Tawny took a deep breath as she stepped downstairs "this is really uncomfortable..." she thought to herself, she was wearing her decoy school uniform with her combat clothes underneath, well all except the armor which she hid in her bag.
"I have it all set out..." she said to herself, her plan was simple, she would fool Jaune into thinking she would be attending regular school when in reality she would hitch a ride to Beacon "it's such a simple and risky plan, I wish I had more time to think it out...too many things getting in the way" she thought. An idea struck though her head, as she felt her brain light up, she smiled as it slowly turned into a frown "why would I ever think of that?" she said to herself. She looked down at her decoy uniform and patted her chest, she could feel the heavy layers of the uniform and the combat skirt "it's even more risky if I do this...but than again this entire plan is risky so what's new?" without second thought, Tawny ran back to her room and removed her decoy uniform. Once that was off she removed her combat skirt and shoved it into her bag along with her armor, "Tawny what have you gotten yourself into this time..." she said to herself shaking her head. She zipped up the bag as she put back on her decoy uniform, it was better than walking around like an idiot and boiling hot.
Today was the combat exam, her combat skills were to be tasted to see where she stands at, a final test to see if she is worthy of the floors of Beacon Academy "never assume anything," her father once told her "you never know how it'll turn out," she remembered him telling her this when she was taking an English exam. She had a pride for reading but she took the world of literature too lightly "if I spend more time reading books than most kids my age I'll pass this with flying colors!" the next day Tawny learned what the word thesaurus meant.
Her body felt heavy from the training she went through the past couple of days "I could have used those days to plan out my escape plan better..." she thought, she had to go through extreme discipline for her training. She even locked all of her sweets she oh so ever loves in a chest in her room, she hid the key in one of her bags she would take to Beacon and open it when she got there. It was almost like a drug addiction.
"Hey Tawn, better catch the bus or you'll miss open house," her father said to her as she walked down the stairs, he was sitting on the living room couch writing something on his tablet.
Tawny almost felt like running out immediately but something was dangling from her mind "hey dad, you never told me why you weren't coming with me to open house," she said.
"Oh I've got a full schedule," he smiled at her "I've gotta talk to a few clients, well not clients, I guess you could call them old friends"
"Old friends?" Tawny said "you never bothered to tell me about friends and acquaintances you had..."
Her father looked up at her and smiled "that's because you never bothered to ask," he said.
"Oh..." Tawny said as she blushed, her whole life people praised Jaune for his past, she was so tired of it that she mentally blocked out any mention of his past. "Somethings been bugging me though..." she thought, she remembered what Alice said to her at the post office "Jaune Arc is a joke," she remembered, she's never heard of anyone speaking harshly about her father before, it almost made her more curious about his past.
"Are you curious about them?" Jaune said, bringing Tawny out of her train of thought.
"Huh? Oh well, now's not really the time," she said "I should be going..."
"Hold up," Jaune said to her as she walked to the door "real quick I want to tell you something"
Something in Tawny wanted her to stay, that feeling must have made her turn around to her father with full attention "Yes?" she said.
Jaune paused as he was lost in thought "sorry..." he said "I don't mean to waste your time...I just don't know how to explain this...can't put it in words"
"Go ahead, I've got a speed semblance after all...schedules don't mean anything to me" Tawny said to him, she smiled in curiosity and wonder on what he would say.
"Okay," Jaune said as he took a deep breath "well, your whole life I know you've had mixed feelings on me Tawn...I know you've heard me say a million times that it's because me and your mother want to protect you"
Tawny nodded as she remembered the constant talks and arguments with her father "the world doesn't need anymore hero's, that's not the life me and your mother want for you, you need to face reality..." the memories flooded in her mind.
"I feel that I should be more honest," Jaune said "you might have figured this out already but...Tawn, you're the only thing I've got left of your mother..."
Tawny remembered the night she found her father asleep on the house, mumbling her mothers name, she grabbed a piece of her cape as she smelled it, the smell of red roses filled her senses, was this what made her father mumble in his sleep?
"I've lost too many things in my life Tawn, I've lost family, friends and worse of all your mother" Jaune continued "you're the only thing keeping me sane, if you were gone I...I don't know what would happen to me...and I fear it"
"Yeah..." Tawny said, it had just occurred to her that her father may have lost many friends in his adventures, she never thought about it, whenever someone praised him it would always be something overly heroic. "Stupid!" she thought to herself, what was it that made her think that her father was perfect? Nobody is.
