It places a hand onto their shoulder, getting their attention through the crowd. All the people and the noise are overwhelming, but that's about what you sign up for when you go to a protest. Or. Whatever this was turning into. "Hey, um. Is this not getting a bit... bad, you think?"
Through its eyes, his eyes blink from their position over his own shoulder. "I... I mean, I guess, but not that much..." A sigh comes from its mouth, hearing their response. Before it can explain itself, he continued, guessing its intentions. "Are you leaving?"
Its hand goes down to their arm, and it tried pulling them off to the side, away from the people. It's difficult, and it's astonished both it and them kept calm. Helped that they were already a ways away from the middle of the whole event. "Yeah, I think. Sorry. I'm a bit worried police might start showing up." It looks to the crowd again. It's sure even he can tell it's getting a bit chaotic.
"Tell the others, alright? Don't wanna worry 'em."
And now look where it is.
...it... really doesn't know where it is, actually. This place feels unfamiliar, but... navigable. Like it's supposed to be here. Didn't it come here by itself? By its own volition? How come it can't quite recognize anything, then?
The lighting is dim. A bit too dim for its liking. The moment the thought came to mind, it feels like its surroundings lit up just a bit more. Was that coming from it? It's pretty sure it's not holding a flashlight or anything. Don't think it can anymore. That's... that's not normal, right?
No, definitely not normal. Way too many sirens, it thinks. Was that a fucking truck?? Did it escalate that fast? It- it would go back, but- but... it's already pretty far, right?
It would run right back and pull them all out of there, but...
It would at least warn them that people are coming their way, but...
...but, but it just can't. It's dangerous.
Too dangerous. Endangering itself isn't worth saving another, it doesn't think. Not when they have the chance to defend themselves. Too risky.
And that's still a good point. Especially when it... hurts. It can't be risking itself when it's hurting. Not for any movement, not for any prying eyes, not for any noises. Noises it didn't hear, but felt. Not for strangers, and not for those it vaguely recognized.
"Oh my god- I'm so sorry!!" It blinked, taking a bit to process what just happened. Looking to the newfound rips and wet spots in its notebook paper on the ground, pens and pencils scattered about... man. It already had a lot of progress in those notes. Down the drain. Screw it for needing hospital visits and being absent when there's tests coming up, it supposed.
When it reached to pick its supplies up, it was intercepted by the hands of the person that caused this. Didn't watch where they were going, or something. Doesn't matter. It noticed some papers they were taking for themself- with more thought, it just assumed they dropped some notes of their own. It didn't have that many spare pages around.
"It's... yeah, it's fine, just have to rewrite all my science and most of my English notes, is all." It huffed. It's really not that serious, just had to strain its wrist further to copy the smudged, fragmented words on the originals. But, y'know, either way, it's an inconvenience.
It looks up to see a boy with brown hair and practically glowing skin (huh, gay). "Sorry, sorry! My fault for not double-checking the screw on my water bottle..."
There's movement everywhere. Didn't hear it all, but felt. Keeps forcing it to snap alert, maybe even prepare if it was gonna get ambushed. Was there something over there?
"Yeah, uh. Whatever? It's fine."
It didn't recognize that thing this time. That's nice. Things it recognized made it hurt more. Silver linings.
"...hey, wait, don't we have some classes together? I think I've seen you around."
It didn't expect the other thing to approach it first. Made it jump back and make... some sort of noise. Didn't know it could do that. Some kind of hiss. Probably. A defensive noise. A 'stay back, I'm not in the mood' noise. Didn't hear, but felt, rattling deep in its chest.
"Yeah, I think so! Science with ... and Spanish with ... , right? I think?"
The hissing didn't seem to deter the creature. Whatever it was, it seemed pretty fast. Could get the jump on it if it really wanted. Not good.
"...uh, I... maybe? We'll see when we get to class tomorrow, I guess."
Didn't find any of this funny. It's getting backed into a corner. Can't tell if that was necessary or if it was doing that to itself. Only realized it when it hit a wall from behind.
"Just in case, what's your name? So we can find each-other easier!"
For some reason, it leaned on the wall a lot more than it should.
"I'll jot that down in the memory bank. I'm L ... !"
If the thing's not gonna back down, then maybe it'll just have to indulge it. It's a scary thought, but, is there much else to do? It'll try? Even if it's, uh. Apparently a much steeper tax to lunge forward. It already feels like it's regretting this whole thing a whole lot. It's getting nauseous, and it only just parted from the support it was using. Still, it was trying to aim for some kind of fleshy part at its torso, assuming it was a sensitive spot from the blurry, dazzling vision it has, the only thing it had to rely on with its fuzzy hearing.
It was stopped embarrassingly easily by the other thing. Noticed it was only using its arms, not quite the hands, to defend itself. Which was an odd tactic, in its opinion... but that's not the point. Not exactly. They're like a horse and a fly. The horse might only use its tail to swat the fly away, though it still would be too much for the fly to fight against.
...there is absolutely no reason to be getting that philosophical, where did that come from? The animalistic haze over its mind clashed with those kinds of thoughts. Confused it. Made it stutter. Even that slight moment of doubt, that one moment of pause, turned the tide from 'it's not winning this, but it may as well try' to 'it is absolutely not winning this'. Its opponent had the upper hand in a matter of seconds.
It tried to growl at what it thinks now had it back up on the wall, but all it got was another, much fiercer growl back. It sounded... assertive. Not exactly aggressive. Or maybe it's just grasping for any hope that it's not about to die. It wasn't ready to die, really. Maybe it was supposed to kick the bucket awhile ago, but it's still here. It's still kicking.
"At least, I think it is," It peers over his shoulder, trying to get a look at whatever they were talking about. Squinting, it's pretty sure that, in the palm of their hand, he has. Some kind of bug? "Hey, little guy..." He murmured as one of his fingers very gently poked the small blob resting on his skin.
