Roman reclined upon the velvet-covered couch in his borrowed room below deck, a towel over his face as he tried to lull himself back to sleep. The lights in the small room were out, and the subtle humming of the airship's engine was beginning to work its magic upon his consciousness. He could feel himself gently nodding off to the rhythmic, steady white noise until a harsh shff of the sliding door to his cabin interrupted his thoughts. Roman's eyes snapped open and he pulled the towel down just in time to see a shadowy figure in mid-leap before he felt a weighty impact upon his stomach.
"Gah!"
"Roman!" Kali squealed as she drove her knee up into the boy's crotch. "You've gotta c-"
"Get your knee outta my balls!" Romans yelled as he squirmed from side to side, trying his best to dislodge the wriggling faunus atop him. "Couldn't you at least turn on the light!?"
Kali's shifting caused her to stuff most of Roman's efforts as she did her best to adjust herself into a more comfortable position. Ultimately, their combined motions pushed them toward the edge of the couch until Roman plummeted a good two feet from the furniture onto the floor. The wind was knocked out of his lungs as his back smacked against the wood, and Kali clung tightly to his chest as she remained atop him.
"Sorry! I can see in the dark, y'know," Kali sheepishly apologized as her ears flattened back against her hair. "Most faunus can. Others have pointy teeth. Some of us have both."
"Yeah, yeah, I know all about your teeth," Roman chided as he draped his towel over Kali's head. "I'm tryin' to sleep, Kal. I don't like heights, and the rest of you want to hang out upstairs on the deck, so…"
"It's time for you to get up, lazy ass," Kali insisted as she gently nipped at the side of her friend's neck. "We're over the border. You've got to come see the view!"
"Or," Roman began before taking a dramatic pause, "maybe I'm happy with the view I've got now, with you here."
Kali rolled her eyes, but couldn't stop the small smile that resulted from Roman's words.
"Nice try, but you were just bitching about how dark it is in here. You can't see me."
"But I can feel you," Roman replied with a filthy grin as he snaked a hand around to grab Kali's rear. He gave the firm muscle a hard squeeze, eliciting a squeak from his faunus friend. "If everyone else is so enamored with the view up top, why don't we take advantage of it and have a little fun down below?"
Kali made no effort to resist Roman's grab, though she didn't reciprocate the gesture either.
"We'll have plenty of time to stain some furniture once we get to Willow's little resort, and you know it. C'mon. No more lame excuses, and no more buttering me up. You need to see Vacuo from above."
"I've seen Vacuo," Roman whined as Kali slipped out of his grasp and off of his chest. "Pictures, anyway…"
"Not the same," Kali insisted as she brushed off her white leather jacket and pants. She extended a hand down to Roman, her eyes seeming to twinkle in the dark with some emotion Roman couldn't quite see. "Come on, it's beautiful."
"I already said I don't do heights," Roman reminded as he stared at the fuzzy blob that vaguely resembled a hand somewhere above him.
"Come on," Kali whined. "For me? Please?"
"Can't you just open the curtains?" Roman asked as he nodded toward the window of his cabin. "We can see it fine from in here."
Kali made a noise of disgust before retracting her hand and folding her arms across her chest.
"You know, for someone so willing to take risks way beyond what other people in our friend circle will consider, this is a little disappointing. If you don't try for the things out of your comfort zone, you're never going to get the results you really want. You're playing it too safe on this one."
Roman stared up at his friend, wondering just how clearly she could see his guilty facial expression in the absence of light. A lump settled inside of his throat, though he couldn't tell whether it had arrived due to his distaste for being on the deck of the airship, or something else entirely. Hesitantly, he got to his feet and let out a sigh before wiping his dangling fringe out of his face.
"…sorry. I guess… I dunno. Maybe I'm being stupid."
"You are," Kali confirmed without missing a beat. "The deck is really wide, and we'll all be right there with you."
"Yeah, thanks," Roman muttered. "Maybe I'll start taking more risks again. There's just some… stuff… in the way. I've been thinking a lot about what I can and can't handle happening while we're out at the beach. I don't want to screw things up when they're already good."
