The Writer Games

It can take decades to write a masterpiece, and years to plan it- so see what a couple of amateurs come up with in 15 minutes after a prompt. College Fool, Couer Al'Alran, and the (mostly Jaune) story concepts that followed.

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College Fool's Prompt: "Draw me like your Vacuo girls, Jaune."

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Title: The Artist
Summary: Jaune's a Hunter (in training), an artist (in name) and a lover (in fact) – but the last thing he expected upon meeting his teammate's love interest, was to meet the girl of his dreams. Too bad she's innocent, immature and… underage.

GASP! Coeur reaching into underage fiction how dare he – oh wait, everyone kind of has to because they're all seventeen. Oh well!

Intro Arc (beat 1) – Setting the Status Quo – bachelor s***

Story starts as Jaune is walking down the corridors to his room, wiping sweat from his brow, but with a cheery grin on his face. With art supplies held under his arm and whistling a jaunty tune as others glare at his early morning cheer, Jaune knocks on his dorm door before entering, only to freeze.

"Draw me like one your Vacuo girls Jaune," Sun Wukong says, reclined completely n*** on their settee in the middle of the dorm. Jaune promptly responds by tossing his art book on Sun's dangling member, sparing them all the awful sight.

Jaune is a member of Team SSJN – Known as Team Sun, because no one cares less about spelling team names than the Vacuo Academy – whose slogan might as well be "f*** that, it's really hot out here!" At Vacuo there are no uniforms (confirmed when we see Ozpin talking to assembled students) – the school is poorer than the others, it doesn't fly – because let's face it, in a desert water is appreciated, the piping in the f*** SKY is not good.

Team Sun are known as the heartthrobs of Vacuo, partly due to their good looks – but more due to their attitudes and filling of various relationship tropes. From flirtation, funny and muscled Sun – to refined, charismatic and chatty Neptune. Scarlet fills the dangerous, pirate angle – and Jaune, well Jaune is an artist. A poet, a painter and a person who can charm any woman out of her clothes.

And he does, often.

Team Sun helped him open up, gave him confidence, because when he snuck into Vacuo they just couldn't care less – he was a bro, and bro's stuck together through everything (terms and conditions apply). They dragged him out of his shell, encouraged him to be whatever he wanted to be – and they all bonded over the horrors of outside classes in a desert at noon, freezing nights – and sand getting everywhere.

Everywhere.

Back to the story, it's revealed that they are preparing to head to Beacon soon, with Sun talking all about this girl he met (Blake) that he wants their help getting together with. Initial banter turns to shock when Sun reveals that he is… serious.

She may just be, the one.

Team Sun comes together under one banner to ensure Sun gets with his beautiful faunus girl (Oh, but keep that secret, you're not supposed to know) – surely with the four of them being players it shouldn't be too hard, right?

Beacon Arc (beat 2) – Meeting RWBY and s***

Team Sun arrives at Beacon and is given a room, there's much initial oohing and aahing – it has shade! It has a shower, the water's cool! It has central heating and aircon! Meanwhile Sun drags them all out to meet the girl of his dreams, with them arriving just in time to witness the end of the food fight – and just in time for Jaune to get a black eye from a rogue croissant.

The two teams are introduced soon after (and honestly for the basis of this story JNPR (or whatever replaces them) just isn't important, so I'll ignore them – assume they are background characters). Jaune spends much of his time watching Blake, trying to get a read for her that might help his bro – and Scarlet does much the same. It's not until Neptune of all people starts showing interest in the white-haired girl that Jaune lets his eyes wander, only to see something incredible.

Flawless features, beautiful skin, a cherubic face, those colours, that hair – she's perfect. She's…

… Fifteen, he finds out later – after trying to chat her up. Much to his horror and shame, though thankfully she's apparently too innocent to know that Jaune was trying to put the moves on her. He tries to rescue the situation however by saying he's an artist and that he wants to draw her – because hey, he wasn't wrong – she is beautiful.

