seemed like angels could be demons hiding behind another mask, like weeds hiding in the dirt and waiting to sprout when the conditions were right.

He had thought she had been the one, once upon a time. He had thought that they had been wolves of the same pack, for all that he had been a Faunus and she had been human. But in reality, she had been the spider, and he had been the fly. He would probably never stop wondering if someone was being too nice - if they wanted something from him and were merely hiding their true intentions. But even so… even so.

“Maybe some other time,” he said instead, settling on the bench and trying for a smile that looked more like a grimace, which flattened out into his usual stoicism soon after.

“The cold is good. I like the cold. Not too cold, but-” here, he shrugged, as if to say that it didn’t matter, “-can always wear more clothes for that.”

He fixed her with a level gaze, glancing her up and down.

“You don’t look dressed for cold, though.”

@ ● 692 words ● 2092 total words

MADE BY MIZO

[Evangeline Lys de Verre]

tell me pretty lies

template by Punki of Adoxography

Argent Steele -x- 829 words -x- characterdevelopment.jpeg

This man... Boy... Snake person... He seemed as troubled as Evangeline originally thought. She supposed her question was harmless enough but apparently not, as she noticed how he tensed up and how a flash of something negative crossed his golden eyes, his breath seeming to freeze. Evangeline was afraid she had brought up bad memories, which was the complete opposite of what she had wanted. She was about to apologize when Argent exhaled, seeming to relax. Apparently it wasn't just in the scales where he was like a snake. All that tension seemed to roll out of him, his muscles relaxing similar to how a viper about to strike would relax once the threat was gone. When he finally answered her, Evangeline couldn't help but give him a somewhat relieved smile, her own body relaxing a bit more once the threat was passed.

" 'Zat sounds like a lovely place. What is it like? Many pine trees?" She asked, her voice softer and slower now, letting him know that she was just trying to be nice and learn more about him and he was welcome to not answer her if her questions brought up bad memories.

He didn't seem to take too kindly to her question, and Eva internally slapped herself on the forehead. Of course he wouldn't. He probably always felt alienated or different because of his scales, because of how he was different. And Evangeline had drawn full attention to exactly that because of her stupid curiousity. She withdrew from him with a small, "Sorry." And a nervous smile, looking down at her lap, where she was twiddling her fingers. She could feel the palpable discomfort on him, and knew she had probably made him even more uncomfortable. First her question about where he was from had backfired, and now because she couldn't reign in her curiousity, it had made him feel even more depressed or isolated. Stupid stupid her. Even his smile seemed forced, more of a grimace or baring of teeth than a smile.

Evangeline took a long, deep breath, holding it for a few moments before exhaling. He tried to continue the conversation by bringing it back to the way she dressed, and she couldn't help but let out a small breath of laughter, her lips perking up in a weak smile. "Well of course I am not dressed for 'zee cold right now... It is quite warm here. But back in my home I am usually covered by layers and layers..." She said, her voice lacking the usual brightness it held, as she was still thinking about how she had unintentionally made the situation worse with her blundering.

She took another deep breath before saying, "Look, I... I didn't want to offend you or bring up 'zee bad memories for you... I know I can be a bit... much. But I kind of know what it is like..." she paused, looking down at her left hand, staring at the black lines as she flexed her fingers slightly, before continuing, "... to not fit in. I always worry... 'zat people are staring. Talking... About 'zee weird girl with 'zee aczent who has sunlight for brains and doll limbs... I always worry 'zat people will never 'zink of me as one of 'zem. I'm not comparing myself or my problems to you, but I'm trying to say... 'Zat I kind of know how you might feel at times. And I'm sorry if I made you feel 'zat way." She said, finally looking up at him and giving him a shaky smile. Her speech was low and halting, as if it was very difficult for her to have opened up like that, and it was. She was basically opening up a little bit about her own insecurities, hoping that Argent would not get the wrong idea about her and realize that she didn't judge him for anything, and just wanted to be his friend. She raised her left hand, back first so there was no way he would miss the black lines. She turned it around so the palm faced him and gave him a tiny wave consisting of a few wiggles with her fingers.

"I'm just trying to be nice and friendly... And 'zat I don't 'zink being different is bad." She said, the weak smile still on her face, obvious that talking about all of this was difficult for her but she was still trying, opening up so Argent wouldn't feel bad or feel the need to keep himself completely closed off. She wasn't trying to get him to open up, no... She just wanted to sympathize with him. Give him some peace of company. She hoped she wasn't being too much again and that she wouldn't just scare him off by opening up so deeply all of a sudden, or if he would treat her like so many other people did... Like she was an artificial doll or not human. That would actually really hurt.

[Argent Steele]

There’s always a king. Always a queen. Always a wolf.
But he who holds the ace, always has the last word.