Kali blinked in confusion, failing to follow Roman's train of thought.
"…Roman, what the hell are you talking about? We're going sightseeing on an airship, not making some big financial decision."
"Right, yeah," Roman agreed with a small chuckle. "The sights. Let's just… focus on the sights, right now."
"What else would we be focusing on?" Kali asked as she slid the cabin door open once again.
Roman flinched and covered his eyes as blinding light from the hallway poured into the cabin, rendering him momentarily without sight. He cringed and squinted as he watched Kali's silhouette disappear into the hall. Finally, after his eyes had somewhat adjusted, he lowered his hands and walked out to follow the faunus.
"I dunno," Roman answered. "Just… stuff."
"You're being weird," Kali accused as she looked over her shoulder while walking down the well-lit hallway. "Why are you being weird?"
"I'm not being weird!" Roman insisted, his eyes more or less glued to Kali's butt as he followed. "I'm just… I just woke up from a nap. I can't think good right now, alright?"
Kali rolled her eyes and shook her head before training her attention back on the path ahead.
"Or any other time. Dude, if there's something you want to talk about with me..."
"Nah, I'm good," Roman cut in immediately. "Just need to wake up…"
"Right. Maybe we should talk about this stuff on your mind when we get down to the beach."
"…maybe we should," Roman agreed, suddenly feeling very much like there was a target upon his back. "Maybe after we get settled. Give it a few days?"
"…we can give it a few days," Kali confirmed as she approached the staircase to the upper deck. "Until then, will you just loosen up? We're on vacation, man!"
"I'll try, yeah," Roman offered. "Sorry for being weird. You're right. And I… holy shit…"
Even without going anywhere near the railings, the change between the atmosphere of Sanus and that of Vacuo was immediately apparent to Roman. The sky was a bright, almost artificial-looking pastel blue unlike anything the boy had ever seen, and a pleasant, dry heat enveloped him as he climbed up onto the deck of the airship. Beyond the railing a good twenty feet to his left, he could see what appeared to be endless, blinding sands thousands of feet below. His view was partially blocked on the right by an array of towers with mounted propellers and some rigging, but a quick glance in that direction showed no sign of the ocean, either.
"Unbelievable, isn't it?" Kali asked with an enthusiastic smile. "C'mon, come get a better look!"
Roman stumbled as Kali seized his hand and tugged him along. He was powerless to resist the muscular woman's grip, not that he wanted to as he approached the railing. All of his trepidation surrounding the sensation of being so far above the ground melted away for a moment as he finally made his way up to the rail on the side of the ship. As Kali let go of his hand and wrapped both of hers around the metal bar, Roman did much the same, and found himself unable to look away from the sights far below.
A good few miles from the airship, and safely far below, what appeared to be a hurricane of sand was roiling across the desert. Entire plateaus of red rock with white stripes were swallowed whole by the swirling storm, and boulders large enough to be visible from the air were caught up inside of the maelstrom. Uneven dunes made up the majority of the visible areas, with rocky outcroppings of all shapes and sizes in varying earthy tones scattered here and there. A singular settlement of tents was visible in the direction opposite of where the sandstorm was heading, its bright blue triangular flags billowing in the harsh winds.
Far away in the distance, Roman spotted a steppe pyramid that looked only slightly bigger than his thumb. Concentric rings of buildings surrounding the monolithic building, though they all blurred into a single dark mass at such a long distance. Just beyond the pyramid, Roman could see the faintest hint of pale blue on the edge of the horizon, suggesting that the ocean laid beyond.
"That's Shade Academy," Kali said softly. "Our home for the next month or so is a few miles out from there, and right on the beach. Look at all this, Roman. Isn't it awesome?"
"It's…" Roman began, trying to find the words. "It looks like total chaos down below…"
"Exactly," Kali replied as she flashed him a grin. "It's perfect."
"Hey, you two!"
Roman and Kali turned to find Summer Rose running up to them, her white cape billowing in the wind behind her and her smile just as wide as Kali's.
"We're landing in an hour, according to Wil! About time you came up from your hole, Roman!"
Roman sneered as he leaned away from the railing, suddenly feeling rather nauseous.
