{ mute sea }

The faunus screamed as he sailed through the air, arms flailing to try to grab a hold of something, anything to keep him from plummeting to his death. He was so not ready for this. Well, in theory he was, but he really really wasn’t ready.

once the trees were, mercifully within reach, he could only hold his weapon claws out to get a hold and slow his decent. he  missed a couple attempts, but finally, he caught his claws on a trunk, momentem swinging him down the tree’s length…. And into getting clotheslined by a branch. Ouch.

Well, this was not ideal.

Aquamarine was a fish faunus, more comfortable in the water than flying through the air. Her mouth opened in a silent yelp, but as she fell ever closer to the trees, an idea struck. She held out her trident and fired its tines into the trunk of the nearest tree, utilizing the strong cords attached to the tines to guide herself to a relatively safe landing.

“Relatively,” in that her grip on the trident slipped ever so slightly as she swung, dumping her unceremoniously in a heap on the ground.

Not going to get anywhere lying here! she thought to herself, jumping to her feet and reclaiming her weapon. The first thing she had to do was find a partner, and she wandered for a few minutes before she finally laid eyes on someone.

Someone who, it looked like, hadn’t fared much better than she had in the landing department. Nimble fingers typed on her communication device, and it read out the words in a robotic voice.

“Are you okay?”

episode 001-004.

‘something’s coming. something hungry for blood.’

‘wait a minute. did you hear that?’

‘we’re in deep shit!’

‘don’t be a pussy!’

‘just twenty more minutes!’

‘yeah, she’s turning into a real jerk.’

‘the cause of the power outage is still unknown.’

‘he came home last night, right?’

‘that’s disgusting.’

‘do it, freak!’

‘it’s like you have superpowers or something.’

‘we just made out a couple times.’

‘i’ll climb through your window. she won’t even know i’m there.’

‘mornings are for coffee and contemplation.’

‘he’s not like that. he wouldn’t do that.’

‘the entire east wing will be evacuated within the hour.’

‘she can’t have gone far.’

‘you think you can steal from me, boy?!’

‘this isn’t some lord of the rings book.’

‘do i make myself clear?’

‘is that why you ran away?’

‘you gotta answer a few of my questions first.’

‘all i know is that she’s scared to death.’

‘you think we got a problem here?’

‘we should be helping look for him.’

‘i always had a distaste for science.’

‘i always figured there was enough going on down here, i never needed to look elsewhere.’

‘this is crazy.’

‘smile looks good on you.’

‘we’re not going back.’

‘i know i haven’t been there for you.’

‘i don’t even barely know what’s going on with you.’

‘i should’ve been there for him.’

‘this was not your fault.’

‘do you guys hear that?’

‘is that blood?’

‘you’re freaking her out!’

‘this is mental.’

‘she’s probably a psycho.’

‘and tomorrow night, we go back out.’

‘hey, um… i never asked your name.’

‘i can’t eat.’

‘you can’t get like this, okay?’

‘we’ve been waiting six hours.’

‘we’ve been searching all night.’

‘he was scared.’

‘if he sees the cops, he’ll think he’s in trouble. he’ll hide.’

‘he’s good at hiding.’

‘cops are good at finding.’

‘you’re in trouble, aren’t you?’

‘they want to hurt you? the bad people?’

‘just stay here, okay? stay here.’

‘what do you say? are you in or out?’

‘oh god… that’s depressing.’

‘i just wanted to say, you know, um… i’m sorry about everything. everyone’s thinking about you.’

‘he’s a smart kid.’

‘all that matters is, after school, the freak will be back in the loony bin, and we can focus on what really matters.’

‘pretty.’

‘just trust me, okay?’

‘i’m so sick of your excuses.’

‘he’s not coming, is he?’

‘you shouldn’t like things because people tell you you’re supposed to.’

‘i don’t know where my boy is. he’s gone.’

‘did you see him? last night? on the road?’

‘i’m not mad at you.’

‘is everything okay?’

‘promise.’

‘i need you alive for the next few days, at least.’

‘missing kid, suicide… you must feel like a big city cop again, huh?’

‘are you out of your mind?!’

‘i think she knows what happened to him.’

‘do you know where he is?!’