❝

So, Evangeline had prosthetics, like that gorilla of a woman with four arms he’d caught a glimpse of in one of the classes. Unlike hers, though, the smaller girl’s arm was significantly less easy to finger as mechanical, and the snake Faunus hadn’t even noticed until she’d pointed it out. Argent looked at the black lines that traced over the small girl’s skin and said nothing, his gaze dipping to where his own still clutched the pad of paper and the list of questions - and the silver scales atop them. The scales that stretched over so much of his body, the scales that had caused his peers to alienate him and their parents to shy away from him whenever he was out and about in the village. His mother, at least, had her natural charm, and her ears were nowhere near as obvious as his own scales. And cats had always been more accepted than snakes.

He doubted that it was something that a human, no matter how ostracized, could ever fully understand.

“Humans are like that,” he confirmed with a short nod, still not looking at her. Many, many times he’d wondered how it seemed that humans could accept just about any of their own, but a single tail or a pair of ears could alter their perception of a person so drastically beyond the acceptable. In a world with no Faunus, what would the humans take issue with? Would they turn on each other for the even smaller differences among them? Where they lived? What they ate? The shape of their faces? The color of their skin? Ridiculous questions to anyone who had even the slightest inkling of what humans were.

Of course they would.

Just as some humans could accept Faunus, or even beasts of burden or insects or even inanimate objects as family and kin, there would be others who would find even the smallest of differences and use it as a reason to justify whatever they might do. But the problem was now that public opinion was decidedly slanted in favor of the latter, while those who had no issue with the existence of others different from themselves faded into the background. There was no voice to tell the world that it wasn’t right to treat living, thinking beings as pariahs just because they looked different - that it wasn’t acceptable, that this was wrong.

The snake Faunus looked over to Evangeline at last, and sighed. He didn’t know why she was trying so hard to get into his good graces, but it did seem like she had been speaking from the heart. It wasn’t something he could just ignore and walk away from, as much as he wanted to - Argent knew that it would eat away at him until the matter was resolved one way or another. “It’s not like that,” he said, his gold eyes meeting her multicolored ones. So even those were prosthetic, he saw, and briefly wondered how painful it must have been to replace them both.

“My life hasn’t been the happiest. I don’t like remembering the bad things. That’s all. Not your fault.”

A hand reached into his pocket, pulling out a Scroll with a battered looking metal exterior and a single crack across the width of the screen near the top of the glass. It was an older model, at least a decade out of date, but the screen still lit up when he tapped at it. The first and one of the few gifts that he’d ever gotten from a friend. It was rare that he even let anyone see it, but Evangeline had opened up to him, and he wanted to return that sentiment, even if just a little.

“Pine Crest is just a village that Nova Industries built one of their redistribution centers it. It’s just a pit stop for travellers going by that route to Mantle now. Dreary, gray, and depressing.”

The Scroll was handed over, and Argent exhaled slowly, looking off to the side while Evangeline took her time with it. On said Scroll were pictures of what looked like an idyllic utopian paradise, arranged in an easy to access album that she could scroll through. Orchards of peach and apple trees, huge fields of wheat and corn, rolling hills, and a clear blue sky, all captured in loving detail. The last one of the lot, and the very last picture on the Scroll as a whole, was what appeared to be four Faunus in front of a homely looking wooden cottage, smiling. Two were dressed in green cloaks over leather and steel armor, with matching rings on their fingers. The female was a cat-type Faunus, and the male was a snake-type just like Argent himself, with blood red scales where the huntsman trainee had silver-grey. An revolver sat on his hip, the same way that a large gauntlet almost the size of the female’s torso was slung over her back. And in between them was a shorter, very pretty female, who looked almost like an old movie star with her long silver hair and gold eyes. She was laughing in a much more at ease fashion than the previous two, perhaps due to the child in her arms beaming at the camera with his own arms outstretched.

A child without scales on his face or body, but with a very familiar set of silver hair and golden eyes.

“That was how Pine Crest used to be. A farmer’s haven. Now, it’s a ghost town.”

Argent held out his hand after a few moments without looking back, focused on a tree in the distance.

“So. Don’t worry about it.”

@ ● 945 words ● 3037 total words

MADE BY MIZO

[Evangeline Lys de Verre]

tell me pretty lies

template by Punki of Adoxography

Argent Steele -x- 859 words -x- big sad

She sighed sadly as he agreed that humans were like that. It was true. Human nature truly was to ostracize anything that didn't fit their idea of normal. It's why Evangeline had always struggled with fitting in, because no matter how hard she tried to be perfect, someone would find out the telltale signs and then all of it would be for naught. She would just be referred to as a doll, a robot, a fake. All her smiles, all her happiness... All of it felt like a lie when she considered the well of sadness welling up inside of her, stemming from an inability to ever find true acceptance.

