Strikhedonia - The pleasure of being able to say "to hell with it".
Strikhedonia - The pleasure of being able to say "to hell with it".
Title: Bold Words
Jaune sat idly on a bench, one of many that occupied a large courtyard with a fountain as its centerpiece. He was slumped as far as he could go without slipping off, his head resting against the back of the bench.
He had been like this for quite some time, observing the curly wisps of clouds as they lazily traveled across the expanse of the bright blue sky. He closed his eyes, thinking over what was causing him to feel so gloomy, when a familiar teasing voice called out to him.
"Hey there Vomit Boy. What are you doing all by your lonesome?"
He opened his eyes and straightened up to find Yang approaching him, her golden curls bouncing as she jogged over.
She sat down next to him and gave him a grin that he halfheartedly returned. Yang dropped her cheery demeanor, realizing that Jaune wasn't looking too happy.
"Hey now, why so mopey buddy?"
Jaune sighed tiredly, a bit reluctant to tell Yang his problem. "It's nothing really, no big deal, so don't worry about it."
Jaune shrugged and tried to play it cool, but he could tell Yang wasn't buying it and decided it would be better to tell her now rather than have her force it out of him.
"Promise you won't laugh?" He said in earnest, searching Yang's face anxiously.
Yang nodded and made a cross over her heart with her forefinger. Jaune steeled himself for what he was about to say, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves.
"I've never cussed before." He said in a rush, clenching his eyes shut in expectance of laughter.
He only heard a snort, and upon opening his eyes, found that Yang was not stifling a laugh.
"Meh, that's no big deal Jaune. Plenty of people choose not to cuss." Yang shrugged indifferently.
"But that's the thing." He said in dismay. "I want to cuss, but for some reason I can never get the words out. I always end up saying some sort of buffer term instead."
Yang could see that this issue seemed to bother Jaune a lot. She decided not to wave him off again, and pondered over his problem.
"Why do you want to be able to cuss anyway? It's not like it's anything great."
"Well, you see, it never really bothered me before. I was fine with not having to use profanities at all."
"What made you change your mind?"
"Quite honestly it's kind of dumb." Jaune said sheepishly. "I just feel like a kid when I say fudge instead of- well, you know- that other word. There, see?" Jaune had his head in his hands now, his posture looking like he was at a total loss.
"I guess I can see where you're coming from when you put it like that."
Yang began playing with the tips of her hair, twirling the golden locks around her finger as she considered Jaune's dilemma. It didn't take her long to figure out a solution.
"I think I have an idea." Jaune raised his head and looked at her expectantly. "How about you start small. Instead of just going straight for the more profane words, use something else that can be considered bad, but not as bad."
Jaune nodded his head, a look of hope in his eyes. "But what word would be considered 'bad, but not so bad'?"
Yang thought it over, going through the many words she knew of that weren't too heavy. She finally settled on one, a word often used in one of her favorite phrases.
"To hell with it." Yang said to him with a grin.
Jaune was confused at what she said, at first thinking Yang had given up helping him, but soon he realized what she was implying.
"Oh. Ooooooh, okay I get it."
Yang nodded sagely at him. "Good. Now, you need to say the word. Go ahead and use the same phrase. It's kind of fun to say." Yang instructed him.
Jaune nodded vigorously, mentally preparing himself to utter the word. "O-okay, here goes. To h-he-heck with it." Jaune groaned into his hands as he found himself reverting to a safer word.
Yang was patient with him though, urging him to try again.
"Okay Jaune, you got this." He whispered to himself before going at it once more. "To h-hell with it."
Yang grinned at him, gesturing with her hands in encouragement for him to repeat the phrase.
"To hell with it." Jaune said tentatively, still testing how the word rolled off his tongue. "To hell with it." He said again with more confidence. "To hell with it!" He was now enthusiastic, raising his voice a bit more in excitement at being able to say it with more ease.
Jaune then sprung off the bench, looking towards the sky and shouting loudly.
"TO HELL WITH IT!
Yang laughed then, a bit surprised at Jaune's outburst, and finding it funny how much he was into it. "Okay there commando, don't get too cocky now. A professor might hear you."
Jaune immediately became shy, quickly dropping into the seat stiffly and looking around worriedly.
Yang couldn't help but snicker at his antics. "Oh man Jaune, you're a riot. Don't freak out, I was only kidding. None of the teachers really have the time to go outside."
Yang pat him roughly on the back, knocking the air out of him from the unexpected strength. "Well since you've managed to get that out, want to head back to the dorms? We were about to have a movie marathon to educate Weiss on the wonders of children's movies."
Yang nudged at his side with an elbow, waiting for his answer. "Well, I was supposed to study and take notes on an upcoming test in Professor Oobleck's class..." Jaune trailed off momentarily, a small smile forming as he made his decision. "But you know what, to hell with it."
The two shared a laugh at that, and both made the trek back to their dorms while discussing what movies they should watch.
