Why not a nap?

Week 2 - Saturday

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The sun overhead let its rays extend down to the ground, warming both the ground and the air. Beneath a tree on the outskirts of the school grounds, a wolf-like Faunus was relaxing, hands folded behind his head. To the casual observer, it looked like the boy might be sleeping, and really, to one who looked at him a little more closely, that would also seem to be the case. Eyes were closed, breathing was regular, and there was every sign of him being asleep.

Very likely because he was.

The young man had decided to take a break from his studies(there was already a test coming up,) and relax near his favorite tree. The plan had simply been to unwind for about an hour or so, but that one hour had turned to two, and then to three, all while Raeth was passed out beneath the tree.

A sound nearby caused him to stir slightly, and the Faunus gave a snort in response. This led to his eyes beginning to open, albeit slowly, as he tried to recall where he was, as he definitely was not in his dorm room. The corner of his mouth held a small string of drool which he wiped away upon sitting up. “Well hell. That was a good nap.” He gave a slight grunt as he looked around, his brain still trying to put all the pieces together, as well as trying to figure out what had exactly been the cause of him waking up.

“…Now what was I doing again?” he asked aloud, scratching at his stomach while he sat, not even bothering to stand, yet.

(OOC: Is this thread alive?)

Mike was walking around the grounds, having been deserted by Nathaniel and Markus. He looked over and saw the faunus boy sleeping beneath a tree. Is he sleeping? I need a friend to talk to. Hey, why not? Mike thought to himself as he approached the boy. "Hello! Are you sleeping? Why are you sleeping here? Is it comfortable? I'm Mike. Hello!" He said, looking down at the boy.

(Yeah. Just you’re the first one to post in it :V )

Raethien’s eyes flickered over to the boy who was approaching him, and while he could see that the other was talking, the Faunus couldn’t put together the pieces of what was being said. It was as if someone had outfitted him with a verbal machinegun, assaulting Raethien’s ability to understand what was being said. He blinked several times, before the words finally started to sink in, and Raeth couldn’t help but smirk as used the tree to stand.

“Mike, eh? I think I’ve see you around…I’m Raethien, but you can call me Raeth,” he spoke, giving his own introduction to the boy. He was pleasantly surprised that the other introduced himself first. Generally people seemed to just go straight ahead without those introductions and while it was a little thing, it was one of the boy’s pet peeves.

The rest of the questions that Mike had assaulted him with finally received acknowledgement in his mind, and the grin only widened. “Well I was sleepin’, yeah. And my brain was just tired out from studying, I think. That’s about all.” He gestured down to the place beneath the tree, where the grass still held the indentation of his form. “It’s comfy enough, yeah. Doesn’t beat a bed, especially with a chick in there with ya… but it’s not bad.”

He gave a slight shrug then, glancing back at the other. “Can I help you with anythin’ then, Mike?” he asked, arching a brow. It wasn’t that he wasn’t fond of the conversation… he just had no idea why he’d been approached.

Ouch.

Raeth was curious a little bit in how exactly Mike had been ‘deserted’ by hi s friends. If they were his real friends, then perhaps they just had a prior engagement? Or maybe they were just some folks he’d started talking to and assumed was his friend, as he was doing to Raeth. Still, he appreciated Mike’s upbeat personality, even if he was a little bit off the walls, at times.

Now that he was awake, answering the other’s questions was a heck of a lot easier. “Yeah, first year here,” he returned, nodding at the other. “I’m pretty good with faces, is all. I know I’ve seen ya at least once around the halls.” The boy had only been there for about a week and a half now, and he’d seen a fair number of people. He didn’t quite have the names yet, but he was good with faces, as he’d mentioned.

And then the realization of his ears. Raethien quite literally laughed aloud, his ears twitching slightly. “Yeah. Wolf Faunus,” he said with a shrug. “I take after my mom. My dad’s a ram…or a goat. Or something. I dunno; he’s got horns. I never really bothered to ask him,” he spoke, mostly aloud to himself at the moment. He then shook his head, getting back to the question at hand. “You never seen one before?”

Mike looked fine as he withdrew his hand, and Raeth couldn’t help but feel a little bad but… he just wasn’t one that did handshakes. It was mostly due to the fact that his elder brother had once been stabbed during a handshake. The would-be assassin was left-handed, and had shaken with his right, locking down his brother’s hand. Granted, Zakano (his brother) had survived, but it always made him a little wary of it.

