Walk Upon the Water (semi-private)

[Juniper Azurine]

If this was what the people of Vale called winter, June didn’t want to know what they’d called Atlas’s year-round weather. The cold was enough for a light jacket, but even down by the water nothing more than June’s fall-suited black trenchcoat was needed. In all honesty, she was almost tempted to go without the coat entirely. The cold was a comfort, a constant, even if it could burn in the right situations. The clouded, grey winter sky brought a dimness to the world around them, a witch-weather type overcast lighting that June would happily bask in for the rest of forever if she could. It was partially why she’d agreed to go to the beach in the first place, the perfect weather. The wind blowing off the ocean would probably turn most people away from the coastline, but to June, Atlas born, this was effectively the same as nice fall weather.

Ahead of her, Nox was bounding up and down the beach, sticking his nose in the sand and biting at the waves that splashed too close. His vest had been left at home, as he was off duty for now. After all, they were just going for a walk on the beach, what could happen anyways? Nox began digging in the sand, probably looking for a crab to parade around with, troublemaking bastard that he was. June was going to have to give him a bath later, huh. Fuck that. That could be Rin’s job. She was the one who wanted to go to the beach in first place, and now she wasn’t even here to experience it, hanging around somewhere inside like the flakey liar she was.

June’s metal hands can’t feel their own coldness, but June can feel the chill radiating off the prosthetics as she brings her hands up to light a cigarette, using the last of the burn dust stored in her left hand to do so. She keeps up her slow, wandering pace across the sand as she exhales smoke in a slow, steady cloud, matching the overcast skies above her. Should she call Nox back soon? How long had they been out here? A quick check of her scroll didn’t offer much of a real answer, given she didn’t know when exactly they had first gotten down here. Whatever. Now that she was here, she wasn’t ready to leave, and there was no one around, physically at least, to tell her otherwise.

[Azoireda Ikteris]

She had absolutely no idea why she'd let herself be talked into this.

"Remind me again why I let you talk me into this?" she asked her boisterous companion.

"Because," Lauren started saying, a wide grin on her face, but stopped. Az's face must have had a melancholy expression on it, because her face softened immediately. "I don't think you really knew what it was that you were getting yourself into," she said softly after a minute. "You're in a new place, and it's full of new people, and you're a little overstimulated, and there's nothing wrong with that," she added quickly as Az made a face. "You're an introvert, honey. Just like half the student body." She chuckled a little. "Just because you're going out of your way to try to make friends doesn't mean that you don't need time to recharge or that taking that time is a bad thing. I understand not wanting to be alone with your own thoughts, believe me," she added softly. "So just think of me as the rubber to your duck."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" Az asked with a wry smile as Lauren could only laugh awkwardly and shrug. "Thanks for taking me out shopping yesterday. I know I've got last year's fashion sense, but at least we found some fun stuff for both of us." They were nearing the beach now, the temperature too low to consider going in swimming - at least today, and especially by Lauren's Vacuan standards - but still warm enough to make it a neat place to hang out, especially since the lack of swimmers would mean it wouldn't be crowded.

A lone girl was already there, a dog bounding around playfully near the water as she stood watching it, smoking. "Look at that, there's a new friend now," Lauren said jokingly, then watched in astonishment as Az turned to make her way toward her. "Wait, Az, honey, I wasn't serious." Well, too bad, because she was.

[Lauren Voltaire]

"Wait, Az, honey, I wasn't serious," Lauren said as she hastily backtracked to catch up to her introverted friend, who was making her way determinedly toward the lone girl. She was not wearing the right shoes for this, but in her defense it was WAY too cold to be going into the water. Why she hadn't realized that this girl, who was from Mantle now that she remembered, would absolutely be going into at least the sand today was beyond her, and frankly she was a little disappointed with herself.

"Where was this weather in Mantle?" Az asked dryly, and semi-rhetorically, as she came to a stop alongside the other girl. "Honestly, if I'd known it was possible to go more than four days without snow I'd have come way sooner."

