A/N: Hey hey hey, it's time for the next chapter again!FINALLY we get some development on someone who isn't Perci or Jin, so I hope you all enjoy the chapter. Don't forget to review, favorite and follow, and I'll see y'all next time.
The weekend rolled along, and so far, nothing too exciting happened with team JPLL. The investigation into the cultist and the grimm kegs was dry so far, with not many leads for them to go after. Ash and Hue, who so far led the effort, decided that a weekend off wouldn't do any of them bad, letting everyone relax in their dorms for the day and do anything they might have wanted. So far, Hue was scribbling something in her book, busy in her craft, like Jin was sitting on the ground, with crayon on her hand, drawing something as well.
Hue looked over at Jin for a quick second, noting her drawing. So far, seeing as Perci was too busy arranging things for the festival, saying she wanted to see it through, and Leila not being around during the evenings for combat practice, Hue found herself spending more and more time alone with her partner and apparent team leader. Despite the fact that none of them even acknowledged Jin as anything leader like, there was no denying that her presence held an effect on those around her. The constant smile, the cheerful attitude, all of those turned Jin into everyone's friend, and there were not many in Beacon who did not at least tolerate her, despite the infusion running through her body.
She looked at the drawings again, putting her book down. From what she understood, Jin got the crayons from Dr. Topaz, Beacon's psychologist, in an attempt to understand what she's thinking better. So far, however, Jin seemed to be drawing the same images over and over, of green trees, blue skies, a bright, yellow sun, and two... auras, for lack of a better term to describe them with. While she drew them with the general shape of a human, each had a color of her own, one bright gold, and one a hew tones brighter, having a roughly feminine shape. Of course, to one of her intellect, it wasn't hard to deduce who she was drawing in the image, and while Jin drawing her mother wasn't anything to note at, the fact that she was drawing it over and over actually drew her attention.
Deciding to look into it a bit, Hue sat on her bed, looking over at the giantess. Approaching her drawing carefully, trying not to draw Jin's attention to herself, she looked over her shoulder, taking a closer glance at the drawing. Alas, Jin's perception of her surroundings proved better then Hue gave her credit for, and her head turned around, looking at Hue directly, the ever-present smile on her face. "Hi!" As always, she started with the same greeting. Hue noted the tone, and just as she remembered it, Jin used the same pitch, almost perfectly repeating the same pattern, over and over. It was rehearsed, a trained habit, something that her mother must have instilled into her in an effort to help Jin integrate into sociality when the time would have come for her.
"Hello, Jin." Hue nodded once, her tone as cold and expressionless as it usually was. Not wanting to disturb the girl, she stepped back a bit, nodding hastily. "Please, don't let me bother you. Just draw like usual." She bit her lower lip, suppressing the need to speak like usual. After all, with Jin, it was impossible to use any word with more than a few syllables, as she learned the hard way.
"Uhh... Okay!" Jin called out, resuming her sketching. She even fell over, laying on her stomach instead, legs swinging about as she hummed to herself, holding the sheet of paper to the floor and continuing her favorite pass-time as of late.
As for Hue, she retreated once more, silently judging the dust girl's skill. She had no form, no proper grip, and the crayon on her hand looked half mashed from the sheer pressure she held it with, the circumference of the end at least double the size it should be. Comparing it to her own sketches, when her research called for it, Hue could easily tell the most major differences between the two, the most notable being her own ability to use a smaller, more accurate pencil. However, as far as imagination went... Hue was trumped. It still perplexed her, how Jin could imagine all the poses and so one, with crayon alone. While her actual talent in drawing wasn't anything impressive, her creativity seemed to be her stronger suit in these cases.
The more she looked at the girl's pretty pictures, the more Hue started to feel something, a feeling she hadn't felt in ages, slowly bubble up inside of her. She looked to the side, where a mirror laid, her own blank expression returning an almost lifeless looking face right at her. Could she truly be jealous of that smile? Was a life of ignorance really worth it?
