Everyday Freak Of Science: Part 7

Everyday Freak of Science: part 7

(I, the author of this work, do not consent to this work being crossposted/translated without my knowledge or used to train an AI, ever.)

Masterlist

Jade pauses, considering his next words. His apparent brother, however, either doesn't realize that or doesn't care, because he interrupts.

"Blacktip reef shark? Why's one of them in here?"

Jade doesn't sigh, but Azul does. How peculiar, the speaker doesn't mind it but the witness does.

"I was getting there, dear brother. This particular blacktip reef shark has some... issues involving food. He cannot digest plant matter, but appears to have flashbacks when eating meat."

"Flashbacks? To what?"

"To whatever made him stop eating meat in the first place."

"He looks frail."

Well, that's pretty obvious- no need to say it out loud, Floyd! I'm changing the subject. Passive aggression sounds really appealing right about now, too. I'm doing both.

"Thanks!" I beam.

Floyd, Jade, and Azul now all look baffled, but Azul remains silent. The twins do not, and their shared confusion reflects in their voices.

"Eeh? What's Melanopte-chaaaan talkin' about?/What exactly do you mean by that?"

Yes! They've taken the bait.

"Oh, y'know... the strongest ones always died first. Never really lasted more than a week, poor things. Being too weak just meant ya never made it into your water- you'd just never live over an hour, and they wouldn't waste a tank on ya. But, frail? That's the sweet spot. We frail ones got to live."

I'm not really lying, exept in one regard: the strong ones didn't die. The researchers would preserve them and they'd end up with a bunch of machines around them, keeping them alive and totally out of it. I don't feel like explaining that, though, so I summed it up as "died."

Jade is looking away. I saw him nod. Floyd, however, is staring right at me. I stare back, but only into his left eye- that encounter with Jade has taught me my lesson about looking Leeches in the yellow one.

Finally, Floyd asks me the question I've been waiting to hear: "What the fuck are you talking about?"

I grin. He's swallowed the lure, too.

"The lab I was made in."

Uncomfortable scilence. One second, two seconds, four. Five draws into six draws into seven draws into eight- still, nobody dares speak or move. Twelve seconds. Thirteen. Floyd's eyes dart around the room, fliting from me to Jade and back again. Behind the nervous, teal-haired boy, Azul blinks. The stillness settles back over the room. Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty seconds, and nobody dares break this suffocating scilence.

Twenty-two. Twenty-three. An off-putting twenty-five. Azul inhales deeply and resumes his quiet, shallow breaths. Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty. I can feel Jade's eyes darting around the room. My gaze sharpens. Thirty seconds of this, and all three of them have willingly kept it going. Minimal interruptions, and it's only growing longer. Thirty-eight, thirty-nine... Forty.

How odd. Humans hate scilence, do these ones love it? Peculiarities, all three of them. Forty-two, forty-three, forty-four... We're approaching a minute now, and not one of these three unusual people has break it for any longer than a second. Fifty. Fifty-one. Fifty-two. Floyd is glaring at me now. Fifty-four. Fifty-five. Just five seconds more, and it'll have been a minute.

Five. Four. Three. Two. One. At long last, the scilence is shattered, a voice that surprises me with the anxiety and fear behind it practically echoing in the small room.

"Jade, what the hell is he talking about?"

I suppress a laugh. Floyd sounds downright terrified. He's talking quickly and staring right at his brother, but does not twitch. Interesting.

Jade stands. I am suddenly supporting my own weight, and the unexpectedness of that leads to me kneeling on the floor for a quick second before standing on my own two legs. Let's pretend I didn't try to stand so fast I fell.

"Well..." Jade leans in and starts whispering in his brother's ear. I can't catch much, but the words "issue" and "experiment" are easy enough to pick out of the conversation.

"Oh, okay." Floyd sounds a little defeated now. I guess it's an improvement from "scared," at least for him. "Why don't'cha just try cooking it? I'll go and make something right now!"

Before I can properly register what he just said, the exited twin is out of the room. The door slams behind him. Jade sighs and turns to me.

