"Never let anyone tell you that your ears look silly," a lady, dressed in a perfect, white sundress, bent low to speak to the boy, all bruised and beaten. A small, soft smiled graced her porcelain features and a hand, fingers like laced silk to the touch, brushed the dirt from the bunny faunus' face. He sniffled, gaze turned downward.
Mumbling, his eyes never left the torn and frayed shoes he wore, "They didn't say they were silly; it was other stuff. They called them meaner things."
"Hmm, Jayden, look at me," her eyes lit up as she spoke, though her lips tugged into a sullen frown. Two dainty fingers tapped at Jayden's chin, lifting them so his blue could match her grey, "No matter what anyone says, these," she tugged at an ear, drawing a giggle from Jayden that she matched with her own, fond one, "are unique—they're yours, and they're your best feature. No one can take that away from you. And no one else can have ears like these."
Like the moon, brilliant and resounding in the night sky; a hanging lantern given for those dark and dank nights; a roadside companion and stalwart friend; something to be missed dearly in its absence.
Eyes shut tight, the stinging a dull throb in the back of his mind, Jayden tuned out the chatter and the talk. This was a special occasion, but he was no longer there to partake in it. He wasn't quite fond of early celebration, but he did suppose they got through it without much difficulty, or rather injury to show for said difficulty they faced. Perhaps that was enough for the praise they received, and the minor scorn woven within. Jayden himself supported the brunt of the injuries, having decided to act as stand-in tank due to their already hefty disadvantage. A broken rib from an almost dodged impact was the worst of it, the rest a mere black eye, a minor concussion, and various burns along his limbs. He didn't count the multitude of cuts and bruises that marred his body; those didn't hurt quite enough to garner his attention.
Recounting what had happened, that bird like fellow hadn't a clue as to what his semblance did, and got far to close in light of his own. A calculated mistake on his part, an opening for Jayden to take advantage of. He could have done more though, perhaps. Possibly. Or at least mitigated the amount of damage his team had taken that fight. There were far too many maybes to fuss over.
At the announcement of their team leader, Jayden turned along with the others to acknowledge Rayna's new found authority. Giving the girl a nod, his eyes peeled away to wander into the sea of students. Unfortunately, doing so tuned their captain's speech out, as well as Victor's quip and further words. He'd only caught the, "..you all look like crap..." part, in which Jayden sighed and threw a steely glare her way. A part of him wanted desperately to remind her just how much of the hits he took, for them in particular—they all knew he wasn't built for that, or he hoped so. But, Jayden kept his tongue on a short leash, reminding himself that they had gotten out of it fairly unscathed for how brutal the task was. A broken rib was perhaps the worst injury they accumulated. For Jayden, well, suffice to say, he'd been through and seen a fair amount worse.
"Dirty rodent, it should've been you—"
A small gasp at the sudden contact broke Jayden's reverie short, eyes trained downward to watch Rayna make a show of moving him. Clearing his throat to tide the sudden impulse to reel back from her touch, Jayden obliged as he turned heel and marched his way down the exit. He hadn't the heart to tell her that she'd been pressing into the broken rib the medics had keenly bandaged post-exam. The pain wasn't much, but it throbbed a few times worse and brought a perpetual wince to Jayden's features. At least slumber was mere footsteps away.
::Hours Later::
Dreamless sleep fueled by utter exhaustion could not have come at a better time. Of course, knowing Jayden's luck, peaceful slumber broke way to the shrill of Rayna's whistle and Jayden's response was immediate in his jolt awake. The suddenness of it flared his self-defense mechanism, flinging his own covers off by the sheer will of his semblance. More rather, they floated off at the near upheaval of gravity. The items with the least amount of mass in the room immediately shifted upwards, in a slow climb toward the ceiling, though most didn't make it past an inch from their original spot the moment Jayden regained his senses.
Feeling obliged to obey Rayna's orders, Jayden quickly slid out of bed, rummaging through his still unpacked things to grab a spare shirt and gym shorts, the shorts of which he was quick to slip into. Arching a brow at their leader's planned schedule, he merely huffed his response, "I think it unwise to make further enemies with our peers, regardless of previous happenstance." He grimaced, feeling the sting of his rib as he tugged one shirt off for the other. Still listening, Jayden fell to his bedside, slipping on his socks and shoes in that instance before returning to his standing position.
Facing Rayna, Jayden crossed his arms over his chest, carefully, as to not upset the still healing wound. "Bacon is a delicacy that I'm not exempt from," he said, tossing a side-glance to his other teammates, "Just because rabbits are vegetarians doesn't mean I am one." Jayden chose that moment to survey the map, archive it into his memory, and burst into a steady jog into the hallway. He tossed a look over his shoulder, feeling fairly bolder than he was usually want to be. It came as a surprise to him, but friendships forged in combat seemed always meant produce strong bonds and he'd fallen under the thought that staying aloof, as he wished to be, put the dynamic of the team at a further disadvantage. Making friendly seemed the better option.
He was content, however, to keep these words the last he spoke that day, "Assumptions are the key ingredients to an Ass and his ass. Asses."