She shook her head, dismantling her doubts in an instant. She wasn't meant for this, her destiny holding far higher reaches in this world. Nevertheless, she was fascinated, of not a bit, by Jin and her apparent happiness. "Jin..." Hue stepped in again. If there was one thing she knew, it was that sometimes, one must gather data directly. "How do you do it? How are you so happy all the time? Do you never feel sadness, or grief, or anything?"
"Mama told me that I should smile, so I smile!" Jin answered her question with the usual cryptic response, seemingly unaware of the philosophical implications that it held.
How shook her head. "But your mother... She is dead." They knew, all of them. Glynda informed them of her mother's almost inevitable departure from the world a while back, though she never told any of them the details. "Do you not feel sad?"
"But Mama is okay! She told me that herself before I walked!" Jin insisted, looking a tad concerned. Last she saw her, after all, her mother was just fine, if not coughing a bit. But, after all, her aura moved like before.
"But that was weeks, if not months ago." Hue contemplated, refusing to believe Jin held this little logic to her. "There is no chance that your mother is still alive."
"But she's is! Mother is just fine!" Despite the disagreement and argument, Jin's voice held not spite, nor anger towards her partner. To her, it was the simple truth of the world. After all, what was death? Auras didn't stop or disappear like that. "Someday I'm gonna go and visit her!" She added as an afterthought, completely disregarding what Hue had just told her a few seconds prior.
Hue stopped talking back, trying to shrug her off. Jin's simple mind was just too slow for her, so much so that Hue couldn't even hold a proper conversation with her whatsoever. She looked to the door, hoping that perhaps, one of her teammates would show up, saving her from having to deal with the conversation she so foolishly initiated, but alas, none came to her aid, rendering Hue stuck there with a giant she could barely understand.
Before she realized it, however, Jin noticed. She didn't need to see her stern, annoyed expression to grasp what she was feeling, at least through her aura. Jin got up, walking closer to the other faunus of the team, looking a few inches above her, as if Jin perceived her to be taller than she actually was, spreading her arms wide. "D-Do you want a hug? P-Please don't be sad..." Her voice fell a bit, easily affected by the emotions of those around her.
Hue gazed at her, perplexed and confused, both at the consistent height difference between herself and Jin's line of sight, as well as the insistence of hugging, being a cure-all for anything that might have ailed her. Not being much of a hugger herself, Hue stepped back, trying to brush off the gentle child. "No. I do not want a hug?" The inner malice inside of her grew further, only pushing Jin to come forward again.
"B-But hugs ARE good... I-I..." It was rare for Jin to see such hostility directly pointed at her. Sure, other auras weren't always cheerful and bright, but even then she could always see good in them. But, as Hue concentrated on the enigmatic nature of the beast in front of her, as well as the many, many riddles she couldn't even grasp in her life, it was clear that she was dissatisfied with her life as it stood, and all Jin wanted was to try and help her.
"I said no!" Hue actually raised her voice, making Jin stutter in place. She looked around, before crystalline tears started to form at the corner of her eyes, crying loudly at the helplessness of the situation. Then, almost on the mark, her voice came out, falling to her knees as she let the tears fall like a waterfall.
Hue couldn't bear her incessant crying, and stormed out. The moon's light shimmered in the halls as she ran, unable to even feel comfortable with herself anymore. Reaching her usual balcony, she stepped outside, looking up at the moon, closing her eyes and silently wishing that the night would just end already, or at the very least that Jin would calm down.
A few minutes after, Perci got close to the dorm room, talking on the scroll with Melody. "So anyway, and THEN I told him..." She came to recount some other story she had to tell, before hearing the crying that came from her own dorm, with a voice she already recognized. "Hold it Love, I'll be right back. Looks like I got some bullshit to deal with..." She sighed, approaching the door, and steeling herself for whatever she'd find inside, she opened it up, walking in.
She stepped into the room, only to be welcomed with the sound of cries, and whimpers. Leila was already there, trying to comfort the giantess, though so far it seemed that nothing was working, and Jin just continued with her yapping, grabbing Leila and giving her a bone crushing hug, if nothing to just comfort herself. Suppressing a giggle, Perci got close to the two, trying to get Jin to leave Leila be before her lungs would have gotten crushed or something of the sort. "Alright, time to break it up Brute..." She sighed, using her empowered strength to pry Jin's arms wide enough for Leila to escape her primal grasp, breathing deeply for the air she missed so.
