The calm sea lapped against the docks as Blake and Tukson sat, hands on their fishing poles, with their backs to each other, on opposite sides of the dock. They both found fishing very calming, and the quiet, balmy day had seemed like the perfect opportunity to enjoy a bit of it. The sky overhead was a moderate blue, speckled with a vague smattering of clouds.

Blake waved her hanging legs idly, gazing quietly into the mild surf. In her formative years, there had been times when food could be scarce, and every able body would have to work together to bring as much possible back to the larger camps; hunting, trapping, and fishing were talents she had developed from a very young age. Due to the risk of Grimm attacks however, no one had ever gone for food without a group present, and as a result, Blake had grown thoroughly accustomed to fishing with company.

Nowadays, she didn't really like to fish alone.

Tukson chuckled softly.

"What?" Blake asked, not turning around.

"Oh, I was just thinking back. You remember how we met?"

"Hard to forget. Didn't I almost get you killed?"

"More or less, but I'm not one to hold grudges."

Tukson looked up at the sky, thinking. "Now let's see... it would have been... almost four years ago now?"

"That's right. Our camps had joined up-"

"Just southeast of Mistral, that's right. On the coast."

"Yeah. I remember it was the first time I had stayed on a beach for that long, an entire week. My group had just gotten away after running into a Deathstalker nest, and some of us needed medical attention, including me."

"That's right. You had a pretty nasty slash in your side."

"It could have been worse."

Tukson sighed. "I remember... seeing you hurt, you specifically, bothered me. I didn't know you yet, but the... it made me uncomfortable, seeing that we were recruiting fighters that young."

"I'm not your average fighter."

"I know, but I had no way of seeing that at the time. I saw a thirteen-year-old girl who'd nearly been murdered by a monster from a nightmare, crying and bleeding everywhere..."

"I was fourteen."

"Same difference. I went to you first, put pressure on the wound, all the first aid basics. You were going in and out of consciousness- in hindsight, I'm pretty sure you had a minor concussion- so I just tried to keep you talking, and focused."

"I remember... sort of. That part's a little fuzzy."

"I asked your name first."

"Right! Okay, now it's coming back. I remember feeling guilty later that I hadn't asked yours. Of course, I also remember being in a lot of pain."

"Hey, I'm no doctor. I just knew I bit about medicine from what I'd read. We've always done our best with medics. Don't exactly find a lot of trained professionals sympathetic to the cause, especially considering how few Faunus manage to become doctors."

"You did alright. Saved me."

"Yes, I did. Saved most of 'em, in fact." His tone was rather proud, but a little sad at the same time. "Most of them..."

They were both quiet for a couple minutes.

After a little while, Blake continued.

"Once I was awake, you came to see me."

"And you even remembered to ask my name this time." he chuckled.

"I couldn't get up and move around, so you kept me company."

"Mmm-hmm. I remember we talked about our families, about how different Mistral was from where we were from... and then, I remember you asked me why I joined."

"That was where things took an interesting turn."

"Yep. When I explained to you why I was there and wanted to help, but didn't want to fight, you were pretty confused. I had to explain the entire concept of a conscientious objector, about how I was just there because there were Faunus- because there were people who needed my help, and didn't have many other people to help them, but I didn't agree with all the violence and the fighting. How I was willing to patch people up, even to fight Grimm, but I flat refused to lay a hand on a single human being." Tukson gave another of his hearty laughs. "And then you got mad!"

Blake sighed. "Yep. I did. Made a huge fuss, woke up the whole tent-"

"-almost tore your stitches off-"

"-demanding to know how you could possibly abandon your people like that, calling you a traitor..."

Tukson was still laughing. Blake craned her head over to look at him. "I guess it seems funny now, considering. But I was so mad..."

Tukson wiped a tear from his eye, his laughter winding down. "No, I'll be honest, it was kind of funny even then. This little teenager with a hole in her gut, wincing and yelling at me and hissing and spitting... sadly ironic, I guess... oh, and then I got kicked out of my own med tent, so that you could get some rest..."

"It didn't work. I was awake the whole night, I was fuming. I couldn't comprehend how you could take such a stance. I just... didn't understand. Back then."