"Regarding your eating disorder: is the taste the problem?"

"Uh... good question. Never thought about it." As embarrassing as it is (not much) to admit, it's true.

Jade closes his eyes and contemplates. As soon as he's done that, they're open again and there's a piece of salmon on his fork. I notice that one of the cutting tentacles is gone- did Floyd eat it, or did I just miscount them to start? Maybe I'm going insaner. Is that even a word? Case in point, I guess.

Azul sits next to me. "I take it you've never worked at a café before?"

I think back. Part of my puphood was media- anime, movies, books, even the occasional podcast. They were used for many things- teaching me, testing me, entertaining me- sometimes it was all three. Those days were fun.

"I'll take that as a no. Do you know how cafés work?"

Oh, that's right, I'm talking to Azul. "There were a lot of shows and books... I think, around half had a café of some sort. I've always thought they looked cool."

Secretly, I've always wanted to live in one. When I was really little, I thought café workers lived in their shops, sleeping in an unknown place in the back. When I got older, I was shown a book about a woman who got a job at a café, and that got cleared up. Still, my little fantasy remained.

Azul does the "pay attention to me" throat noise that humans make when they want people to listen to what they're trying to say. "Well, you're going to need training. Jade and Floyd will handle that, but you do need to pay attention, okay? You can't learn it if you don't try."

I nod. "Okay."

The door opens. Jade walks in, small, clear glass of water in hand. I didn't see him leave. Back in the lab, people leaving was just one of those things I learned to ignore.

He takes the fork from the plate, drops the salmon in, and stirs. I watch, entranced, and Azul pushes his glasses up on his nose.

He holds the glass up to my lips. "Try this." I obey.

An experiment, something different, to see if I'll eat on my own-

Jade is shaking me by my shoulders. My voice- I'm yelling, shouting for help. "Calm down, calm down. You're okay. Look around. See where you are?"

Jade sounds calm and collected, and I focus on his voice. Firm, but kind. I use that to ground myself.

"I-I... I think I'm okay now."

The door opens again. I freeze, momentarily failing to recognize the boy in the doorway as not-a-fake-Jade. However, my mind is pulled away from that as soon as I realize Floyd is carrying a plate with the cuttlefish tentacle and some sort of sauce on top, obscuring its shape.

"Here ya go!" His voice is cheery, uncharacteristic of the room and its vibe. It's a little nice, to be honest.

I take the plate and Jade hands me a fork. When I poke at the sauce, it reveals the tentacle to be darker than it was before.

Floyd grins. His teeth are slightly thinner than my own. "I grilled it."

Distantly, I hear Azul tell the twins they're going to be training me. He sounds like he's in the next room over- I'm too busy staring at the plate.

...Can I bring myself to eat this?

Hello! I need medication for life to prevent my lungs from collapsing, this implies permanent treatment with steroids, oxygen therapy, control of oxygen in the blood and antibiotics to prevent the development of bacteria in the lungs.

I'm afraid I have to insist on this because it may be the only way to get my treatment.

I need medication for life to keep my lungs from collapsing, this costs around $700 per month.

Things are really tough on me,I can’t afford. Please donate🖤

That is tragic, and I hope you get the treatment you need. The US health system really sucks, doesn't it? Also, congrats on being my first ask!

...Anyway, why did you send this to a fanfic blog? You didn't even include a link.

"What if Yuu didn't want to go back" is now officially off hiatus!

Thank you for waiting!

This is going to tie into two separate games: Twisted Wonderland and Project SEKAI. Trigger warnings: mentions of death, wanting to dissappear, abuse, manipulation, implied suicide. Jeez, that's a lot.

I'm going to talk about, specifically, Asahina Mafuyu (Yuki) and Riddle Rosehearts. There's a lot of similarities. It doesn't seem like that at first, but bear with me here.

In pjsk, we are first introduced to Mafuyu as a cheery, kind, agreeable, and helpful person. Her voice has emotion, but something's off. And you can't tell.