"I don't... see why you'd care, exactly? What even is that?" It didn't want to give in and kneel down next to him to get a better look.
The moment he took his eyes off of it, it saw the thing move a little. It had no reaction. "It's a pillbug, obviously! And it looks like it hasn't had the brightest of days..." They look back down.
"...c'mon, have a little empathy, yeah?" He said it kinda jokingly, it thinks. But it barely had any time to react anyways before they made a gasp and shifted their hand closer to their face.
"See? It's still alive!" It could see that, yeah. Seems the little thing got more energy than it thought, now starting to crawl in the direction of his thumb. If it looked hard enough, it could maybe see a few inconsistencies on its shell. From whatever it's ran into down in the bug world. It'll compliment it on that; it's got some pretty cool scars.
He didn't seem all that satisfied with its noncommittal hum. At least, it assumes they didn't.
"Would you like to hold it?"
"...I... I mean, ssssuuure...?" So stunned it agreed, whatever. It's not like it's scared of bugs, it just--
--Oh. It comes back to feeling itself getting poked. Like that... uh... what bug? The. The one that was unresponsive? Right? Or. Momentarily unresponsive. Huh. It hurts. Would it get scars, just like the...?
For some reason, it wasn't struggling anymore. Except for the occasional displeased whine. Like a dog with its tail between its legs. Didn't hear it, just felt. Does it have a tail? It thinks it does. Really numb, probably has been dragging behind itself the whole time.
A thump. Didn't hear, just felt. It didn't realize that sound came from it, and that it had been let go of, until it realized it could feel the floor against its legs. They were equally cold. Really expected it to get torn apart by now. Apparently, despite being attacked and apprehended, it hadn't read the room correctly. Then again, this room is very big. Can't read it all at once.
As the other backed up from it, it figured it would be good to actually. Take a look at what had been at odds with itself this whole time. Focus its vision. It was hard to inspect those details when you're in fight-or-flight...
...it absolutely was not optimal to have all your organs out in the open for everybody to see, first of all.
Second of all, it was having a very hard time sitting down, presumably with the... y'know. Wheel. Wonder just what this guy could've possibly done to anger evolution so bad and get turned into this.
Third of all, now that it could calm down a bit- OW.
Another whine came from, eh, whatever vocal chords it had, from trying to sit up further. Didn't hear, just felt. It looks down at its legs. Was it supposed to have those kind of legs?Weirdly enough, it didn't see any open wounds. Just felt the aches and stings where they should be. The leftover blood stains. And there were these lighter, discolored spots where the pain was...
It looks to its arms. No, they definitely aren't supposed look like that. Same thing. Pain, red, and scars. But no exposed flesh.
W... weird. It was so sure it was dying just minutes before. It winced at the memories. It really... hurt.
...but maybe it should stop mouthing the gift horse. Is that the phrase? It. It was a weird string of words that it barely heard at all and it was hard to take to memory.
Apparently their friends did, though. "Hey, just be grateful you're not home sick again, uh-huh?" The side-shove that they got from L ... didn't seem to deter them. It knew it was in all good fun, nothing to get too personal about, but it--
It barely even remembers where those moments came from. It's starting to make its head hurt. Just think about something else. Surely, it can't be that important to keep getting reminded of. It sounded like just... nonsense. Yeah...
If anything... it's definitely been cleaner.
With a strangely useful tongue, the taste of half-dried blood registers in its mind. It started on its arm, a bit rushed. Saw the other guy was giving it another look. Which it did not understand. It didn't understand a lot of things about them. And it didn't want to be all sticky and gross, right?? Its legs fold upwards- ack, that wasn't as comfortable as it thought it would be. Okay.
Then it'll just stand up. Yeah. It should've done that way sooner, really! It's... not sure it could get far, but it wanted to be anywhere but here right now. Literally anywhere.
When it got far enough- well, not that far- the other appeared at its side. Still not that close, despite trying to get it to stop, lest they get smacked or whipped (??? It really didn't know it could move that until it became useful, huh). But it was very clear in how persistent they were.
Shove. Flick. 'Lest' wasn't the right word for it, was it. More so... 'ending up'? There were already three times it had to defend its personal space while walking. Three times too many! Then the fourth and fifth came in quick succession, and it spun on its heel and hissed and scratched a little like a mantis striking its prey from afar. If it wasn't willing to kill it, then why not push its boundaries??
They seemed extra offended this time. It felt just a little bad about it, but come on, let it be!
It thinks they were making some sort of noise. Didn't hear... barely felt. Could see the movements. It thought that it was just mad about getting karma for bugging it, but...
...It didn't hear, but felt, a slight movement behind it. That slight movement, it didn't notice until now- how long was it ringing out for? That slight movement, slight, yes, but it... it reminds it, what was that little fact?
"Oh, yeah, y'know- you're gonna wanna hear this- y'know what ... told me earlier today?" What a way to get its attention. Fine, have at it, it'll even raise its head up to look directly at him. Even made a little 'hm?' at them.
"Yeah, she said that mountain lions have these cool paws that stop their footsteps from being heard? Like for being stealthy while hunting and stuff," He sounded excited. Sometimes they just started going on and on when they were excited. Not a bad thing- it was nice listening and turning its brain off for a second. "I think it's really cool, personally. Like, imagine if we had that power??"
It already knew that existed, though.
"I'd probably use it to sneak up on you and everybody else all the time." A pause. "Or ... 's dad. He sucks." They both laugh, his slightly overpowering its.
And mountain lions were big, weren't they?
...that slight movement, it felt, but couldn't hear, suddenly seemed a lot more dangerous now.
It turns back on its heel.