"If I had known it was possible to call a day where it snowed all day 'warm', I'd never have left Vacuo," Lauren joked back, coming up on Az's other side.

[Juniper Azurine]

Nox notices the approaching strangers before June does, and barks once, loudly, as he bounds back to his owner, alerting her of the arrival of company. Despite the warning, June still flinches, a nearly exaggerated gesture, at the sudden voice beside her. She’s quick to get herself under control, however, eyeing the girl in her peripheral with an unamused glare.

“Do you make a living scaring the shit out of people, or are you just an ass?” She deadpans, exhaling a cloud of smoke as she speaks. She can feel Ghost’s own dislike for, and distrust of, people bleeding through to her, he always gets more active when strangers suddenly approach them. June tries to shrug off his influence, today was supposed to be a good day, she doesn’t need his constant paranoia ruining things. She flicks her free hand, and Nox, alert and serious now that he’s sensed he’s on duty, nudges into the space between Az and June and sits down, effectively serving as a subtle spacer between the two, giving June some breathing room.

“Oh great, there’s two of you,” she drawls as the stranger is joined by some blonde girl. She narrows her eyes slightly, flicking ash into the sand, trying to ascertain the girls’ motives. She doesn’t think they intend on kidnapping her, despite what Ghost thinks, but she does think they intend on bothering her. Which, honestly, is just as bad. Maybe worse, even. At least with a kidnapping she’d have the legal right to smack them if she so pleased, but if all they want to do is talk, well then the law is not on her side. Plus, with her hands being essentially the equivalent of a metal pipe, she’s pretty sure hitting someone would count as physical assault with a weapon. Damn.

June takes another drag of her cigarette, internally tells Ghost to fuck off, and shifts her stance to give herself another half step of space between herself and the two girls. Whatever these girls have planned, she doesn’t want to be a part of. She really should just walk away, but something—more likely someone, but she can’t be bothered to parse out who, specifically—in the back of her mind convinces her to at least stay where she is, even if she doesn’t make an effort to engage in conversation. She really hadn’t planned on today being eventful, but evidently the universe had decided to spite her.

[Azoireda Ikteris]

Az froze at the girl's words. She didn't think she'd been being particularly stealthy, and she certainly hadn't been trying to be rude, but she wasn't exactly an expert on social interaction, either.

"O-oh," she said quietly, "I'll just go, then." Shoulders slumping, she turned to leave, only to be yanked back into place by a bristling Lauren.

"Look, lady," she said, her tone making Az whirl at her, eyes wide. What was she doing? "I get that you might not be looking for conversation, but your right to be defensive—" she gestured to the dog that had come to sit directly between Az and the other girl before gesturing to Az— "ends when you make my friend feel bad about trying to break out of her own comfort zone." Wait, they were friends now? When had that happened? And was Lauren defending her? What was going on?

[Lauren Voltaire]

She hadn't meant to sound so on edge, she really hadn't. But Az had been having a good day until about five seconds ago (at least, Lauren assumed she had), and she'd be damned if this chick was going to make her friend feel bad about trying to make friends.

Az's wide-eyed expression at her frankly justified snark and a more assessing glance at the smoking girl's posture (y'know, she was actually pretty good-looki—NO. STOP. DO NOT MAKE A JOKE ABOUT HER BEING 'SMOKING HOT', YOU JUST MET HER AND YOU'RE MAD AT HER RIGHT NOW BECAUSE SHE MADE YOUR FRIEND FEEL BAD.) made her anger evaporate as she sighed, posture relaxing as she let go of Az's arm.

"Sorry. My right to be protective of my friend ends when I make you feel like your space, and the steps you take to protect it, aren't valid." She had probably just made a mess of this, but Az's look of relief told her that there was probably some hope on that front, at least in regards to one of them.

"Let's try that again. I'm Lauren, and this is Az. And if you don't want to talk to us, that's cool, we can leave."