In contrast, the audience's first impression of Riddle is akin to that of a strict, controlling force, who opposes our poor prefect's shiny new friends.

And there's no way you'd think them alike if you don't look past that. If you skip all the stories and ignore Riddle's overblot and Mafuyu's trained card art. Because that's the point. It's not supposed to be obvious. You're supposed to view Mafuyu as "normal" and Riddle as "annoying" and never look closer.

Exept, you are supposed to look closer. You're supposed to squint at them and put them under a magnifying glass. And there's some genius in Mafuyu in particular- in pjsk, each group's main story starts with the group leader's backstory. Mafuyu is not a group leader. We don't start with a glimpse of her past. We start with her facade.

Mafuyu pretends. Her cheery face and higher-pitched voice are forced, and she is miserable. And when do we see that? When it's too late. When Mafuyu tries to dissappear into a world made of her emotions, a world so barren it's literally called "the Empty SEKAI."

Because Mafuyu doesn't know who she is. Because she's being abused. Riddle is in the same scenario.

Both of them have helicopter moms who try and control every aspect of their lives. Riddle's mom succeeded- and that's where their differences originate. Mafuyu rebels. She joined an anonymous online music group to vent and try and learn who she is without her mother's interference. Hell, she helped start it. That group started as two people, and she was one of them.

Riddle, on the other hand, gave in. He became an extension of his mother, of his abuser, and realizing that drove him to overblot. That desperation to emulate her was programmed into him by years of having no will of his own.

And yet, Mafuyu fought. She fought, and things got worse, and, as of writing this, her arc of escaping her abusive, overcontrolling household is Nightcord at 25:00(the music group she helped form)'s main arc, and it has yet to be resolved.

Mafuyu struggles. She doesn't know who she is. Her mother doesn't want her to learn, she wants her to be a perfect little honor student who becomes a doctor and studies all the time. Riddle's mom wanted that too, in a son- and she got it.

Riddle doesn't know who he is, either. After his overblot, he confesses: he never liked being an extension of his mother, but he suffered through it. He followed every rule, got every point, and he was in pain. In a way, he's lucky. At some point or another, that would've killed him.

And, when Riddle learned, he rebelled, too. Even before he knew, he fought because autonomy is critical to a child's healthy development, and they will always want to seek it eventually. He fought because he needed to. Otherwise, I doubt he'd've survived his freshman year at NRC. All those tarts, all forbidden... He'd've done what Mafuyu tried.

Riddle gave in. He gave in, and it killed him. He and Mafuyu are two sides of the same, ruined coin. One is being more actively molded and resisting, and the other only just became aware.

We see their development. In the Twilight Festa event, we see Mafuyu learn that she genuinely enjoys helping people. In book 2, we see Riddle run in the hallways to catch a rule-breaker. Riddle's progress is way subtler: he only just started trying to find himself. Mafuyu has a head start.

And... in a way, they're one and the same. They are lost bodies, searching for their souls. And I hope they both succeed.

In the end, they are both misfortunate children.

And, in a way, aren't we all?

You’ve come to the right person.

SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 5 AND 6

Oh man Rook Hunt? He’s so mood, haha. One half of me really like him as a character because he’s so outlandish. Man practically worships Vil for his beauty, stalks students to know them, and loves a lot of things that other characters take for granted. Even though he is in Pomefiore, he focuses a lot more on others without neglecting himself.

If I was more over-the-moon for Rook, I would kin him completely… except for the stalking, since that is weird. I’ve been stalked before in real life and it isn’t fun, trust me.

Bbbuuutt this is fiction. We know the motives behind Rook’s attitude even though other characters don’t. He’s also extremely funny, lol. I find his sense of style and his actions very humorous, and that only adds to his charm. If he were real, I feel as if he and I would be able to talk about each others interests so genuinely. I’d also be able to joke with him well!

Spoilers ~~~~~~~~~~

This is a buffer sentence.