"T-Thank you Perci..." She panted slightly, as Perci let go of Jin's arms, watching them snap shut, though her crying didn't get any better. "I-I wouldn't suppose you have any idea why she's like this, would you?" Leila asked, wanting to make absolutely sure. For a change, she didn't actually believe Perci caused it, though it didn't have any harm to double check.
Perci looked at Jin once, then returned her eyes to meet Leila's silver orbs. "Not a clue." She walked over to her bed, letting herself fall on it, trying to get some much-needed shut-eye, disregarding the loud cries that came from a few feet away from her. "Goddammit... Can you go find the Nerd? Good fucking god, at this rate we'll get a noise complaint or some shit..."
Leila raised an eyebrow. "And why couldn't you fetch her, Perci?"
Perci could only response with a tired look. "No, please, I was just working all day, lifting heavy shit and, you know, CLEANING THE AMITY COLLOSEUM. Do you even have any idea how fucking big that Coliseum is?" Before Leila could even respond, Perci had already interrupted her. "Pretty fuckin' big. And we've been working on it, like, around the clock. So how about you get off your high and mighty horse and go actually DO something, a'ight? Meanwhile, I'll just be here, trying to get some sleep despite the noise..." She sighed, looking at Jin one more time, before getting an idea. She got up, walked over to the giantess, and let herself fall into Jin's embrace, who tightly hugged her. Now, having someone to cuddle with, Jin's voice finally came down, though Perci didn't look pleased with being stuck in place with her. "Well? What do you need, a special invitation?" She asked Leila. "Just go get her already!"
It didn't take Leila long to find Hue. She was in the first place she looked, staring up at the moon from her usual balcony, trying to tune out the world around her. Leila hesitated for just a split second, noting the stiff body she held at the moment, though soon took a sharp breath, steeling herself for what was to come, walking closer to the faunus.
"Hue?" She asked, trying to sound as gentle as possible. "A-Are... You alright?"
"I don't understand her." Hue gave Leila a single, tired and weary look, the anger washed away, but still present nonetheless. "I could calculate the trajectory of a flying bullet. I could sketch the motions of a dance. I could fathom everything around me." She recounted the many things that her mind gave her. "All... Expect Jin. I don't get her. This world is so complicated... How can one just ignore it all like it didn't matter?" Now, desperation seeped into her voice, getting up and looking distressed. "How can she just not get the fact that her mother has passed on? T-These are things EVERYONE gets, right?" Her eyes were fixated on Leila's, searching for a hint of understanding. "You have to understand these things... Right?"
After that question had hit the air, the silence settled in, as Leila had to think about her words, wanting to choose them carefully. Hue, however, seemed far too important, having planned ahead of the next five or so lines she was going to say. It was a habit she developed, something to occupy her mind while she had to wait for everyone around her to catch on. At the end of the day, no matter how she cut it, Hue was just... Lonely. Lonely in a world where people just couldn't catch up to her.
"H-Hue..." Leila took a deep breath. She could already see the overwhelming amount of thoughts that passed through her friend's mind in every single instant. "I know that understanding Jin is hard, but... She isn't as... Well..." She tried to come up with the right word, while also being politically correct.
"Smart, clever, bright, intelligent, shrewd, astute, able..." Hue started to name every single word she could think of for the task of describing Jin's overall wit. It was a rare instance for her to be as overwhelmed by the slowness of the world around her, though that was why she favored her own book and calculations, rather than interacting with people.