Tukson grinned broadly. "Heh... and you remember what happened the next day, right?"

"Now that definitely wasn't funny."

"Well, anything can be funny with hindsight. Now let's seeeee... what was I doing... oh, right, I was checking up on that old woman with the sprained neck when the scouts came back. Everyone was packing up and getting ready to roll on out, and a few had been sent to make sure the road was safe."

"It wasn't."

"Yep. Local P.D. had set up a huge barricade on the road, a big manned checkpoint. Obviously no way we were getting through. The guys in charge started trying to think up a plan, while everyone else started gossiping. And you know how it gets when scared people start gossiping..."

Blake sighed again. "Yes, I do. Fingers start getting pointed."

"Every. Single. Time. The entire camp was muttering about how the cops had no way of knowing where we were, how there had to be a traitor amongst our ranks."

He looked back over his shoulder to smirk at Blake while she facepalmed in embarrassment. "And of course," Tukson continued, "you know exactly who to call out, didn't you?"

Blake groaned. "Oh man... I ran around the camp, telling anyone and everyone that you had to be the traitor, because it was so obvious..."

Tukson was laughing again as he put on a falsetto voice: "Don't you all understand! It's Tukson, that medic, Tukson! He admitted it to me last night!"

Blake still had her face hidden in her hand. "I was ranting like a lunatic."

"Yeah, you were. It would've been kind of adorable if people didn't almost immediately start to believe you..." Tukson stopped smiling. "I actually thought they were just going to execute me right there. They would have if the boss hadn't stepped in."

"Ash." Blake set, remembering the heavyset, weasel-eared faunus who had been in charge of that group.

"Thank god he gave me a chance to explain, huh? I told him everything, explained my role in the organization and how you were too young to understand..."

"He sat me down later, explained how conscientious objectors worked and why there was nothing wrong with it, and why we were so reliant on people like you."

She looked over at him. "Tukson, I'm sorry. I know I've said it before, but I really am sorry."

He looked over as well, and smiled. "Ah well. All's well that ends well. At least I got a lifelong friend out of the ordeal!"

Blake smiled and rolled her eyes, before they both returned to their fishing.

More clouds rolled in as the day ran on. An overcast sheet was quickly covering up their sunny day. After another half hour of silence, a question occurred to Blake as she stared down at the vague blur that was her reflection.

"Hey..."

"Hm?"

"Do you believe in pure evil?"

"Do you?"

"No."

"What about the Grimm?"

"The Grimm aren't sapient."

"I'm not sure about that. I've heard things..."

"Okay, but I mean aside from the Grimm. People."

Tukson didn't say anything for a while. Figuring that he was mulling his answer over, Blake waited in silence, kicking her feet again. Finally, Tukson took a deep breath and spoke.

"I don't know. I know that there are bad people out there, and lots of them. I don't know how many of them are irredeemable. I like to tell myself that there's always at least something in there, even if it's deep down enough to be invisible. That no matter how remorseless or ruthless or greedy someone is, that it must be rooted in some belief, some kind of ethos. But how would I know? I've never actually met true evil, I believe that. But if you want to know whether it exists or not, I think you're asking the wrong faunus, kiddo. Sorry."

"Fair enough." was all Blake had to say. She looked up at the increasingly cloudy sky, only to yelp in surprise as a cold raindrop hit her forehead. Tukson looked over to see what was wrong, and saw Blake quickly packing her things up. Feeling a drop hit his shoulder, he sighed. "Well, I guess that means it's time to roll out. Let's get back to the shop, c'mon."

After hurriedly getting their things together, Blake and Tukson were lucky enough to make in back quickly, before the rain got too bad. Tukson opened the door one-handed. "You coming in?"

"No. I should get back to school, check in with my team."

Tukson looked at her for a moment.

"...What?" asked Blake.

"These friends of yours... I kept meaning to ask, do they know about..." he pointed to the top of her head, to her bow.

"Oh... no, they don't."

"Are you going to tell them?"

"I should get going." Blake said in a hurry. "Bye, Tukson." she jogged off, trying to make it to overhead cover. Tukson watched her go for a moment, looking concerned, before he headed inside.