As yet another Beacon day drew to a close, teams JPLL and ACMM gathered together, sitting down in team ACMM's dorm room, gathered for the evening to discuss the grimm they encountered a few weeks past. The walls already had foam boards on them, with several articles from newspapers, cut together and tied by strings. On another wall, she had a map of Vale, where she pointed out activities of cultists like the ones they saw, the information courtesy of her father, keeping is old ears out just in case.
As she suspected, they never stopped. People in odd robes walking the industrial district started popping up here and there, and despite the VPD making their best efforts to arrest them and contain them, none so far even gave a hint of a name. All they could tell was that it was a man, and that the voices commanded him. As for the meaning of those voices, she only had her own memories of that night to recount by, and she tended to avoid remembering anything from those.
The door knocked, three times, then a second pause, then another one. She gave a quiet nod, and Copper went to the door, opening it up and letting Perci, Leila, and Hue step inside, each of them taking a seat and waiting for Ash to finish looking at her board, turning her attention to the trio. "Uh... Where's..."
"Jin?" Perci quickly filled out the rest of that sentence. "Yeah, Lil' brutty was sent to that psychologist's office for what I could only assume is 'trying to understand what the fuck she IS.' They've been doing that for quite a while, so I don't think she'll be joinin' us today." She leaned, picking Melody's bed in particular to sit on. "Not that it matters much. Doubt she'd remember anything."
Her remark, while true, was met with a few glares, particularly from Leila. "Regardless, I will scribe what we'll talk here and debrief her later on." She pulled out a pen and paper, lifting them to her face level, scribbling a few things before returning her attention to the group.
Undine look at her, a bit confused. "Why don't you just use your scroll to record it?" Her question was only met with Leila flustering a bit and looking away, having no idea how to operate the scroll to do all that. Undine chuckled, and took a deep breath, to calm herself down. Now wasn't just the time for laughs and giggles. Now was the time for actual, serious work.
"Right, so where were we?" Ash finally started the meeting, presenting the rest of the teams with her investigation board so far. "I think, first and foremost, we should come up with a name for the Grimm we encountered. Would save us a lot of trouble later down the line. Any suggestions?" She looked, as the rest of them sank into thought, trying to discern some good name for such a hideous monstrosity.
"Hmm..." Hue was the first to raise her hand, thinking silently. "How about... Eldritchan Grimm? In case we encounter anything like it again." She suggested, the rest having no real issues with it.
"What, like those horror books?" Perci asked out of nowhere. "You know the ones, those with the people who have to face giant monsters and go crazy and shit."
Hue couldn't help but sigh at the broad simplification of some of her favorite books, nodding regardless. "That's a... rough, estimate of what they are, but yes, that would be correct." She concluded, turning the suggestion to Ash.
As she mentioned the grimm again, Melody couldn't help but shudder a bit in place. At the end of the day, she was still deathly scared of that monster, and the mere thought of having to encounter more like it in the future almost made her want to run away and never look back. Noticing her shaking, Perci put a hand on her shoulder, in an attempt to calm her down. "Oi, Love. Anything wrong?" Her question was as direct as ever, not giving Melody any window to just fake it.
"Y-Yeah..." She muttered to the side. "P-Please don't tell me we'll have to fight things like that again..." She came off as a bit desperate, not knowing what to do with herself, Perci tapping her on the shoulder again.
"Ah, don't worry about it." She reassured her. "Next time somethin' like that comes, I'll kill it before it could land a single claw on your hair." While Perci tried to act charming, Melody couldn't help but look to the side. Yes, it was nice to know someone would protect her, but at what cost? She couldn't be a damsel in distress, not anymore. She came to Beacon to learn how to fight, and that's what she was going to do.
She looked at Perci, determination in her eyes. "Actually... Don't. When something comes again, I'll be able to deal with it myself." of course, this was a lie, and she knew it quite well. She was still shaking in her pants, but something inside her managed to keep her outside calm. She hoped she could fake it long enough to make it at the end of the day, but regardless, she still had a long way to go.
"Suit yourself, Love..." Perci grinned, turning her attention back to the meeting with the rest of the teams. She then took out her scroll, checking the time, and noting how long it was since they started, a single bead of sweat formed on her forehead.