Team Sun are a little concerned, since "drawing" and "Jaune" in Vacuo has always been synonymous with sex – but they trust in him when he says he won't. And of course, he doesn't. Jaune and Ruby form a cute little friendship that her Team are supportive of.

Problem is… as much as it horrifies him to admit it, he can't stop wanting more from her.

Conflict Arc (beat 3) – In which there's conflicting s***

Jaune realises he has it bad for Ruby Rose, cute, geeky – underage. It's a torrid attraction that he can barely understand, because she's everything he doesn't like in girls. Flat-chested, innocent and childish among other things. He initially tries to ignore it by breaking the friendship off, but between trying to help Sun and Blake get together, and Ruby's sad looks (and Yang's threats) he's unable to do it.

He takes to drawing her more often, sometimes with her weapon – sometimes with Yang, he does little family portraits for them both, and their whole team is really impressed with how good an artist he is. Sun gives the thumbs up – it's going well on his end. RWBY likes SSJN – which means Sun has more excuse to hang around Blake, and his honest attitude and casual wit seems to be slowly breaking its way through her stubborn isolation.

By all means, things should be well – but it's still difficult on Jaune because the more time he spends with Ruby, the deeper he falls in love. And even though he's only 17 – he's been sleeping around, so he has urges. Urges he wants to sate, but could never allow himself to.

Raising the Stakes (beat 4) – In which s*** gets more intimate

Things continue as they do, there's the robot fighting scene – which Team SSJN helps with a little more competently than they did in canon, because hey – men can be okay too! The friendship between Ruby and Jaune gets a little deeper, except that there are now small touches and feelings too.

Ruby is naturally huggy, and Jaune guiltily takes more pleasure than he should from holding her. Similarly when she lets her guard down and shoves a cookie in his mouth, he can't help how his lips touch her fingers, and the chaste kiss he lays there – which she treats as an accident and blushes over.

To make matters even worse, Yang has started to get an inkling about it, though she doesn't say anything to him. Sun and Blake become a little more common figures around this point, and in a way Neptune and Weiss also go out on a date. Theirs is a less troubling relationship, both have an interest and get on when chatting with one another, so they go on a dinner date to see if they mesh.

Jaune confesses to Scarlet his attraction, and Jaune's partner is sympathetic, even if he's unsure what to say. He doesn't blame or hate Jaune for it, and honestly thinks it bad luck – this is a Hunter School, of course he would have assumed she was seventeen. But hey, it's not too big a gap – she will grow up, if he's willing to wait.

Jaune says, much to his own horror, that he thinks he maybe is.

Conflict 2 ( Beat 5 ) – In which s*** gets conflictier

Jaune decides he wants to wait for Ruby, but that such is foolish if she doesn't return his feelings. He realises he needs to tell her how he feels, or give her some kind of sign.

During their next drawing session Jaune tries to drop hints of his feelings. He doesn't want to admit it, somehow thinking if he does that then there won't be any escape… if he shows it, and she shows she doesn't want it – then it's a rejection which he can handle. But if he admits he's falling for her – and she is disgusted… then it's pretty much outed that he likes little girls.

Covert touches, some less-than-veiled compliments. Ruby takes them all with a ref face and little giggles, thinking he is just trying to embarrass her – it's sickeningly sweet, which just makes it worse for Jaune.

Ruby never catches on, and Jaune despairs that she never will. Until a little later into the Arc he takes her on a picnic and while he is trying to tell her how to lay so he can draw her, he loses patience and kisses her.

It's sweet and soft, and Ruby reciprocates happily. Jaune ends it, apologising and saying he shouldn't, but Ruby says she doesn't mind – she liked it. She likes him. When he brings up her age she just sighs and says everyone makes more of it than she does, sixteen is the age of consent in Remnant, she's close enough anyway – and will be sixteen in like two months. Besides, they're not getting married – they're just kissing.

Jaune laughs and kisses her again.

Ruby and Jaune return to her team, and to his horror Ruby just tells them all – and to his shock, they aren't just okay with it – they're pretty much impatient "Geez, finally – took him long enough to grow the balls to ask you out."