"Sorry if we startled you," Az chimed in. "I'm still trying to figure out how many bubbles are too much." Lauren wasn't sure what she meant by that, unless she was talking about her self-imposed extrovertism? She put a hand on Az's shoulder and gave her a light squeeze to show support.

[Juniper Azurine]

June took another half step back at the harsh words, her unfinished cigarette slipping from her fingers as she leveled a glare at the blonde girl. “If her ‘breaking out of her comfort zone’ means breaking into mine I have every right to be defensive,” she spat. They didn’t ask to be approached by two random strangers, they weren’t going to let random people walk all over them then act sad when she pushed back against those guilt tripping bastards-

From where he was still maintaining a block task, Nox reached over and licked June’s ankle, consequently getting sand all over her pants as his damp, sand-covered nose brushed against the cuffed hem of her jeans.

June gently nudged Nox with her foot to show she got the message, and took a moment to re-center herself.

“Right.” June said with a nod—the closest they could get to a ‘thank you’—as the blonde girl apologized. She really should just walk away, stop talking, leave. She wanted nothing to do with these people, really. Plus they were rude, and if they continued being rude she definitely had the right to slap them, but, fucking hell, Bug was always getting on her ass about being nicer and her goddamn therapist was always telling her that not everybody acted in malintent and- fuck!

“June.” They bit out eventually through clenched teeth, voice stiff, keeping their eyes averted from the girls in front of them.

Nox had chosen to break his block and instead settle on top of June’s feet, leaning heavily enough against her shins that June had to make a conscious effort to not fall over.

She could feel Ghost’s displeasure at her giving out her name so freely, but honestly Ghost could fuck right off with his stupid paranoia, she could do whatever the fuck she wanted with her name and he couldn’t stop her. She gestured to the dog at her feet. “And this is Nox.”

[Azoireda Ikteris]

This was going... about as well as she'd expected, actually. The big surprise was Lauren - Az had not seen that tone shift coming.

She probably should have, though, right? I mean, she'd been patient with her the day they'd met, now that she thought about it, but- oh. Had she been trying to do the same thing that this girl's dog was doing?

Nox, huh? That was a cute name for a dog. "Hello, Nox," she said with a smile at June's furry companion. "You're doing a great job." She straightened up to look back up at June. "I think I've seen you around Beacon, right?" she asked with a glance at Lauren. "We're new, too. This one found me curled up on myself after two upperclassmen got into a shouting match in the cafeteria. I think she's trying to help me the way Nox helps you?" she asked, both to Lauren and June.

[Lauren Voltaire]

"This one found me curled up on myself after two upperclassmen got into a shouting match in the cafeteria. I think she's trying to help me the way Nox helps you?" Lauren froze. Was that what she'd been doing?

It... kinda was, wasn't it. "Sorry again if I came on too strong," she said, surprised by how quiet her voice was. "I'm kinda new to this. I just saw her in the corner after all the shouting and I couldn't just leave her there, y'know?" Az flashed her a big smile, and she relaxed a little. "I've never had to deal with anything that's bad on the level of causing attacks like the one she was having, so I'm not really able to, like, relate and stuff, but my therapist says that's because I had good people who helped me deal with stuff right after, so I didn't have to try to deal with it by myself."

Gesturing to the beach, which was honestly looking kinda gloomy what with the clouds and all, she asked, "So, come here often?"

[Juniper Azurine]

Nox huffed happily at the sound of his name, but didn’t move from his position on June’s feet. June lit another cigarette, this time with a bright green and pink lighter that they’re pretty sure they found on the ground a couple weeks ago. She nodded slowly at Az’s question, relaxing a little with the knowledge that she was talking to other students. Of course, they could be lying, but that was a problem for another time.

“Yeah we’re kinda hard to miss,” she said, once again indicating the dog at her feet. She hadn’t seen anyone else on campus with a service dog, and Nox’s usual service harness made him stand our more than if he was just a pet.