‘stop it! you’re scaring her!’

‘that boy was never very good at taking care of himself.’

‘why am i just hearing about this?’

‘it’d be super weird if i’m not there…’

‘it’s just a loud noise. it’s okay.’

‘they won’t tell anyone about you. they promise.’

‘we wouldn’t have upset you if we knew you had superpowers.’

‘what is “friend”?’

‘you promised that you’d go.’

‘we’re gonna have a great time.’

‘he just wants to get into your pants…’

‘make sure i don’t get drunk and do anything stupid.’

‘you ever feel cursed?’

‘hey, come back inside.’

‘you are a cliché, you do realise that?’

‘yeah, she’s smart, you douche!’

‘you’re bleeding.’

‘just go ahead and go home, okay?’

‘jesus, you scared me!’

‘i didn’t think it’d be a big deal.’

‘you can talk to me.’

‘nothing happened.’

‘you need to stop this, okay?’

‘people are looking for him and they’re going to find him.’

‘can you just try and get some sleep? can you do that for me?’

‘you seriously think that the weirdo knows where he is?’

‘if there is something out there, i’m gonna shoot it in the eye - and blind it.’

‘use your powers, okay?’

‘if you get hungry, eat his snacks, okay?’

‘i know the kid’s not in there, but i gotta check off this box.’

‘no one breaks in here. certainly not some kid.’

‘who’s in charge here?’

‘science doesn’t make any damn sense to me.’

‘i seriously have no idea who you’re talking about.’

‘he’s in danger.’

‘he’s dead.’

‘i’m a dick.’

‘he must really have something to hide.’

‘yeah, this isn’t creepy at all.’

‘this is called stalking.’

‘that’s the thing about perverts. it’s hard-wired into them. you know, they just can’t help themselves.’

‘maybe she freaked out when you went all psycho on the psycho.’

‘why did they hurt you?’

‘friends tell the truth.’

‘i understand.’

‘tell me what to do.’

‘i think something happened. something terrible.’

‘this is CIA-sanctioned research.’

‘i’m not saying that there’s some grand conspiracy. i’m just saying maybe something happened.’

‘maybe he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and he saw something that he shouldn’t have.’

‘hiding.’

‘don’t waste your time with her.’

‘we are not calling the cops!’

‘please tell me it’s not the kid.’

‘you were supposed to help us find him alive.’

‘why did you lie to us?’

‘what is wrong with you?’

‘whoever you found is not my boy.’

he was hiding from that thing.’

‘you’ve gotta stop this…’

‘you’re talking about grief.’

‘i swear to you, i know what i saw. and i’m not crazy.’

‘i’m not saying that you’re crazy.’

‘i need you to believe me.’

‘i want you to try and get some sleep, if you can.’

‘can you please stop that?’

‘i thought we were friends, you know? but friends tell each other the truth.’

‘you hurt me.’

‘are you sure you’re gonna be alright here by yourself?’

‘screw his funeral!’

‘yeah, okay, but why didn’t you just talk to me? that’s crazy.’

‘i don’t know… i was scared.’

‘my parents are gonna murder me!’

‘this is not an okay time for you to shut down.’

‘maybe he’s haunting us.’

‘he’s out there somewhere. all we have to do is find him.’

‘you look pretty good.’

‘we just talked.’

‘the troopers are on duty and you should be safe because we think this is just an isolated incident.’

‘remember, if anyone sees us, look sad.’

‘do you think you can open it?’

‘abort.’

‘she’s missing and something terrible happened to her. i know it! and no one is listening to me!’

‘just leave me alone!’

‘pull me out! pull me out!’

‘what? who is interested in this? this is so stupid.’

‘mouth-breather.’

‘i think that’s a real messed up thing to do.’

‘grief shows itself in funny ways.’

‘i shouldn’t have come here today.’

‘she’s smart. she’s real smart.’

so why are you lying to me, man?’

‘what’s your problem, bud?’

‘stick your nose someplace else.’

‘thanks for ruining the game, dick.’

‘you’re gonna get us both killed!’

‘she’ll find him.’

‘i need you to find him.’

‘hurt him?’

‘i i guess i’d rather observe people than, you know…’