Leila nodded, trying to calm her down. "Yeah, those. Jin isn't like us. There's no need to try and understand her." From there, she shifted her weight a bit, stepping closer, and standing beside her friend, looking up at the night sky with her. "The Lord made her like she is because the Lord chose that this is how she would be. There is no need for us to question his di-"
"Shut up!" Hue interrupted her, raising her voice. "Keep your close minded religious dogma to yourself! Everything has a reason, Leila. Everything can be understood, Jin included. I just need more data, I just need more time to research her and-"
Keeping up the pace, it was Leila's turn to intervene with her line of thought. "And just what were you thinking of doing? Hurting her? Trying to instigate her to see what she'd do? Taking her blood? Can you not see that she is who she is and that is it?" She breathed deeply, trying to quell the anger that was building inside of her. It was unbecoming of someone of her position to show such extreme emotion. "Just let her be, Hue. You don't have to understand everything."
"Yes, I DO!" For the first time in years, Hue shouted. Memories of her siblings, taunting her and ridiculing her for not wanting to wrestle with them flooded back into her mind, and she stepped back, trying to put some distance between herself and the nun. "If I can't understand it, then it's impossible!" She rebutted, shaking her head in denial. "So I have to at least try, but she can't be worked with!"
"Just try and calm down, please. You are impossible to speak to like this. Honestly, what has gotten into you?" Leila, resuming her colder outside to the world, asked the faunus. It didn't take long for Hue to turn on her, seemingly furious with her statement.
"You're not one to talk about this, seeing as you get an anger fit every time someone doesn't agree with your opinions." Her shot hit right at home, and Leila's face twisted in anger.
"I could say the same about you, you know. You barely even emote, as it stands. One might say you have no emotions within you." Her voice, while calm, had venom and spite sewn into it. Seemingly, the both of them were at each other's throats.
"I do feel emotions!" Hue argued, putting a hand on her chest, just above her heart. "I just don't let them control me, unlike you. You try and suppress them so hard, that they find cracks in your facade all the time!" She was at the end of her patience, both for the nun and the world in general, having had enough of her arguments and petty world views. Hue looked back at the moon for a split second, trying to catch a glimpse of the white light that escaped it down towards the earth, hoping that the serene view would manage to help her calm down, but alas... The anger raged on within her. "You know what? I'm done here. I don't have to deal with your nonsense." She stormed out, running back into the dorms, leaving a frustrated Leila behind to manage her own anger, with very little success.
Walking the halls of Beacon itself, Hue had a lot on her mind. She just couldn't understand anything, and her emotions getting the better of her, anger clouded her eyes, though none of it mattered at the moment, not to her at least.
As she turned around one of the corners of the school, not realizing in time what was going to happen, she felt the body of another, slam into her, as the two of them bumped into one another, walking from the other ends of the corner. She fell down to her behind, looking at the person in front of her, realizing that she was staring face to face with the famed Psychologist, Topaz himself. "You..." She muttered to herself, as Topaz got up, walking closer and offering her a hand, smiling gently.
"Oh my... I didn't expect to see a student around her at this hour of the night. Might telling me where you're going?" He asked, though Hue quickly pulled her hand back, getting back up on her own.
She started at him, quickly making assumptions about how reactions to whatever she said. It was like a muscle to her, something that she only needed to flex, and the thoughts flowed into her mind on and on, an endless stream rushing into her mindscape. "You understand her, right? You understand Jin. You have to understand her, right?" The desperation in her voice caught his interest, and he walked closer, recognizing her face behind his glasses.
"Wait... You're her teammate, correct?" He asked, trying to recall her name. "...Hue, was it?"
"Yes yes yes, now please, tell me. Do you understand her? What's her secret? How can Jin be like this?" She bombarded him with questions, holding nothing back, the need to understand filling up every inch of her mind.
He raised his hands, shaking his head lightly. "H-Hold on now, one question at a time." He figured he'd ask her about the reason she was outside so late later. After all, his WAS a psychologist, and it was his job to help the students of Beacon with whatever they had to deal with. If he had a lien for each student that he treated that couldn't handle their teammates, he'd be a rich, rich man. "Tell you what... Let's go talk outside, alright? I think some fresh air would do both of us wonders."