She hummed around the cigarette in her mouth, in acknowledgement at Az’s mention of panic attacks. No fun at all. Things had finally begun settling down for her these passed few months, to June’s unending gratitude. Moving from Atlas a year ago had almost made things worse, at first, with the new type of self-destructive chaos that comes from finally exiting that fight-or-flight mode, being in—as her therapist had said—a place she finally felt safe enough to properly start processing everything. But things had slowly settled, and now were far more manageable than they had been even only four months prior, she hadn't had to deal with any attacks like the one Az described in a couple weeks, at least.

That being said, it was far from perfect and far from over, a fact that was only emphasized in June’s mind by Lauren’s comment.

“Lucky you,” she scoffed in response. “If only.”

She had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at Lauren’s question. Fucking small talk. No thank you. She’d rather walk into the ocean thanks. Whatever.

June finally stepped back from Nox, freeing her feet from under him and ending his impromptu DPT session.

“Um, not really,” She answered, a little awkward and uncertain in what she was saying. Damn small talk wasn’t her strong suit. “But the weather’s nice today, and Nox needed some time to just be a regular dog, so,” she shrugged a little.

She fiddled with the cigarette in her hand for a bit before taking another drag.

“What about you?” She finally asked after a bout of silence that aired on the side of uncomfortable. “Not many people come out to the beach in this kinda weather unless you’re used to it and-” her gaze flickered over Lauren with a smirk, “you really don’t look the Atlas type.”

[Lauren Voltaire]

"I don't think it's luck," Az said in a low voice. "And it's not constructive to talk as though your issues are quantitatively lesser than mine, or anyone else's, Lauren," she added with a pointed look. "You and I both know that that's not how trauma works."

Lauren put her hands up in an 'I give up' gesture, nodded meekly, and let out a huff of air to show defeat, hoping Az would let it go. She was right, of course - that was one of the things her therapist was having her work on right now, actually. She didn't have attacks, per se, but apparently that was only by technicality or something? Lauren wasn't exactly an expert on stuff like this - which, of course, was why she went to therapy.

At June's question about her dealing with the weather, coupled with the flickering gaze, she let out a hearty laugh. "Oh, hell no. I'm from Vacuo," she said with a grin, "Where the oases are pretty and the people are less so. About the only good things I can say about the town I grew up in is that my parents survived it and I found my Semblance while in it." She shrugged, hoping Az would change the subject.

[Azoireda Ikteris]

Az gave Lauren a curious glance when she mentioned the town she grew up in. Their respective childhoods hadn't really come up in conversation beyond the mention that Lauren's parents were alive and hers weren't - well, she didn't exactly know where her father was, let alone who he was, but she wasn't really all that interested in finding out, either.

"I came up in Mantle, but I didn't really get out much as a kid," she said, mirroring Lauren's shrug. "Cold weather's always been more soothing to me anyway, though. Probably something to do with how slow it makes things seem." Lauren's mouth twitched in the direction of a smile, and Az pumped her fist internally. It was a joke that you wouldn't get unless you knew what her Semblance was, but Az didn't exactly hide what it did given that it was kind of hard to do that.

"We were about to grab some food from somewhere downtown," she said to June with a gesture at Lauren. "You're welcome to join us if you like."

[Juniper Azurine]

“Is it not partially luck, or a lack of it, being born into the family you are?” June mused, exhaling smoke. They could hear several of the others making loud exclamations of disagreement with Az’s statement towards Lauren, which, honestly, understandable, but also shut the hell up, Az had a point too. They finished off their cigarette quickly, putting the end out on their metal arm and pocketing it to dispose of properly at the next trash can they found.

“Atlas,” June offered up, electing to keep it short. Nobody needed to know more than that, for now at least. Even then it may have been too much. Az was from Mantle, would she know…? No, she couldn’t. June hadn’t given any particular personal details. Just a nickname and a city. Maybe they should have lied. Wouldn’t that have been safer?