"It's not like that." His voice would break her out of her sad reverie as she would turn her face towards him. She listened as he went on about his life not being the happiest, while he reached into his pocket for something... A scroll?

She had a slight frown of puzzlement as he went on about Pine Crest and... Nova Industries? What did Nova Industries have to do with him? She knew of the industries, how could she not when they were such a large provider of electronics? She took the offered scroll, seeing that it was open to an album of photos. She selected the first one and studied each photo with focus, admiring the beauty of the little slice of heaven that Pine Crest probably was. Trees bearing fruit, large spans of crop land, hills after hills in the backdrop and a beautifully clear sky above. Pine trees visible in several photos, and Evangeline was sure she could spy the faint outlines of mountains in the very back.

"It is beautiful." She whispered, a soft voice with a soft smile as she went through the photos. And then she got to the last photo. Her lips would part with a soft "Oh." sound of awe and surprise at being exposed to something so... personal. The red snake hunter was similar to Argent, but only upto the faunus traits... Everything else was different, so he was definitely unrelated, especially the somewhat lazy ghost of a smile his lips held. A family friend? The Cat faunus seemed close to the snake hunter, probably they were mated, her eyes giving off a glimmer of uncanny intelligence, her smile exacerbating her natural allure. A beautiful huntress, but still incomparable to the beauty that stood in the middle of a photo. Silver hair, golden eyes. An ethereal beauty to her that seemed almost like the vision of a painter. A soft smile that could only belong to a mother, and there, in her arms, was a tiny bundle reaching outwards, with golden eyes and silver hair. Evangeline could feel her a warm fuzzy feeling in her chest from seeing something so precious. But there was a... strange kind of sadness to it, and even though it was such a wholesome picture, Evangeline knew it was no longer existent. Her eyes teared up from emotions as one hand came up to her mouth as she looked down at the photo, even as Argent continued.

"Now it's a ghost town." His voice was unreadable, but the words definitely held a note of... longing. For what it had been. A muted kind of grief. Evangeline would give the scroll back to him, wiping her eyes with her fingers of the tears that were on the brink of falling. She didn't know what to say. What could she say? For the first time, Evangeline was at a complete loss for words on how to... Help him. She wanted to help him. He was definitely not alright from all the things he had faced, and yet... No words came to her. For the first time, whatever melody of life guided Evangeline had fallen silent... As sombre as the thought of such a beautiful place of nature being turned into nothing but a memory.

"No one... Likes remembering the bad things." She murmured, her voice still thick with emotions, small sniffles evident in her breathing. She didn't look at him, keeping her eyes on her lap, head lowered slightly. She would then shift her body to the side, her shoulders touching his as she leaned on him just a bit... Nothing romantic or desiring in the gesture, just a gesture of companionship. A silent 'I'm here'.

"But... 'zat is why we must make better memories to remember. O'zerwise, the bad memories win." She muttered, trying and failing to smile as she said it, almost like she was talking to herself than Argent. She also had a lot of... bad memories to overcome. None as terrible and tragic as his, but she still had her own ghosts of the past that she needed to overcome. She took some measure of comfort in his presence to her side, the weight of his shoulder against hers a soothing anchor to hold onto as she drifted through her sorrow. Sorrow for both herself, but mostly for the boy sitting next to her, who had suffered so much loss and was still suffering. The least she could offer him was some silent company for a bit.

[Argent Steele]

I know you got hate in you. Most do. Trick is to use it, 'stead of it usin' you.
But you know this. Vengeance is a motivator, not the motive.

Don't hunt 'em 'cause you been wronged.
Hunt 'em 'cause what they did was wrong.
There's a world of difference there, kid.
One makes you selfish. The other makes you a hero.

And I see a hero in you.

❝

“…No.‌ No one does.”

He took the Scroll, checked that the single spiderwebbing crack on its screen was the only damage it had suffered until now, and slid it into an inner pocket before he felt the other lean against him. After the initial surprise, and a few moments of pondering what to do, the snake‌ Faunus gingerly patted the blonde’s shoulder a few times and settled back into his seat, the only way he could think of to respond to such a situation after what had happened between them. Emotions were such a messy thing, unbound by any sort of rule or constraint that might lend order to a melting pot of any number of issues.

Oh, to be sure, there was an ache in his chest whenever he thought of how Pine Crest used to be, and what it had become. Of what it had lost. But with time came acceptance, if not forgiveness, and the ache had dulled from sorrow into wistfulness and melancholy. The part of him that wished for his home back had been tempered by the part of him that remembered days upon weeks of months in the wilderness walking with Shin and Jade on roads seldom traveled, visiting places that few others did. He thought of the warmth of the small cottage by the farm, and the emptiness of the mansion in Mistral not so far away. Of warm nights spent in his birth mother’s embrace, of lonely nights when he could walk through dozens of corridors and hallways without ever finding another soul, of cold nights huddled between the two who’d taken him on, the twilight chill unable to snuff out the warmth in his heart.