It's been obvious to them from the start, and while they were uncomfortable at first – they grew to trust him and they trust Ruby to be an adult. What's a year and a half or so.

Black Moment ( Beat 6 ) – In which s*** goes wrong

The relationship is fractured however when a girl from Vacuo sees one of the pictures that Yang is carrying, that Jaune drew of her and Ruby together. The girl recognises his style, and comments on them having a threesome – which Yang is confused over.

Until the girl explains that Jaune draws all the girls he sleeps with in Vacuo, and that having a picture from him is basically like saying "I bagged Jaune Arc." He's one of the most desired men in Vacuo, and he's used that to his advantage – time and time again.

Yang flies into a rage, and rather than confront Jaune, goes to Ruby. She finds her and Jaune making out, before she demands to know the truth, even as Weiss and Blake followed her to find out themselves. Ruby is distraught at the idea that she'd been played with, and Jaune's attempts to explain are hardly heard.

He receives a black eye from Yang, and a broken heart from Ruby – who is in floods of tears.

Resolution (Beat 7) – In which s*** gets resolved

Jaune is distraught that his reputation has ruined his first real relationship with someone he felt he truly loved. There's some self-pity moments, as all men do, he tries to draw some other things to distract himself – but his art is dead. Just all lifeless and dull. He's lost his lustre.
What's worse, Sun and Blake fall apart, not because of the issue – but because Sun refuses to hear their insults about Jaune. He's my bro, I'm not putting up with this!

Jaune tries to meet with Ruby, only for Yang to chase him off – with threats of violence and giving him a matching shiner.

Team Sun suggests there are plenty of fish in the sea, but it's Scarlet who disagrees – saying that up until now Jaune's had his fun without too much trouble. But sometimes if you want to go big, you've got to work for it. Jaune asks for advice, but Scarlet just shrugs.

"You're the hotshot artist, you do something."

Jaune is missing from classes the next two days, and Scarlet finds him each night to bring him food. The blonde is at various points across Beacon with an easel and canvass. He rarely talks, only to thank Scarlet for the food and assure him that he is okay – and to stop Sun and Neptune worrying so bad.

The ending is a PoV from Ruby's angle – in which she leaves her room to see a painting leaning against the opposite wall. It's Jaune and Ruby on their first picnic, both smiling and laughing as they eat. Ruby remembers it and feels sad, but hides it before the others wake up.

The next day she wakes up to find another painting, this time of Jaune drawing her – the smile on his face as he watches her filled with love. Again she loves it and keeps it.

The third day she receives a picture of them kissing, which embarrasses her, and yet to her eyes she pays the most attention to their joined hands, which she can see have a strange red string entwined about them, as though linking them together.

The fourth day is different however. A picture of a man alone, sitting against a wall with his knees bunched up and his head in his hands. The background is dead and drab, as though rainy and unfinished.

The fifth she actually receives late at night, as she comes back from training, it is a vista, as realistic as a photograph of the spot they had their picnic at. And it's photo-realistic. She can see a blanket there, and a figure sat on it with his arm held out, as though holding hands with someone, except no one is there. There's also a small word written on the bottom corner.

"Please…"

Ruby picks it up, and instead of going into her room goes to the location in the picture, where she finds Jaune.

Jaune explains himself to her, how he was a bachelor, a player – and how that was never meant to change, but that he grew to love her, honestly love her. And that he made the decision to change for her, except that his past caught up with him. He begs her forgiveness, and going a step further – asks if she will consider marrying him when she's off age.

Ruby is uncertain, but can't deny she still feels for him. She explains her side of the story, the happiness she felt, but also the fear that she was a game to him. He apologises, but not for what he did – but what she felt and feared. Because to him it was never a game and never would be. He loved her for every second of it, even when he tried not to.

Ruby kisses him, and asks if he will finish the last painting for her, because the man in it looks lonely. Jaune lays the canvass down and starts to paint, even as Ruby hovers with her face pressed against his, hand resting on his back. It's a cute scene, more than romantic. Two teens in love.