Ash thought, for a few seconds, grinning and writing the words 'Eldritchan grimm' Under a well-detailed sketch, made by Copper. "You know what? Yeah, I like it. Has a catchy tune to it, don't you think?" Several heads nodded in agreement, and satisfied with the name they had so far, she picked out her scroll, tapping a section of a list, muttering to herself. "Alright, coming up with a name... check. Now..." She then scrolled down, looking at the next item on the agenda. "K, item two on our list: The purp. What do we know about him?" Turning the question for the rest of her friends. This time, Copper was the first to rise to the occasion, presenting them with a drawing she made of the cultist as well.
" Jobless, possibly homeless as well. I'd assume around his thirties or forties, though I would need a proper photograph or encounter to validate that. At this point, it is best to assume he doesn't have anyone above him, and is independent in his actions until proven otherwise." She concluded her deductions, sitting back on her bed, staring at the group silently as before.
Suddenly, Undine groaned. "Ugh, I didn't sign up to talk around all day... I wanna get to the butt kicking already!" She groaned again, looking bored as ever. After her little tantrum, Leila gave her glare, much like the ones Perci received from her on a daily basis, looking uninterested in her nonsense.
"Regardless, it is an imperative part of an investigation. One cannot go out and fight without knowing who their enemies are." Her words were absolute, and without doubt in them. Undine stepped back a bit, climbing to her bed and looking at Leila with a combination of annoyance and discontent.
waiting for the rest of them to quiet down, Ash took the center stage once more. "Anyway... Back on topic. And also, for our next subject:" She pointed to the board, showing the symbol she saw on the ichor keg, at the dead center of the everything. "This symbol. Or, should I call it by the actual name of the group... Merlot Laboratories."
"Wow, you found a name." Perci gave her usual, sarcastic remark. "Well guys, mystery solved right, totally got them now."
"If you'll let me finish..." Ash stopped her before she could go any further. "This is actually where the mystery BEGINS. According to public records, Merlot Laboratories has disbanded a few years ago. By no means should they have anything running at the moment." What she found about the labs, at least from what was publicly known, wasn't much. "One thing for sure, though. This rabbit hole goes deeper. FAR deeper than I initially gave it credit for."
At this point, Perci simply rolled her eyes. "So what, we have this abandoned labs in who knows where, and some crazy people connected to them. Now what?" Her patience, for some reason, was shorter than usual, seemingly wanting to get out of there as soon as she could. Here and there, she snuck a peek at her scroll, checking the time, and grinding her teeth the closer it got to something.
"Now... We investigate. We need to spread out to Vale itself and discover anything we can about Merlot laboratories, or what they were working with. I imagine having kegs of Grimm Ichor isn't something any public lab is gonna get that easily." The rest of them nodded, and Ash checked another part of her small list, looking over to make sure she didn't miss anything on it. "Right, so, with that said... We need to decide who goes out to the industrial district to investigate-"
"Well gotta go bye!" Perci cut her mid-sentence, getting up and running out the door, looking stressed out and nervous. The rest looked at one another, confused as to why she had to run so fast out of the meeting, none of them having a single clue.
"Anyway..." Ash shook her head lightly, snapping back to the topic at hand. "We should split up, to cover more ground while looking. Now, I'm going to assume Perci can't go, and Jin shouldn't walk outside, so that leaves us with Leila, Hue, Copper, Undine, Melody and myself." She then turned to Leila and Hue. "I'd assume you two would go together?"
Leila nodded to her question. "Indeed. Hue and I will go and cover the residential district."
Ash pulled two pins, one with Leila's name on it, and one with Hue's sticking both of them on the residential district of her map of Vale. "Excellent. As for our team..." She then took out pins containing names for each person on her team. "Melody and I will investigate the upper-class district. Undine, Copper, you two take on the commercial district. After that, we'll cover the rest of them together. Everyone got it?" She asked the other five, getting gestures of approval across the board. "Then meeting adjured!" She called, raising her hand for a thumbs up. "From now on, the investigation begins!" Clean enthusiasm could be heard in her voice.
Leila got up, bowing to the other team leader. "Very good. Now, if you will excuse me, I have some matters to attend to." She stepped outside, Hue following suit shortly after, leaving team ACMM to their own devices.
