Thank Dust, he'd remembered his headphones. The sultry sounds of his favorite music would perfectly tune out the dulcet tones of Jaune and Pyrrha being cute and gross. He would also miss the bulk of Nora's blathering. He loved the girl to pieces, but he loved her even more when she wasn't talking all day long.
'This is my planet! Higher than y'all's, dammit! No laws and there's no raw candidates! I made them all vanish!' Ahh, the lovely sounds of his most favorite rapper. Ren's tunes aided him to keep his sanity in a world full of people whose faces he would love to smash. His only concerns, for the most part, were his studies and combat training. Where Jaune was worried about girls or Nora gabbed on about everything, Ren stuck to his books for the most part.
He didn't even like fighting that much, but it kept him alive and that was the point, after all.
A nice day at the fair would ease the team's stresses. They couldn't spend their whole lives on the battlefield. Not even Pyrrha, who seemed to never tire of training and sparring. The only thing she liked more than combat was Jaune.
Their pairing was yet another reason Ren so loved his headphones.
'Now I don't ever want to be perfect, 'cause I'm a singer that you never want to see shirtless, and I accept the fact that someone's gotta win 'Worst Dressed'.' The lyric took his mind away from that thought he'd rather not think, thankfully.
"So what are we going to do first?" He asked Nora. Pyrrha and Jaune had split from them, Pyrrha wanting to show off at a dart game. Nora gazed around for a time, apparently not finding the game she wished to play in their vicinity.
"Well, I've been thinking about cotton candy since I woke up, so let's get on that before anything." He grinned at the thought. He hated cotton candy with all his soul, along with most other confections made entirely of sugar, but Nora loved the miserable stuff, and that's all that mattered to him.
Nora's happiness was his central goal, as the alternative would be absolute hell for him. For anyone in her vicinity, in fact...
Nora nommed on her giant ball of powder and grossness as the two of them walked toward the strength test game. Nora smashed the weight with her trusty hammer, the bell ringing out as though it were injured. The game attendant passed her the prize she'd selected.
"SHE CHEATED!" Another player spoke. Ren's eyes zoned in on the accuser, his palms ready to snap them in half. "She can't use her own hammer! She could have used Aura to cheat!"
"I HAVE DONE NO SUCH THING! Why do you care anyway, Russel Thrush? Did I pick the prize you wanted? Too bad, win something else for your boy toy Lark!"
"Well, you really should use our hammer... Still, she won fair and square. You think I'm stupid enough not to read Auras, kid? Try your own muscles, I've got plenty of prizes!" The attendant cracked, grinning as Ren and Nora left the scene.
"He's just jealous because you could bench ten of him, sweetheart," Ren told her, tousling her orange hair. She booped his nose with one finger as she ate the last bite of her sugary treat.
Someone bumped into her and ran off. Ren noticed before Nora, grabbing the figure by his scrawny left arm. The Beowolf plush toy fell out of his hands. Nora looked at her bag to see hers missing. She scooped up the toy in a rage, wanting to demolish Russel Thrush right there, but Ren told her to run along.
Once she was out of earshot, Ren smashed the mohawked thief against the nearest wall."I ought to tear out your heart for that! Did you really just try to steal a toy from my girlfriend? It's not her fault she has more muscles than you'll ever hope to have!" He stomped the back of Russel's knee into the bricks of the wall. "If you even go near her again, I will shatter your kneecaps. Understood?" No response, as Thrush was still groaning in pain.
Ren kneed the moron in the back. "SPEAK! Do you not like your face or something? I can rearrange it for you, free of charge!"
"Okay, I won't even look her way, dude! Just calm down, for Dust's sake!" Russel pleaded. Ren threw him to the ground, content with that answer. He brushed his sleeves off.
"I'm glad we had this talk, Russel. See you at school!" Ren cheered, his eyes burning holes through the idiot on the ground.
Ren found Nora by the snack stand, two sticks of some deep-fried awesomeness in hand. "Here, babes." She passed one to Ren, the boy's pink eyes turning starry at the sight of the greasy goodness. Now, sloppy fried snacks were the kind that Ren could get behind. "You didn't hurt him too bad, did you?"
"Well, I didn't smash him with a hammer, like you would have done, but I think I got my point across..." Ren smirked, taking a bite of his delicious 'Grimm-on-a-Stick' snack. And no, they weren't made with real Grimm. That would be disgusting... and difficult to prepare.
Nora smiled at her boyfriend, who had defended her honor this glorious day. They soon caught up with Jaune and Pyrrha, and the four made their way back to the school.
Russel Thrush would not even walk down the same hallway as Nora after that day, fearing the unholy wrath of Lie Ren.
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((A/N: I have this dumb headcanon that Ren listens to a lot of Tech N9ne and similar music. But anyway, the unholy wrath of Lie Ren.))