003 Strike [Written/Action for Shepherds]

[curries]

[WRITTEN]
what does strength mean to you? and how does a person become stronger?

[ACTION]
[Asbel sits quietly on one of the crates abovedeck. It's not really clear if he's in some sort of "time out" or if he's here for his own reasons, but what's plain is he doesn't have any intention of moving. A few hours have passed, and he hasn't so much as gotten up to stretch or even gotten up to his usual antics. Instead, the eleven-year-old appears to be thinking hard about something.]

[He said he wanted to become a knight someday; he still does. But what does being a knight really mean? How can he serve a king and protect a whole country full of people when he can't even protect his friends or his own little brother from danger?]

Comments

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[conntego]

Oh... wait.. I know what you mean. I usually fall asleep when studying either way, ahahaha....

[he's the best role model, yup.]

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[curries]

[Asbel cracks a small smile.] Lucky you! I sure wish it was that easy for me, but if I fall asleep, I just get woken up again. The only real way to escape studying is to sneak out where nobody'll come looking for you - at least not right away.

[Clearly they're made for friendship.]

So, what're you up to? Did you need something out of these boxes?

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[conntego]

[oh! jaune just shakes his head.]

No I didn't need anything- you just looked kinda down so I wanted to come talk to you.

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[curries]

[Asbel lifts a hand to rub at the back of his neck, his eyes wandering the deck.]

Oh, that.

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[conntego]

Sssooooo.... you uh... wanna talk about it? I've been told I'm kind of a good listener.

[he'll give out his own crappy advice, but it might help! ...maybe.]

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[curries]

["Kind of". Asbel knows what that means, or he thinks he does. And anyway, he took the time to walk over and say "hi", so the least Asbel can do is talk. He's not sure this is something he can figure out all on his own anyway.]

Well, remember when people were acting all weird? Before everyone teamed up to storm the fortress?

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[conntego]

Yeah! That was.... sure something.

[he was mostly hiding out with weiss during all that, he didn't want to get in anyone's way.]

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[curries]

Yeah, it was. [He stares at his knees.]

A whole bunch of people on the Shepherd were affected back then and we couldn't do anything. So we had to keep them locked or tied up or whatever so they wouldn't hurt anyone else on board.

It was...pretty awful. I can't stop thinking about it.

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[conntego]

Oh.... yeah I think during that time I was off with a friend of mine.

[jaune frowns.]

But uh- that's in the past now, right?

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[curries]

Yeah. [He nods, because it's true. It's all over now.] But-- Well, I don't know. I mean, everyone gets scared sometimes, right?

[He clenches his fists tight.]

My heart's never pounded like that before. And I keep remembering how angry Hubert looked back then. I wonder how many times he's been mad at me and just not said anything.

I guess I never realized how much I actually count on him being around. [He laughs once, but it's not a very good laugh.] Usually he's the one all scared and following me places. But when my brother and the others disappeared, I-- I really didn't know what to do.