"Yeah, well. It was that, or listen to Kali for hours downstairs. At least the view shuts her up."
Roman flinched as a hard backhand crashed into the center of his chest, though Kali didn't even bother to look his way as she nodded to Summer.
"I always win, between me and him. You excited to get some quality nothing done?"
"You know it," Summer answered with a wink and finger guns. Suddenly, the smaller girl ran up to the railing and leaning forward, pointing downward at an angle while keeping the metal bar in a death grip with her other hand. "Oooh!"
The other two teens quickly returned to the railing just in time to see what appeared to be a geyser of sand erupting from beneath the dunes, about halfway between Shade Academy and the sandstorm. As the clouds of sand grains dissipated within the air, the colossal four-leafed maw of a sandworm became visible. The beast let out a thundering roar barely audible from up in the airship before diving back down into the sands, its lengthy body taking several seconds to fully disappear.
"…we're killing one of those before we leave," Kali declared. "We have to. I want a tooth as a trophy."
"Fuck you," Roman replied immediately, his hands a bit shaky as his heart leapt into his throat. "Yeah, no. Absolutely not. That thing was the size of a strip mall! Probably bigger!"
"So, we'll find a baby one," Summer offered as she gave Kali a mischievous smirk. "Then it'll only be the size of a tractor trailer."
"Are you seriously enabling her right now?" Roman asked incredulously. "You're going to get us all killed."
"Yeah, and what fun is a vacation if you're not risking your life every so often?" Kali asked as she turned, leaning her butt back into the railing. "Speaking of vacations, it's the woman of the hour."
Roman and Summer turned to find Willow approaching them at a slow pace. The Schnee girl's pale white skin seemed to almost glow under the harsh desert sun, and far more of it was showing than her friends were used to seeing. Willow had changed into a white and blue floral bikini top and matching sarong, with a pair of pale blue flip-flops beneath it. Her eyes were covered by dark sunglasses, and a white thatched hat with a wide brim rested atop her head.
"Willow, you look adorable!" Summer cooed, earning a blush from the heiress as she folded her arms across her chest.
"Thank you, Summer," Willow replied. "I guess… I'm just eager to get to the beach, is all. Have any of you seen Barty? Everyone else is up here, but I haven't seen him in a while. We were supposed to coordinate a few things together before we land."
"Nuh-uh," Kali denied as she shook her head. "That's weird."
"Want me to call him?" Roman offered.
"Might as well," Willow answered with a sigh.
Roman took his scroll out of his pocket and flicked it open, only to raise a brow at the blinking screen that awaited him.
"…huh. I've got no signal…"
Kali mimicked Roman's facial expression before pulling out her own scroll and opening the device.
"Mine's good."
"Mine too," Summer echoed as she fiddled with her own device.
"Willow…?" Roman asked, suddenly feeling worried.
"…where exactly would I be keeping a scroll right now?" Willow asked.
"I can think of a few pl-"
Roman clapped his hand over Kali's mouth to stop her before he turned his scroll off.
"Who's your carrier?"
Slowly, Summer and Kali both turned to look at Roman with disappointed expressions as Willow's thin white brow rose over one of her lenses.
"…Schnee Telecom…"
"…oh," Roman said sheepishly. "Yeah, that makes sense. I've got Vanguard. Lemme turn it back on, see if it was just a glitch."
"I've got Vanguard, too," Summer said as she showed Roman her screen. "Working fine for me."
"Mm trr!" Kali mumbled through Roman's fingers.
Roman finally lowered his hand from in front of Kali's mouth as his scroll turned on once again, showing the same screen with a blinking NO SIGNAL warning in bright red.
"Shit," Roman cursed as looked up at Willow. "Sorry, one of you guys is gonna have to make the call. I dunno why it's not working, this has never happened before…"
"I've got it," Summer offered as she pressed a button and lifted her scroll to her ear. She gave Roman a sweet smile and punched the boy in the shoulder. "Don't worry, it's probably nothing."
Roman looked back down at the screen, his unease growing by the second.
"Yeah. It's probably nothing…"
Author's Note:
See you all in two weeks for more.
-RD