“They? If you mean my ears or the Faunus, they’re all real all around,” he said, waving his hand in the air as if to illustrate a wide variety. “Even if you grew up in a small village, it’s crazy to think that you’ve never even seen one before though…” he shook his head, the thought somewhat confusing, and illuminating, to him.

At the next question, Raeth pointed down towards the ground. “Right here in Vale. Grew up a handful of miles away, and attended Signal, actually. After all was said and done, my parents wanted me to jump right in but I figure a little more education never hurt anyone, so here I am.” He nodded, then blinked, seeing Mike’s gaze still fixated on the ears.

He smirked, “I have a tail too, you know.”

“I have a tail too, you know.” At this Mike gasped. "Can I see it?" He asked, intrigued, before spouting his next string of questions. "So you went to signal? What was that like? I've heard of it, but I haven't ever seen it, as this is the only place, really that I've been in Vale." He said quickly. "So, whad'ya think of Beacon? Made many friends yet? What team are you in?" He continued.

(On phone, short reply)

Raethien gave a smirk at the boy's questions. He turned then, giving a profile view to Mike. The tail was the same color as his hair, albeit with a white tip.

"Signal was pretty cool; we got to create our own weapons. That's where I got my babies," he said with a smirk, showing the handles of his gunblades.

"Beacon is cool so far. I got a few buds but nothing big yet. And I'm still waiting in initiation. No team yet. They got a big old backlog of students. It's cool though. I'll get one soon. How about you?"

Daisy was walking along listening to music with her headphones and noticed some students sitting beneath a tree, she was tired of walking and wanted a rest so she went over and sat down in the shade of the tree. I might make some friends she thought to herself. She off her headphones, pulled out a book from a backpack and started reading it.

Daisy turned away from her book and looked at Mike, she tried to reply but then remembered she couldn't, she spoke a silent word then looked back down with a sad look on her face. She wanted to speak and make new friends but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't, then she realised something... looking back up with a happy expression on her face she began singing words to Mike in sign language, hoping he understood.

(OOC: you gain an internet... that reply... I ROLF'd)

Daisy clearly saw that he had no idea what she was trying to say. She then had another idea. She pulled out her headphones and played the music at the right time so it played out the line:

"Deep down inside I feel to scream
This terrible silence stops me"

She then looked back towards him with an anticipating expression hoping now he would understand.

(Sorry for yesterday; super busy with work.)

"Dog man, eh? Well I suppose that's about as close as you're gonna get," he said with a grin, his ears and tail twitching, mostly to humor Mike. "Grimm, huh? I think I know that name. Maybe. There's a whole damn lot of us here," he spoke, gesturing into the air as if he were making some sort of sense.

It was about that time they were joined with a new arrival. A girl. He was about to glance at Mike to tell him to go wingman, but the boy was already all over it, regardless if that were his actual strategy. In the meantime, Raeth made sure that his hair looked okay while Mike filibustered the poor girl with questions.

However, he glanced back as he heard Mike's replies, and quirked a brow at the girl as she played her music. She was a mute? Well...that was certainly interesting. Raeth had never hit on a mute chick before. He wasn't sure if some things he said would be taken as offensive... or if he could even tell how he was doing.

He pondered for a moment, before giving a shrug. Whatever. "That seems really unfortunate," he said, honestly, as he hunkered down near her and, in his usual no-personal-space way, placed a hand on her shoulder. "I can't even really imagine what that's like. But Mike and I are chatty Cathy's; we'll talk enough for you," he said with a grin and a wink before he stood up, glancing at Mike. "Right?"

Mike listened to the lyrics Daisy played out loud. "Well that's nice music, but it doesn't answer the question of why your arms decided to spasm." He said, completely oblivious to what she meant. Then Raethien walked over. "That seems really unfortunate" "What does? She didn't say anything!"Mike said, getting really confused now. When Raethien looked to Mike for confirmation, he simply replied, "Uh.... I guess, yeah! So, where you from?" He asked, trying to get her to speak.

Daisy looked towards Mike and pushed her hand into her face (OOC: yes, facepalm) then turned to Raethien with a more friendly look, she then turned back to Mike and then pointed with her thumb towards Raethien with a "this guy gets it" sort of look on her face.