"I let fear take control of me in worriment that I might lose you...and for that Tawny I'm sorry" Jaune said "but...I want you to understand that I fear because I love you..."
Tawny blushed, "of course," she thought, she had always loved her father, she just wasn't one to tell him her true feelings because of her annoyance, maybe the stories people told of him is what also made her love him, that over protection as well, she felt like no one else would do for her what he did, Tawny wanted to cry, something in her made her regret this plan on running away to Beacon.
"You alright?" Jaune asked "your face is red..."
"I-it's nothing," Tawny said as she smiled "I'm just...happy...that's all" a thought entered her mind as she remembered why she wanted to go to Beacon in the first place, even though her father protected her because he loved her, she felt like that over protection would lead to her life meaning nothing, it wouldn't make her happy, Tawny loved her father, but she also loved herself and her mother. That's why no matter the guilt, no matter tears, she had to go to Beacon.
"Happy..." Jaune said as he smirked, "well...I shouldn't be surprised...no get outta here kiddo, you're gonna be late"
Tawny nodded as she ran, something inside of her though wanted to make her walk, deep inside she just wanted to walk and think about all that her father has done for her, but that was in the past, she can't get caught up in past events, she had to keep looking forward, and so she ran, that was all she believed in.
She stopped as soon as she reached the bus stop, there was only one person there, a boy about the same age as her, he had round short hair and was a bit overweight, he sat alone on the bench, he didn't seem to notice Tawny at first.
"Ahem," Tawny said clearing her throat, the boy's head turned sideways immediately as he said "OH! I'm so sorry! See I wasn't-" before he could finish Tawny slammed her bags right on his lap "hold these for me would ya?"
"Y-y-yes 'mam!" the boy said without resistance, "so...are you going to Ridgement as well?" he asked.
Tawny unbuttoned the collar of her shirt saying "not today", one by one she unbuttoned her shirt as the boy blushed "w-whoa!" he said "W-what do you think you're doing?"
Tawny didn't answer, she knew that the bus would be here any moment, she couldn't afford to talk to strangers, she took off her decoy coat and shirt "right," she said to herself, she turned over to the boy and said "open that bag and get out my skirt in there,"
The boy opened his mouth in shock, his face completely red "are you serious? Are you changing?" he said "here? Right now? Outside?"
"Look bud," Tawny said "there's no one else around, I only have about 2 minutes until my ride arrives and I really, really need to change into these clothes, so hand me over the skirt now or you're going to learn what the word ""exercise"" means!"
The boy immediately opened Tawny's bag and rustled through it "g-got it!" he said as he brought it out "h-here!"
Tawny snatched the skirt as she took off her pants, the boy tried not to look at her as she slipped on her combat skirt, "alright, there we go!" Tawny said, she looked back at the boy, his head completely turned sideways blushing.
"Armor," she said to him, the boy slowly turned his head towards her as she screamed "ARMOR!"
The boy yelped as he snagged out the armor holding it in his shaking hands, she snagged the chest pieces as she wrapped them around her chest and back, she tightened the straps and adjusted them, she than snagged the leg armor, saying nothing to the boy knowing he would say something stupid to waste more time, she slipped her feet into the armor as she tightened the straps and laces on both of them.
"Alrighty," she sighed as she grabbed the bag off the boys lap and zipped it up, she felt around the bag to make sure her supplies and Surrexit Crescent were still there, she felt a bump and a familiar trigger, she smiled as she nodded "all set!"
She looked left and right on the road in search of the bus "that's strange...I thought it would show up by now..." it was at that moment that she heard the sound of jets, "what in the name of-" as she looked up to the sky, she immediately smiled.
Slowly defending from the sky was a giant aircraft, Tawny was surprised but at the same time not.
The doors opened as Tawny hopped in the aircraft, she looked at the boy, still on the bench looking terrified and smiled. "Thanks for the help buddy," she said saluting him, the doors to the aircraft closed as it took off.
The boy sat there alone, completely terrified at what he just saw "I...I think I need a change of pants," he said.