Undine stretched, walking to her closet and pulling a one piece swimsuit. "Ahh... Finally, this meeting is done with! Welp, if anyone needs me for some reason, you know where to find me." She smirked, walking to the bathroom to change.
"The pool?" Ash shrugged. Lately, Undine had been spending almost all the free time she had in Beacon's pool area, seeming missing her old home village and the freedom to swim whenever she wanted.
After a minute or so, Undine stepped out, fully dressed for the activity, sporting the swimsuit, as well as a pair of simple sandals. "You got it! Anyway, smell ya later!" She walked outside, whistling some tune, leaving the rest of them be.
Ash, having nothing better to do with her time, sat down, peeking at her scroll and trying to look for any other piece of information she could find. In the melancholy of the situation, she couldn't notice as Melody came, sitting next to her, looking a tad flustered. She sighed, putting her scroll down, and giving Mel a rather bored look. "It's about that date, isn't it?"
"I-I mean..." Melody, easily cracking open, spilling what was on her mind. "I agreed to it, and then she just does nothing! I don't know what to do. Should I ask? Should I not?" She sighed, lifting her legs up to sitting in a fetal position, letting her head fall to her knees. "I don't know what to do..."
Trying to come up with the right words, Ash sat on her bed, shaking Melody a tiny bit. "Well, you wanted to be braver, right? I think that's step one to getting there. So come on, no more sour faces. Just go and ask her, what's the worst that could happen?" Cheering her up, Melody raised her head, looking better than before. Ash, as usual, was right, and she knew exactly what she needed to do to put her mind at ease.
"Yeah... You're right. Thanks, Ash." She thanked her, leaving a grinning Ash behind as she left the dorm to look for Perci.
"Don't thank me, Mel." She grinned to herself, turning back to her scroll. "All I did was give you a tiny push..."
About an hour later, Perci exited Ozpin's office, carrying with her an assortment of papers and the sort. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she walked back to the dorm, organizing the papers in her hands and sliding them into a folder, and then into her suit, walking casually back. She expected the others finished their little meeting by now, and so, having nothing else to do, strolled Beacon casually, taking her sweet time to get back.
After a while of walking, she saw a figure approach her, at the corner of her eye. "What the hell?..." She turned her attention to the figure, running as it seemed to her at the moment, stopping in place as the blonde hair and the innocent face of Melody came into view. The moment she realized it was Melody, Perci quickly fixed her posture, straightening her back and lifting her cane, swinging it in hand. "Well well, to what do I owe you this pleasure, Love?" She asked, as Melody finally got close enough, panting heavily from looking for her all this time.
Before she answered, Melody raised her hand, gesturing Perci to give her a minute. Supporting her torso on her knees while still standing, she looked down, calming herself, until finally raising her head upwards, giving Perci the same fake bravery from before. "Alright, Perci... We need to talk about that date." Her rush of valor was interrupted by the very topic she was gonna bring up, stuttering a bit and blushing. "D-Do you... Still want to have it?" She closed her eyes shut, steeling herself in case the reaction she would get would be on the extreme end of the scale.
Instead, Perci simply approached her, waving her head, and sighing audibly. "Yeah... Don't worry about it, alright Love? These things, they take time, especially if you want them perfect." She grinned, Melody finally opening her eyes, looking at the delinquent curiously.
"B-But why? I mean... You weren't planning on doing anything in Vale, right?" Her question, as innocent as it was, still managed to make Perci cackle.
"Well duh, what else would you expect? I mean, what else are we supposed to do, go to the fucking library and read a book together?" It didn't take Perci long after asking to visualize herself and Melody, in each other's embrace, reading some book together. While she certainly wouldn't mind doing that with her, it was not something she could have jumped into right away.
Melody blushed as well, looking to the side. She came to agree to that idea, but it didn't feel fully right to her, at least at the moment. "Then... Explain yourself!" She picked up the courage to stand up, trying to look fierce. "What HAVE you been doing, anyway?"
Seeing as she couldn't hide her little secret any longer, Perci pulled out the file from her suit. Opening it, she presented Melody with its contents, several contracts, papers, and so on inside, clumped together and organized neatly. On some of them, Melody spotted several bullet point lists, describing things in regard to Perci's parole conditions. "Y-You..." She sounded surprised.