I also find the fact that he comes from Savanaclaw very interesting. It would explain why he’s so good at being a hunter in nature, and being Le Chasseur D’Armour (The Hunter of Love) for multiple interesting folks. It makes me wonder about the geographical and sociology that enables people from the Afterglow Savannah (Sunset Savanna for the EN folks) to be sensitive to sounds, sights, and smells.

After all, Rook isn’t a… what’s the name? He isn’t like Ruggie, Leona, or Jack, who have deeply interwoven animal traits. He’s human (I think), which makes his biological data more interesting.

Oh man, and when he went to the Island of Woe (IoW) to see how he could get Vil back to Night Raven College (NRC), he cleverly uses his social patterns to get in. I believe I looked him up on a website called TVTropes (a wonderful place to see all the tropes that different movies, series, and characters have. It’s an AMAZING website, I highly recommend taking a look), and it explained why he did what he did.

By disguising his real motive as wanting to give Vil his beauty products (so that he would continue being beautiful), he managed to get himself, Epel, and the MC into S.T.Y.X. His actions are so outlandish, but fitting to his character that Ortho and Idia capture them instead of eliminating them or whatever. It’s something only Rook would do.

And that is SO FASCINATING!

Chapter 5 was one of my least-liked chapters. However, it was still a catalyst to diving into Pomefiore as a whole. Rook usurps the expectations that the audience has for them, especially when dealing with Vil before his overblot. Man was going to DRINK that damn liquid that would have KILLED Neige to 1. Express how much he wanted to believe that Vil wouldn’t do such a thing and 2. So he can risk getting a taste for poisonous fruits.

Rook literally admires Vil’s beauty first before jumping to action upon the danger that his overblot indicates.

HE ADMIRES VIL’S OVERBLOT!

HOW CRAZY IS THIS MAN?!?!?

He also does ballet! SLAY KING ballet is SO HARD!

This is also a buffer sentence.

Spoilers End! ~~~~~~~~

I love seeing how Rook ticks, like how he loves seeing how others do. He would SO be either a psychologist or get into the beauty industry, if not into a job that enables him to ‘hunt’ others better. ROOK HAS SUCH A FLEXIBILITY TO HIM THAT IT DRIVES ME NUTS JUST THINKING ABOUT HOW COMPLEX HE IS!

Then there’s the other half.

It’s a lot more selfish and deeply connected to my desire to know and be known. It’s extremely hard for me to trust people (especially in our day and age) because the world is so corrupted. My mother would tell me about how children would run in the streets unattended because they were safe. Parents would take care of kids from different families. They let them walk lengths to school without worry.

But it’s so distrustful now.

You don’t see children running around anymore in droves. Lots of people don’t show care for others anymore (not only because they might not care, but if they do care, it’ll be seen as creepy). I go walk alone in DAYTIME and fear that a car might hit me, or I’ll get assaulted somehow. I can’t even fully trust my own friends and family because you just never know what they might do.

I can’t even think about getting into dating because if I don’t balance taking it seriously and feeling the emotions, I’ll most definitely be taken advantage of. The idea of a partner is exciting, but thinking about how it might apply to me is terrifying. I wouldn’t be able to do it.

Which is why I feel so close to Rook, both as someone I would be and as a character.

As a fictional character that I hyperfixiated on, I know a LOT about him and his motives. I can predict how he would be. I don’t know his entire history or syllabus, or what his next action might be sometimes, but I know and love Rook for everything that he is.

The best part is that he would most likely do the same for me, just because of how he acts generally. He would desire to KNOW me like I know him now.

I could see Rook gathering so much intel on me that it’s not funny. He would see how I act, and why I act the way I do. He’d know what I like to do, what I don’t. He’d know what gifts to get me, know what I would need, even before I tell him.

He’d be such a great friend, and if it comes down to it, an even lovelier boyfriend. We share the same desire to know, and sharing those interests together is… it reaches into my very being and pulls something out.

We both admire beauty in things that others might not see. We’d both admire the clouds in the sky. We could both people-watch together to pick apart what makes people who they are. We’d write poems and fawn about the structure of them, the diction. Maybe he’d teach me about makeup, or I could teach him about origami.

