You've Missed Mouthy

Soft Music

(Ben_Drowned's POV)

I'm giggling like a child, hissing through my teeth as we walk through the trees without distraction. I hover in the air above Mouthy as she navigates the paths expertly. She carries Hoody's back-pack, most of it's deflated and I can hear a muffled clang with every step she takes. I wheeze out another chuckle, trying to image what Jeff will look like when he figures out I snaked away all of his knives while he was sleeping. Or Jack's unapproving frown when he sees that I slipped away with his mask for a second time. Man, I should start pick-pocketing more often, this is fun. I could start stealing the candy that Laughing stashes away in his room, or hide all of Jane's undergarments in one of the kitchen drawers. Man, that'd be hilarious.

I laugh through my teeth again, continuing my quiet floating behind the grey proxy. She's not too bothered with me, nor does she care about the many blades in her pack. Mouthy is simply taking the quickest way back to the Elementary. I'm just the dead guy here for morel support, if that. We left the Mansion a couple hours ago, around midnight-ish. We were out the back door with our bag of goodies before anyone could say otherwise. How far are we going anyways?

"Hey Mouthless, you crawled from the Elementary to the Mansion in three days. Now that you're walking like your leg was never ripped open, how long to you think it'll take to get there?" I question, wanting to both know the answer and make some kind of conversation. She casts a glance at me through one of the black eye-holes of her mask, turning back to the path as her voice buzzes in her throat.

"Hopefully by tonight." She uses the sleeve of her jacket to wipe the sweat from the inside of her mask. Her voice spirals out a woman's sigh, before continuing. "No stops and we could be there before night."

"Well, I won't be complaining about snacks or potty-breaks so your plan is law." I smirk at her and she gives me a thumbs up in reply. It gets quiet again, and I watch as sweatmarks appear on Mouthy's hoodie, and a mischievous thought crosses my mind. "I know I have no room to complaining, but it's a little humid out here this morning don't you think? And if I'm feeling it, then you must be crazy uncomfortable in an outfit that covers every inch of skin. Why not take your mask or hoodie off, it might cool you down a bit." I chuckle, waiting for her to scoff or flip me off at my attempts to make her strip. But Mouthy doesn't react in any way, more or less ignoring my comment. I was hoping to get a little attitude from her, tease her, make her mad for a little entertainment. Nope, nothing at all. We just keep moving along an unmarked path.

I start letting my mind wander to the uncanny way the proxy follows an invisible path, aimed directly at a target and not caring about any river, tree, or weed that might get in her way. Crushing the tall grass without a care, the proxy flips her hood down and shakes her hair. She removes one of the straps of the backpack so that it flips around for her to open without bothering to stop walking. Pulling out a bottle of water, Mouthy unscrews the cap and pours some of the liquid on her head. It runs through her jagged locks and down her neck, darkening even more wet spots in the grey fabric of her hoodie. Most of the water builds up in the edges of her hood soaking it all around her collar, while her light sputtering tells me it's also dripped down her face. Proven by the lines of water tracing her jaw and neck to join the soaked collar in keeping her cool. Mouthy shakes her head again, spraying water on me like a wet dog would.

"Hey, hey! Keep the water to yourself." I swat away the oncoming shower of her hair-water, lifting higher into the air to be out of her range. Man, I hate water. Isn't it enough that I died in its grip, can't I be spared bathing while I'm dead?

This time it's Mouthy who chuckles, putting the bottle back into the bag and pulling the shoulder strap back into place. Without apologizing, she snickers like a child and continues walking. I lower myself down again, only after watching her flip her hood back over her uneven curls like usual. I brush my shoulders, pretending that I can get the water drops off of me, but I know there's no damage whatsoever. It's just a little quirk, like someone getting a phantom crawling sensation after seeing a spider crawl across the floor. Except, one man's spider is my water. Good thing I'm in my own head, because that wouldn't make any sense outside my mouth.

"Ben." Mouthy calls out to me, using a casual tone of a teenager. "Do you like music?" Her question seems odd, out of place, like nothing I'd expect her to ask, and I'm unsure how to reply to her trying to spark conversation.

"I haven't done a lot of jamming since I came to the Mansion, but I don't hate it." I flip over to hover on my back. "I guess that the O.S.T.'s of some video games are pretty cool. I like messing with the sound files every now and again."

"What games?" Mouthy presses, trekking through fallen leaves, hardly making a sound.

"I have a soft spot for the Legend of Zelda franchise. If my Hylian get-up wasn't a dead give away." I snicker at my own joke, going silent as I reminisce the first time I played the Majora's Mask game. Closing my eyes to recall the memory of entering my name into the save file, it was in all caps if I remember correctly. I smile and sigh. "Good times." The words leak from my lips without my consent, but whatever, the proxy can't read my mind so it's not like she'll know the level of nostalgia I'm feeling right now. I receive a curious glance from her though, she's probably picking up on my body language. So I recompose myself with a smirk. Mouthy turns around again, breathing in deeply, she starts to hum the bouncy tune that I recognized to be the title theme of the game my soul is bound to. Her throat imitating each chirping note that followed the scene of NPC villagers before the game even started. Whoa, I am a huge nerd. And without questioning how and why she knew it, I float quietly with my ear honed to the sound, listening intently. I guess I do like music, one day of this shouldn't be too bad.