“Two as one and one as two,” Cole calls, quiet but carrying, his toes dangling down into the air from the branch he’s perched on. Up high is better, most days, and though he hates the fright often sparked by a voice from nowhere (it isn’t nowhere, but up is a place so many people forget about), but they’ll usually be frightened no matter what he does. If he’s farther away, they tend to feel - not better, but less bad.

This will be - difficult. It isn’t their-his fault - it’s Cole’s, or, it isn’t - because that’s the problem it’s all wrapped around, and the problem of this problem especially. It’s not the same, obviously. But it’s bad enough, how tangled he gets when it isn’t too close to muddle him. He needs to be better about keeping it separate, needs to find someone to help, or to practice.

He hasn’t found anyone for that, yet, or a good way to keep what’s separate straight. It would be... better, if he had before, or if he could wait - if he-they were talking it through, if someone else was helping heal. But it’s all been pushed aside again, and - well, he’s here. So, ham-handed half-help it will be, for now.

“You were harder to find than I expected.” Once, he would have greeted the boy with warmth; with an extended hand to help guide the both of them through this strange, new world that they’d found themselves in. But Richter offered no such pleasantries to Emil as he stood before him; arms crossed loosely over one another while his fingers dug deep into the sleeves of his coat.

It took everything in the half-elf to remain as composed as he was, though he was sure that Emil could see the fire coursing through his eyes; threatening to consume his very soul the more the pair stood staring at one another. Even if they had parted ways before their final battle could take place, that hardly seemed to break the tension between them; those horrendous feelings he’d been holding onto, combined with the pure shock of finding Aster again contorting the expression on his face into one that was hardly readable. 

There was no denying that Richter was furious. He should have been relishing in the chance to live alongside his friend again, but instead, he was once more plagued with Ratatosk’s selfishness; hiding behind a false sense of hope, of promises to keep Aster in the dark.. it was the last thing that he’d ever deserved, after losing his life by the summon spirit’s hand. And if Emil thought for one moment that he’d have a chance to pursue Aster further, Richter would be putting those desires to bed before they could ever surface.

“Tell me.. when exactly were you planning on telling Aster the truth? Or if not for my appearance, would you have continued to uphold that damn lie to the face of the person Ratatosk murdered?”

“...... you gonna stop staring at me any time soon?” he hadn’t said anything to her, but Susie could feel the kid’s eyes on her the moment she came into view, and it was already getting old. Kris was the only human she knew, but it wasn’t like they were completely out of the ordinary.. so what was this one’s problem? Hadn’t he ever seen a monster before? 

Deciding to test the waters, Susie’s placid expression suddenly turned somewhat dark; stepping closer to the boy before forcibly shoving her arm against the wall behind him, keeping him from being able to escape. Her mouth slowly turned into a grin, opening slightly to show off her yellow teeth in an attempt to scare the crap out of him.

He'd put it off long enough. It was time to go to his assigned room for the night. He wished that he could just share a room with Domenico. Like he shared a tent with him during past away assignments. They'd been roommates for years, they knew how to co-exist around each other. Samir could endure it, of course, he just didn't want to. There was enough stress going around, they didn't need any extra. He had no room to say anything, however and quite frankly, no one was asking what he thought about it all. Worse comes to worst, he'd find somewhere else to catch a few hours of rest and recharge.

A deep inhale and the Power pushed open the door to his room. The worn nylon duffle bag sat on, what he had to assume, was his bed. Samir couldn't place the person who occupied the room besides him. He paused to study their face and came up with nothing. Which likely meant they were Pestilence or Death. There were only one or two he knew from those gangs, not a particular fan of either of them. "Uh, hey." He greeted with a raised hand to offer an awkward wave. "I'm, um, I'm Samir. Your roommate for the next couple nights, I guess." He moved toward the bed with his bag on it and started the process of grabbing out the things he would need for the night. A small bathroom bag, lightweight plain grey pajama pants, and a faded Cowboy Bebop T-shirt. A man of few words normally, he waited to see what his temporary roommate had to say before opening his mouth again.

“Hey kid, do you really think there’s some kind of murder fish down there?” Leon leans over the hole in the ice, gazing into the freezing water below. He’d heard a few rumors about this event, and though he’s never done much fishing himself, he knows a thing or two about monster fish.

“I mean, we’d be able to see it, right? With all of these people dropping bait in, it definitely would have showed up by now.”

“Hey, you’re Emil, right...?” They’d met in passing, and she’d heard his name from some of her friends, too. It sounds like maybe things are complicated with him and the others right now, but she doesn’t know him very well at all. And her dads say it’s never nice to judge others until you meet them yourself. Luckily for him, she’s got the perfect bonding activity in mind!