I desire to know about him. I desire to be known. Knowing Rook, he would share that same deep desire to see, to think, and to know.

If there’s anyone that I could even fathom trusting with my life, it would be Rook. Sharing each other’s personalities and needs in a way that I don’t have to worry about in real life.

TLDR: Rook is a fascinating character. He has a kooky personality, funny attitude-style, and very interesting history. There’s a lot of traits he has that, when they come together, makes Rook a fascinating character to study. He’s complex. I both relate to him and want to be with him because of who he is.

And those are my thoughts on Rook Hunt.

Now, let me turn that question onto you, @mentallyshattered. Who is one of your favorite characters? What are your thoughts on them?

If y’all want to rant about a character too, feel free! This isn’t only for Shattered.

Everyday Freak of Science: part 4

(I, the author of this work, do not consent to this work being crossposted/translated without my knowledge or used to train an AI, ever.)

Masterlist

I can't sleep. I'm not used to having to lull myself away, after all- back in the lab, sleepless nights were thwarted with drugs, lightly dispensed into my tank until I was away and dreaming. This is different. I thought the lack of machines I'm hooked up to would make it easier to sleep.

Sigh. I should just get up and change- that's what my roommate's done, after all.

Okay, this outfit... looks great! The gold on the lapels of the jacket, the pale blue vest thing, the comfy pants- oh, I might need to take another potion soon.

The door opens quietly.

"Requiem, I've brought your potion and breakfast. If this is not enough, then you are free to get more portions from the dorm lounge- or the Monstro Lounge, if you have the funds."

"Uh, thank you, Jade."

Oh, thank the higher-ups! He has my potion. And, even better- there's algae on my plate! What a relief. I don't want to eat meat- it's never just been on my tongue, always getting forced into me by a scientist.

I don't want to think about that, so I'll just drink the potion and eat the algae. The potion is surprisingly savory, with a tiny hint of sweet, and the algae is terrible, but it's not meat- not that horrible taste and texture that make me gag, that were always forced down my throat because I could never bring myself to eat them.

Trauma. That's the word. I stopped eating one day, and then I was force-fed, and then I never wanted to eat again. It was always meat.

Admittedly, the reason it was always meat was an excellent one. I can't digest plant matter, though I don't know if that's a species thing or a lab creation thing.

Ugh. I should go and eat.

Ooh, this place is nice! The lighting is ambient, it's not too bright, and there's a big table of food. Sea grasses, algae, and the dreaded crustaceans, fish, and seagull all line the table, piled high atop shiny plates.

I'm not taking any meat. In fact, I'm here to return some. Sure, I can't gain from the plants, but I'm not someone who likes eating meat. I should be, but I'm not.

Whatever. The mullet slides onto the plate easily enough, and nobody saw. I don't need to eat much anyway, right? If I just try, I'll be fine, even with an empty stomach.

Even if it's false, I'm still going to dream.

Okay, I should meet with Azul to discuss my phone. That's a good distraction. Where is that office?..

"Hello, Melanopterus. Is there something you need?"

"Phone."

"Ah, but of course! Here you are. I doubt you'll have time to set it up before class, though... You'll probably have to manage that after or during dinner."

"Alright, thank you."

I ought to go to class.

First period is tiring. My lack of sleep makes it ever-worse, as does my empty stomach. I faint, at some point- my rescuer, the boy who carries me to the nurse's office, is very, very loud. Sebek, he calls himself, but I imagine many call him boisterous. His voice booms. Nevertheless, he carries me to safety, unprompted.

Second period is boring. I remain conscious only by doodling in the margins of the notebook Jade so kindly left on my nightstand this morning, with a pencil he so kindly left with it.

Third period is fascinating. Though I fight it the whole way through, I can still feel nausea building up in my abdomen. I harness that, turning it into focus on the given tasks. Learning about the Sea Witch is more than enough to keep me from going to the nurse, though.