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C.F.'s Reaction:

Can I start by admitting I'm uncomfortable on the subject matter? Because I'm uncomfortable at the subject matter. I seriously considered not posting this because, yeah. There's a reason I always depict Lancaster as a slightly older Ruby.

But depiction is not endorsement, nothing taboo actually happens, and there's a good lesson from this fill- don't lose track of what your story is about. Let's ignore that Jaune is also a minor , and that a two-year age gap isn't the same as, say, a twelve year one. Rule of thumb for my creep factor is divide by two and add seven, so Lancaster doesn't really bother me as such. I usually get bothered more by teacher-student scenarios. Kids falling in love is what kids do. Mature adults with immature children, not so much.

Coeur's fill is a mix of two different stories, which he hits well enough. My feelings are that the underlying problem of a relationship should generally be consistent. I like themes in stories, and that goes for relationship issues. Either of the issues is 'good' in that they're valid reasons for concern and friction, but the story is built up and sold on the first one. The fact that it's a non-issue for everyone else? It was underplayed.

If you're going to dabble with taboo or uncomfortable topics, you have to commit to the premise. Not necessarily in doing the do (again- depiction is not endorsement), but in directly addressing and using the dynamic. Otherwise it's just wasting the premise, especially if you go with something that's mundane by comparison.

It'd be like, oh, trying to write a Cardin-Velvet romance. Except for instead of Racism, the problem is that Cardin leaves the toilet seat up one time too many.

Again- uncomfortable topic, awkward commentary. But it could be better.

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Coeur's Reflection:

Hoo-boy, where to start?

Maybe by firstly saying I obviously do not condone pedo? Though it's also a small nod to the fact that hey - Ruby is fifteen, pretty much any pairing fic with her is pedo. But this is fiction, and I'm honestly not afraid to explore that in fiction - especially if it's the crux of the story, as I tried to make it here.

I don't think I succeeded.

When making any romance story there is a need for conflict, and I saw two possible routes here, two points that could cause drama and conflict.

a) Ruby's age compared to Jaune
b) Jaune's past as a play-boy, clashing with Ruby's insecurity issues.

I think I chose the wrong one here, and the story felt a bit meh for it. The thing is that no one seemed to care about it other than Jaune. And that sort of makes sense realistically - I mean she is 15, not 12 - and is also the leader of a team, so her friends probably consider her their age mentally anyway.

But that's not good story conflict.

Anyway it's okay, not a good as some of mine I think, a little rushed perhaps. I wanted cutesy romance and didn't give enough examples of it really. Maybe I should have gone for a darker deeper story, where the romance IS hotter and heavier, and there is a sense of giving in to your sin, on both their ends. Honestly that might have worked better, as even a good ending or a tragic one.

Hell tragedy could have worked well, in which they genuinely love one another - and to them age ISN'T an issue, but because of the rule of law, even the space of a few months causes Jaune to be arrested and sentenced. Though Ruby promises she will wait for him.

A bitter-sweet option there, ah well - I wanted a happy ending.

There's two ways I might have retaken this. I could either have gone for the other clashing concept, or like the above example - gone for a "Us vs the world" kind of story. Wherein Jaune and Ruby's love is pure, but no one else can accept it. Be it their friends or society, everyone is against their love.

So the drama would have been external, rather than internal.

Instead it was before Christmas, and I was rushed - probably one of my weaker fills.

OR... I could have completely AU worlded it, Jaune is a famous artist hunted by the White Fang (because reasons) and RWBY is the team set to defend him. Jaune's desire for freedom and artistic expression clashes with RWBY's desire to protect him. And he also dislikes hunters because he feels they only destroy, when he just wants to create.

Clashes, slow burn romance with Ruby - or Weiss, or any of them really. Big scene where Cinder captures him, and tries to kill the love interest, before Jaune reveals his semblance. The ability to create things through art - which kill Cinder. A semblance he hates, because just like what he tried to never be - it only destroys.