Perci quickly slid them back into their folder, putting them in her suit once more. She then looked to the sides, making sure no one else could have seen them on her. "Yeah... After the Eldritchan fight, and cleaning enough shit around Beacon, Ozpin finally helped me make an appeal to the council. Hopefully, and with a lot of good behavior, they'd allow me to walk around Vale again." She smirked, looking a bit victorious at the prospect of gaining some of her freedom back again. "At least, as long as I don't cause any trouble, that is." She corrected herself. "...And before you ask... I didn't just do it for YOU. I did it for ME."
Melody couldn't help but chuckle. "Sure, that's fine. Anyway... So are we still having that date?" She asked one more time, just wanting to make sure.
Perci nodded, leaning a bit closer to her. "You just focus on looking pretty and having a good time. I'll take care of the rest." After that, Perci looked about, trying to come up with something else to say, finding no words come to her mind. "Well anyway..."
"Yeah. I'll see you later then." Melody completed her thought, smiling gently as she walked away, happy at her decision to have this conversation.
The past few hours of Topaz's life were as perplexing as all get out. Jin, his most fascinating patient by far, was busy drawing on the table with some paper he supplied to her, as well as crayons. Each time he took a peek, the imagery would stay the same: Two women, with blonde hair and cat ears, as well as trees around them, or rather, a rough looking shape that could be interpreted as such.
Despite that, however, were the things she said to him. Her ability to see auras gave Jin a very unique view on the world around her. "So... Jin." He spoke up, after silently observing her for the past while. "Do you love your Mama?"
At this point, he knew almost anything there was to know about Jin. Seemingly enough, her mother taught her a lot of things about the world, leaving Jin able to basically care for herself, at least when it came up pure, sheer survival.
Jin stopped drawing for a second, looking at the nice man in the fancy clothing, as well as deep, calm and soothing aura. "Yeah! I love my Mama very much!" Her answer, as one would expect, was childish and simple. Regardless, Topaz decided to push onwards with what he wanted to ask her.
"I see," he cleared his throat, stretching in his seat. He opened his mouth again, trying to ask Jin about her mother's death, before remembering her inability to recognize it whatsoever. Trying to force such a fragile mind to handle a tough concept such as death wasn't the best idea, and he quickly enough found himself retracting his plan, biting his tongue each time he wanted to pop the question.
Noticing his aura stutter just as much as his body was, Jin stopped her drawing, getting up and walking over to the thinking man, prepared to smother him with hugs if it meant making him feel better. He politely refused, quickly getting to the other end of the room. The last thing he needed at the moment was another bone crushing bear hug from Jin. "Are you okay?" She asked him, her voice innocent as the day she was born.
"Y-Yeah..." He tried masking his emotions, though ultimately it was those attempts that gave him away. Jin got close to him again, this time quickly wrapping her arms around the man, giving him a tender, though still powerful hug, keeping him in her embrace for a couple of minutes. He would have tried to struggle free, but past experience taught him that it was pointed to resist.
"There! All better!" She called out after seeing his aura calming down, stress seemingly vanished. In truth, it was still there, very much so, but masking it in front of Jin was the best solution to the hugging conundrum thus far.
After being let go, Topaz staggered up, still a bit dizzy. He chuckled a bit, before taking a look at his watch, realizing that her session, belated as it was, was just about over. "Hmm... Okay, Jin, seems like our time is over for now. Can you please come next week as well?" Of course, he couldn't set a session with her like he did with the rest of his patients. Jin was one of the few people that he had to work around.
"Okay!" She borderline shouted, giving him a small salute motion. He showed her some cartoons a while back, and seeing the main character make that gesture, she seemingly caught it herself, doing it every time he told her goodbye.
As Jin finally got up, walking outside and leaving him be, he finally took a sigh of relief. Now, alone at last, he quickly went ahead and closed the blinds on his window, locking the door and making sure no one was around. Once the coast was finally clear, Topaz sat in his chair, pulling out a scroll tablet, and logging into a certain chat program, the symbol of Atlas appearing in the corner, typing in as quickly as she could.
"Subject is high reactive. Dust in the body seems to sustain itself, despite other cases before it implying otherwise. Handle with caution." The transmission was received almost as quick as it came, ending with an attached photo he took of Jin, for good measure. Once he made sure the message was sent successfully, he closed his scroll, sliding it back into his jacket before calling on his next patient.
After all, this was his job...