And then, lunch. I'm terrified, to be honest- what if Jade realizes I can't eat plants? What if Azul insists I eat lunch with him to set up my phone?

Oh, no. The nausea is stronger now, stronger now that I can smell the food. Meat- lots of it. I want to eat some, and I want it as far away from me as possible- biology versus psychology, and I can't win.

Turtle grass. I'll take some of that. I was never fed that in the lab. It tastes like something inedible, and it technically is, but I don't care-

Oh, no. The nausea is too much, I'm going to vomit, I need a bathroom, where's the bathroom? I can't keep this down. I can't. Is it here?

I burst into a stall, slam the stall door shut behind me, and release my breakfast and lunch into the water. Gross. But, hey, I feel a little better now.

Crap. I'm hungry again. It's more plant matter or meat. I don't want either one, but I'll go for the pants anyway- what's that sound? Heels clacking on linoleum.

"Requiem." Jade's voice is calm, with an underlying current of barely restrained anger. "What are you doing?"

"N-nothing, Jade, I just, um." He's looking down at me like I'm prey and he's predator. "I-I got nauseous during P.E. a-and it got worse when I ate. That's all."

"Look me in the eye, Requiem." He closes his right eye, leaving only the yellow one for me to stare into. "There we go. Shock the Heart."

Something overtakes me. What is this strange sensation? I feel idle- empty, but in a calm sort of way. It's...pretty comfortable, actually. I could get used to this.

"Why did you throw up?"

My voice speaks without me. For a moment, a brief moment, a surge of panic washes through me- I don't want to answer- and then it is calmed into nothing, washed away with the waves that exist only within me.

"I cannot digest what I have eaten."

Jade's gaze looks disapproving. "What did you eat?"

Again, my voice goes on without me, and the momentary wave of panic flows away as quick as it comes. "I had algae for breakfast, and turtle grass for lunch."

"What can you digest?"

"Meat."

He takes my face in his hands, pulling me into a standing position. "Why didn't you eat the mullet I brought you?"

"I don't want to eat meat."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to."

The spell dissapates. I remain, still and staring into his eye, for another second. Then, he moves.

"Come with me."

His hand is clamped around my wrist, and I have no choice but to do as he says.

Everyday Freak of Science: part 6

(I, the author of this work, do not consent to this work being crossposted/translated without my knowledge or used to train an AI, ever.)

Masterlist

"Azul, calm yourself. I can explain."

"You better, Jade," Azul starts up, "because doing what it sounds like you're doing is not something I am willing to tolerate."

"Mister Melanopterus has not been eating things he can digest. Upon realizing what he was doing, I took the matter into my own hands. Evidently, I misjudged something."

"Misjudged something?"

The housewarden sighs. "Misjudged what?"

Jade starts petting my hair. It's a nice sensation, and I allow myself to relax into his soft, comforting touch. "What additional affects there may be aside from a dislike of edible food that could cause an apex predator to starve themself."

"Rephrase that."

"I failed to consider that what could have made a blacktip reef shark intentionally avoid eating meat would also affect them when eating properly."

"Dumb it down, Jade."

Jade sighs. "Whatever causes an individual to avoid eating edible food must be traumatic to have that effect. Traumatic events tend to have multiple effects, and food-related traumatic events are bound to cause problems when eating. If these problems are significant enough, the individual may starve themselves. I only saw the starving part, and failed to consider that its cause was significant issue when eating correctly."

Jade then tilts his head. "I was under the impression that you were intelligent enough to understand me the first time. You usually are- has something changed?"

Azul fixes his glasses, sounding only a little annoyed now. "No. In fact, I did understand you the first time, but the noise means we are almost certainly going to have to fill out an incident report, and I don't trust Crowley to understand sentences of that complexity. Do not tell anyone I said that- and that goes for you both."

Jade and I nod before I shove my head back into the wall of muscle that is this triangle-toothed boy.

"Requiem. How do you feel?"

"I'm fine now, Jade."

"Jade? Jaaaaaaade? Where did you go?" The voice on the other side of the door is clearly annoyed, and apparently belongs to someone who's looking for Jade.