"C'mon Mike, use that noodle between your ears," Raeth said with a chuckle as he clapped his hand on the boy's shoulder. "For whatever reason, she can't talk," he continued, though his tone grew definitely more serious. He'd heard about extremely rare cases of people just not being born with the right parts, but most of the time it was an emotional or mental block. HE didn't know the girl at all, but simply based on statistics, it seemed like the latter.

"Anyway, that ain't a problem. I mean, this is about the only sign language I know," Raeth spoke, before he signed (rather extravagantly) 'eat grandpa.' "My brother learned it from one of his friends at Signal and thought it was the funniest thing ever... so it's about all I've taken from it," he spoke, giving her a slight apologetic shrug.

"Anyway. I don't know if we've really been introduced. I'm Raethien, but you can call me Raeth. I've mentioned his name a few times, but this here is Mike." He left out the part where he'd literally just met Mike about ten minutes ago. "You got a nametag or anything, babe?" he asked, giving her an appraising glance.

Daisy watched his sign language, she let out a silent laugh but sadness washed over her for a second stopping the laugh as she thought about her brother for a moment. After he had introduced himself she shook his hand then turned to Mike and shook his hand too. She thought to herself Hmmm, where do I have my name, wait I know! She then opened up her bag and reached in, pulling lots of other items out of the way including a box of .50 HE rounds, books and a coat but she finally found what she was looking for. She pulled her hand out of her bag now holding one of her school books with her name on it "Daisy Dunkelman", she then showed it to Raethien.

(Could've sworn I posted yesterday; apologies)

Raethien could only release a small chuckle at both the antics of the girl and Mike. Both of them seemed to be fairly silly, though Mike obviously took the cake, here. He gave a light shrug, though he arched a brow at the ammunition (though he said nothing) and waited patiently for her to find what she was looking for.

“Daisy, eh?” he asked aloud, confirming that this was, in fact, her name and not the author’s name. “I can roll with it.” He glanced over to Mike, who was celebrating over the surname, more than anything. “So not that I’ve ever been unable to talk, but I can imagine it’s gotta be hard.” He nodded, before he wondered if perhaps she didn’t like people to dote on that. It would be pretty annoying to be known as ‘the mute kid.’

“Anyway. What book ya reading, Daisy?” he asked, both to see about how her name rolled off his tongue, and mild interest in the book, at that.

Daisy finally sighed a silent sigh of relief when Mike had finally realised the situation. When Raethien wanted to confirm her name Daisy nodded but when he began speaking of the hardship of muteness Daisy looked down and nodded sadly but didn't let it dwell on her. When Raethien asked what book she was reading Daisy looked back up with a happier expression on her face, picked up the book and showed to cover to Raethien and Mike, it read "The Grimmlance Chronicles." And under the title it read "A collection of novels from the time of the emergence of dust."

Now, Raethien was a nice guy. He was kind and offered help when necessary, but there was a part of him that just couldn’t help wondering what that might be like…behind closed doors. After she’d shown the book, Mike had taken an active interest in the book, which was good, because the wolf faunus needed a moment to clear his head.

He let the scenario play in his mind, turning it over in his head before coming to the realization that, without any vocal stimulation, it might not be all that fun. Still, causing that breakthrough in itself could be interesting but… he wasn’t about to go through all that on a possibility…but he did bookmark that thought away for the future. In case current, however, he would just be his normal, charming self.

“I think I’ve heard of that. Heard of, never read,” he spoke, once Mike had spoken the name be out loud. “I don’t read a whole lot, but I heard it’s at least pretty engaging.” Thing was, while he had heard of it, he hadn’t the faintest what it was about. But judging solely from how voraciously the girl was reading it, it had to be at least decent.

Daisy listened to Mike's question and then showed him the back of the book, it read "The Grimmlance chronicles, 3 novels from the time of the emergence of dust. Tales of great battles with Grimm, Tales of great civilizations and tales of great warriors."

When she heard what Reathien said she held out the book to him thinking he might want to borrow it to read, she had already read it once and was getting bored of it and didn't mind if anyone borrowed it. She thought to herself; I really should get more exciting things to do. Before trying to think of things she could do that would relieve her boredom.