“Vacuo?” They said in hopes of drawing attention away from themself. “Isn’t it all just fuckin’ sand? Sounds drab as hell.”
As if to emphasize their point, they kicked lightly at the sand beneath their feet. It was sticking to their boots. Great. Honestly why were they even at this fucking beach, who likes beaches anyways?

At the sudden offer of food, June blinked, surprised and suspicious. Who the fuck offers to go out to eat with someone they don’t even know? Fuckin’ weirdos. June turned the idea over in their head for a moment before shrugging.

“Fuckin’ sure, I guess, got nothing better to do anyways.”

[Azoireda Ikteris]

"You're right, Az," said Lauren, sad smile finding its way to her face. "Everyone's got a different breaking point, and the fact that somebody found mine is just as bad as the fact that somebody found yours. We can debate all day who had it better, but at the end of the day we all had it worse than we should have done, and everything else is semantics." She shrugged.

Luck.

Azoireda didn't like that word. It took all the hard work out of things, boiling down the results of anything you did into a meaningless four-letter word. Though the true reason anyone was born into the family they were was technically the result of a different four-letter word, so who was she to judge someone else’s choice of four-letter word?

"Yeah," said Lauren with a laugh at June's question about sand. "Yeah, it is. At least here the sand's cool enough that you can play with it. In Vacuo, you just get burned, or bit by a damn Grimm. I couldn't wait to get out of there."

At her assent to joining them, Az brightened considerably. "Great! Let's go!" She bounced up and down on her feet a couple times before setting off in the direction of the street.

Lauren laughed. "Slow down there, girly," she said, then winced. "Never mind, go zoom. Ugh, you know what I mean."

Az did know what she meant, and showed her that it was okay with a quick hug. "Alright, what's on the menu at school? Whatever it is, I wanna get something else."

[Lauren Voltaire]

While Az happily scrolled on her, well, scroll, no doubt checking what was on offer in the school cafeteria so she could find something else to get while they were in town, Lauren walked up to stand next to June. "I electrocuted four bandits to death when I was seven, and I don't think I ended up half as messed up as she did," she said softly. "How she manages to not be a complete mess, all the time, after whatever made her smile when she mentioned that her foster mother's dead makes me wonder what the hell happened to me that I'm complaining at all," she added, watching as Az excitedly swiped away at her scroll, beaming the whole time. "I ain't saying I haven't been through some shit myself, but damn, y'know?"

"Come on, you two," Az called, waving them over. "We're gonna go get a pizza!"

Lauren chuckled. "I don't even know what I'm saying at this point. I guess I'm just hoping her smiles will rub off on me, even if they're usually fake and even if I don't really need them to most of the time?" She sighed and shook her head. "Come on. If she beats us there I'll never hear the end of it."

[Juniper Azurine]

June stared down at their metal hands. Were they really having this conversation? Really? Sure, sudden trauma-dumping could be fun, but it could also be really fucking ridiculous, and they really weren’t in the mood to play that game. So, June elected to remain silent, simply shrugging in acknowledgement to the choice of food and trudging alongside the two girls. They clipped Nox’s leash to their belt, and he followed along obediently at their side.

Going out to lunch with two people they’d never met? What the fuck had they gotten themself into? They really wanted to just leave, but unfortunately they really were in need of some more friends, or at least friendly acquaintances. Or just regular acquaintances. Anything more than enemies, at least. They had too fucking many of those, didn’t they? Whatever. Not their fault everybody they met was an idiot.

They fiddled mindlessly with the shutter-like cover on the palm of their left hand, spiraling it open and closed in an offbeat rhythm. They couldn’t feel anything with their hands normally, but if they channeled their aura through their cybernetic parts, they could mimic something close to touch. Mostly just pressure, a bit of texture if they focused. But nothing about temperature unless it was something dangerously high or low, like a flame or dry ice, then it would be extreme enough for them to feel.

They barely paid any attention to whatever conversation was happening next to them. If Az and Lauren were still talking about childhoods, then they didn't care enough to listen. And if the topic had moved on? Fucking whatever the didn't want to listen anyways.