Home was where you made it. It didn’t have to be a place. Where ever you felt the most at ease, where ever you choose to put down your sword and rest your head - that could be home. But if you chose to keep your home in memories, to keep your home in the past, where you could never reach it - that was on you. Home could be a man who shared his gun with you, though he didn’t have to. Home could be a woman who teased you when you missed a shot, though there was never malice in her voice, only gentle amusement. Home could be boundless forests, never ending roads, a campfire by the roadside, a cave in the side of a mountain, a forest clearing, an endless plain…

Home could be two people who pulled you out of despair when you needed them most. And that was okay.

“Your music,” he said after a time, when she had calmed down some from her bout of sadness and the silence had turned companionable. The slight edge he had carried with him earlier was gone - though his facial expression hadn’t changed all that much, if at all, his body was no longer quite as tense in her presence.

“Your music is nice. You play it well. It should make for good memories… I think.”

Argent turned to her, nodded once after a pause.

“Yeah. Your music’s good.”

WHISPER OF THE WYRM (SEMBLANCE): [RANK D]
SERPENT'S BENEDICTION: SPEED OF THE SCYLLA (SPEED) [RANK F]
SERPENT'S BENEDICTION: DANCE OF THE DRAGON (ACROBATICS) [RANK F]
SERPENT'S BENEDICTION: GLARE OF THE GORGON (MARKSMANSHIP) [RANK F]
OUROBOROS (WEAPON): [RANK F]

@ ● 523 words ● 3560 total words

MADE BY MIZO

[Evangeline Lys de Verre]

tell me pretty lies

template by Punki of Adoxography

Argent Steele -x- 689 words -x- 4493 total words

After a few moments as she leaned on his shoulder, Evangeline would be caught somewhat by surprise at him patting her shoulder. A moment later, she let out a low giggle. "You know, I should be 'zee one to be patting your shoulder." She mused in a light, amused way, although her voice was still slightly hoarse from her sorrow for him. But she didn't shy away from him, instead allowing herself to stay like that. His patting definitely was... somewhat comforting. She let out a soft sigh as she relaxed. Despite how it might appear, her leaning her head on his shoulder with his arm around her and patting her shoulder, she had absolutely nothing but platonic companionship in mind at that moment.

She thought about this boy who suffered so much, both in his past, as well as here in this academy, with people ostracizing him. She wondered how many more people there were out there who wasn't as strong as him, who couldn't defend themselves, suffering as he had, or worse. This is why she was training and learning to be a huntress. They were the kind of people she wanted to protect, to help. She wanted to be someone powerful who could stop such suffering, someone who could prevent another Pine Crest from happening even if she knew that was pretty impossible. But she would still try, and she would definitely act more in the future to help people who were ostracized and outcast.

His words actually broke her out of her thoughts, as Evangeline realized she had completely relaxed in his presence, her eyes having closed at some point due to the rhythmic pressure of his patting. Some time seemed to have passed and Evangeline slowly straightened up, pulling her weight off of his shoulder and allowing him to withdraw his arm.
"My music?" She implored gently, tilting her head at him and waiting for him to continue. Argent wasn't the most talkative person, she was realizing quickly. He was very reserved, and relied a lot on subtle cues to communicate rather than voice. Right now, he seemed more... lax. Definitely less tense than he had been before, and Evangeline took this as a good sign.

She waited patiently for him to continue, and when he did, she smiled at him. Not as bright as she usually smiles, with all her teeth showing and unbound cheerfulness on full display... No, this was a softer, warmer smile. A sincere one, because his words sounded sincere, and actually touched her a little bit.

"Merci, Argent. 'Zank you. I will play for you whenever you would like, to give boz' you and me good memories." She said in the same soft, kind way as her smile was. "I'm sure boz' of us could use more good memories, and I am sure we will make many more in 'zis academy."

She would then plop off of the bench, taking her violin case with her, almost skipping a step so she was in front of him before she turned around with a twirl to face him, holding her violin case behind her back with both hands. "I 'zink I have intruded in your space long enough for today." She said with a playful grin, obvious that she was joking, but also respectful of his need for privacy. "It is getting a bit late and I must return to the common room if I want to catch the latest episode of my favourite show. 'Zank you for 'zis lovely conversation, Argent." She said, giving him a short bow that held the surety and fluidity of motion that could only be attained by obvious practice.

"And if any human is ever mean to you, let me know. I will beat 'zem up for you!" She announced brightly, giving him a bright smile and an accompanying giggle. Her scroll began to ping out an alarm as she uttered, "Oh, my show is beginning soon, I have to go!"

"See you later, friend!" She called out as she turned and ran off, eager to be at the common room before her show began.