Hue managed to nod, though the walking outside itself with the man she presumed held all the answers felt like hell. Each step, each passing second was like an eternity passed to her, and the corridors around the two started to feel suffocating. She noted a minute case of claustrophobia, though being with the actual psychologist, she figured she might not know all the information needed to make such a self-diagnosis.
The moment they got outside, she took a sigh of relief, being let outside from the condensed halls. "Hah..." She looked up, the storm of emotions slowly passing from her soul. She could feel herself calm down ever so slightly, though she wasn't just there yet. At the very least, soon she'd have all the info she needed. "Alright, then." She turned to Topaz once again, not missing a single beat or even taking a breath beyond what she needed."Jin. What do you know about her?"
"I'm afraid that this is classified information." He argued against her demand. "A psychologist is obligated for student/therapist confidentiality, and I cannot let what even Jin tells me in her sessions outside. If I did that, I would have failed as a therapist, wouldn't I?"
She gasped, suppressing the need to outright scream, trying to take hold of her heart once more. "I... Understand. It's alright." She almost came to leave, though before she could walk away, Topaz grabbed her hand, prompting her to sit down.
"That aside, however... How about we talk? I have a feeling you need some guidance yourself, Hue." It didn't take him long to see that. Hue was in obvious distress, and while her demeanor returned to its blank, passive self, he knew that it would just bubble inside of her, before popping up like a balloon, and this whole mess would just repeat itself. "Please, I am here to help, after all. If you have anything you need to talk about, just feel free."
Hue took a deep breath again, sitting down next to him. She looked at the man, trying to take a guess at how intelligent he was, deciding that it was satisfactory. "I just... It's everything. Everything is too slow and I always have to slow down to keep up with everyone, and I hate it."
He sighed, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Hue, how high is your IQ?"
"The last test I took showed a hundred and fifty, though I have a feeling I could have done better." She replied coldly, and he shook his head slowly, realizing that he was dealing with genius level intellect.
"Well... I sort of know what you're talking about, to a degree. It's not easy being smart. You're fast, and everyone around you is slow. You try and fit in, but by the time people fully manage to understand what you're saying, you already know exactly what to say five sentences down the conversation."
"Exactly!" She called, looking astonished. Everything he said hit right at home for her, especially back in Vacuo, where she'd always have to wait for her brothers to finish the most basic of tasks, like counting their father's wares and so on. "So what can I do? How can I help them get to my level, so I can finally talk to everyone?"
Topaz sighed one more time. "Well, Hue... You can't. The sad truth is, that people like you? People like me? We'll always be too fast. In fact, I'd say you're smarter than me even, from the looks of it." He grinned, giving an attempt to look gentle. "There is, however, one thing you can do to make it easier on yourself."
"What is it? Please, I'll do anything." Hue could barely wait, fidgeting in place while waiting for his advice. She already pictured it, a ten stage plan, with intricate tasks and mechanisms to build, something would keep her busy for days, besides the moon research of course. However, Topaz's answer only managed to seem underwhelming in her eyes.
"Accept them."
She stared at him, looking with disbelief. "Um... What do you mean accept them? Are there any instructions for this, or a book I can read about the subject, or?..."
"Nope." He kept the grin on, hoping she'd realize what he was suggesting. "You just have to stop looking, and let the world come to you."
It took her about ten minutes to finally calm down, before Hue showed herself back at team JPLL's dorm room. As she stepped inside, she saw Perci, still in Jin's embrace, both of them already fast asleep. Jin's face had marks of tears across her face, though, from the looks of it, they crystallized after a short while, appearing as two lines of crystal going down from her eyes downwards across her cheeks.
She walked closer to her bed, Leila already sitting in her own next to Hues. She took a quick glance at Hue, seemingly apologetically, thinking she went out of life. "Hue, I.."
"It's fine." Hue took a quick glance at Jin, shaking her head off lightly. "I went out of line as well. I think... I think I might need some help."
"That's heartening to know." Leila tried to smile, tucking herself. "Regardless, goodnight Hue. We can talk more tomorrow."
And as Leila fell asleep, Hue wrapped herself in her blanket, a thin smile spreading on her face, thinking about what Topaz had taught her.