The doorknob turns and clicks a bit. I'm hit with the realization that the door is locked. Whoever's on the other side keeps trying for a few minutes, but soon gets bored and goes back to shouting for Jade.

...At least, that's what I think they do. Instead, just a few retreating footsteps later, the voice audibly grins. "Juuust kidding! I know you're in there, Jaaaade."

With that, the door opens. I can't see who comes through, but I can hear his conversation with Azul.

"Floyd! You know you aren't supposed to break things!"

"Eeh? I didn't break anything."

"Then what are you holding?"

"...A doorknob."

"My doorknob! To this room! Fix that right now!"

"Okaaay, octy-chan."

"And don't call me that!"

Jade stands up. I stand with him, keeping my face buried in his school uniform jacket and my arms wrapped tight around his waist. Before I can properly register what's going on, a hand threads into my hair.

"Be gentle." Jade's voice.

Entirely disregarding that, I am then yanked away from the person I've been clinging on to, and realize I am face-to-face with what looks like a fake Jade. This imposter doesn't fool me, though- his piercing is on the wrong side, and his eye colors are swapped from those of the real Jade. The streak of black in his otherwise teal hair is on the wrong side, and his eyes are tilted downwards instead of up.

So, naturally, I do the first thing anyone in my situation would do: bare my teeth, cling on to Jade harder with one arm, and sucker punch the fake with the other.

"Excuse me!" Azul shouts immediately when he registers that I've socked someone, clearly not realizing there's a fake Jade in the room. "Don't!"

The imposter's previously carefree expression quickly shifts to one of barely-restrained rage, and then Jade- the real Jade- talks.

"Floyd, don't. Requiem, for future reference, that was a terrible idea."

"Jade, he's impersonating you!"

"What?"

"Floyd" bursts out laughing, as does Azul. Jade is still too suprised-looking to react for a few moments, but he soon joins the other two with quiet snickers that soon become manic laughter. Only I am left utterly baffled by whatever the fuck is going on here.

"I apologize, this is entirely unprofessional." I can hardly make out his words; he's laughing so hard. Azul apologizing isn't what I expected; I more thought the fake would have to say sorry.

What if this fake Jade got caught and turned over a new leaf? Maybe then they gave him a name of his own- a middle-aged white guy's name, as punishment. That might make sense.

Well, only one way to find out!

"So you named your doppelganger, Jade?"

The three of them laugh harder. I'm pretty sure Jade is struggling to breathe, and, given that he's still holding me, I can't really breathe as well as I usually can, either. Then again, I'm on land, and I normally can't breathe on land at all.

For what feels like days, the three of them just laugh. Then, finally, Azul stops laughing for long enough to stop entirely, recompense himself, and talk.

"There is no imposter. The supposed doppelganger is Jade's twin brother, Floyd Leech. I take it the two of you have not met?"

Oh. Twins? That... makes a lot of sense. They must be fraternal- identical twins would surely have identical eyes, not mirrored in color and different in tilt. They look extremely similar for fraternal, though...

"Ah, they have now. As if anyone could impersonate me..." Jade says the last part very quietly, but I still hear. Big whoop, I was clinging on to him for dear life just an hour ago. Probably. These three were laughing for way too long, and I have a horrid sense of time. I'm not sure why.

Maybe this place has a library with psychology books...I'll check later.

"Ahaha! Good ol' Jade. Nee, why's this blackie-tip in here? Tryin' to scare me?" Floyd leans right into my face, triangular teeth on display. Most humans would probably fear him in my situation. However, I am no human. The nonshark DNA within my every cell was handcrafted, bit by bit, and added to a shark embryo, cell by cell. I was their greatest achievement. Their 18th lab's pride and joy, alive without machine assistance since March 16, sixteen years ago.

"Firstly, dear brother, this is a blacktip reef shark. Secondly..."

Something I don't like settles in my gut. How could I forget? All I've kept down is a single cuttlefish tentacle.

Crap. It's going to be a while.