forward-dated to August 1st - un: j.griffin

[onebetter]

Three things:

A.) If anyone needs me, don't bother with my room. I'm in the infirmary, by Keith's bed. As some of you may know he and Ruby have fallen comatose after we went on an ill-advised mission to the Outlands. Please keep them in your thoughts.

B.) Is anyone here good with amphibians? I'm not comfortable leaving Keith's bedside, but I have a friendly glow toad who might need a little water fun from time to time. If you want to play with a toad, feed him some more toad-appropriate food than 'a quarter of my sandwiches', etc... I'd appreciate it.

Here he is. [ Image Attachment: Sir.png. Desk included for scale. ]

C.) Hope everyone is having a good summer. If you want to tell me about it, I could use the distraction.

Action Option

[ If you want to just directly come see James in the infirmary, absolutely feel free to! He'll be reliably in there until August 4th - that's the day Keith wakes up and he starts sleeping in his own room again. ]

Comments

[onebetter]

[ Sir very appreciatively hops into the mini-pond and turns pink. James takes the granola bar meanwhile and if he had the power to also express his feelings by changing skin color, he'd likely be pink as well. ]

I... hadn't even thought about eating. You're a lifesaver.

[ Most people at this school have been through incredible emergencies, but for James this is a first time experience of a prolonged horror scenario. He's not used to coping. ]

Do the cranes have a meaning? I remember them from your past, too....

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya's also more used to being on the other side of this... it gives him more sympathy for his mother, to see someone else like this.

He leans over to peer at the now pink Sir, until James speaks up and he looks over his shoulder.]

Oh--that? [He points at the crane.] It's like... a fortune for good health, or luck. There's a story that if you fold a thousand of them, then a miracle will come true.

[He scratches his cheek.] It just seemed comforting.

[onebetter]

Oh, that's a nice tradition. We don't have anything like that in the USA. We just bring flowers, which seems pretty boring in comparison.

[ James has absolutely no clue about the cultures of any other countries and he's never in his life put effort into learning there, but hearing these things from friends is nice and uplifting. He smiles weakly and bites into the granola bar. ]

Also the pink mean he's happy, I'm pretty sure by now.

[hippocarnival]

[He supposes it's nice, though, he's never thought that deeply about it. It's comforting just knowing someone else is thinking of you and wanting the best.]

Does he turn other colors? [Blue for sad, maybe? Yuya reaches hesitantly to try and stoke the top of Sir's head with his finger.]

[onebetter]

[ Sir lets this happen very calmly, still pink and very content to be soaking. ]

Yeah, a bunch of them. I haven't figured out all the meanings yet. You'd think that a creature that has chameleon-like abilities would use them to blend in instead of being an amphibian mood ring, but.... Guess things are different in the Outlands.

[hippocarnival]

Maybe he turns invisible when he's afraid. [Look, it's the Outlands, anything can happen.]

Are you keeping him?

[onebetter]

[ That'd be good news because James would have never seen him afraid. Toadkeeping successes! ]

Yeah. Keith... [ he glances at his sleeping boyfriend ] ... he got him for me when he went to the Outlands earlier in summer. I still don't actually know why a toad, but he's growing on me.

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya spares a glance to Keith.] I guess he attracts things out there, huh? Maybe it's his calling.

[Raising Outland pets... could be a worse calling.]

[onebetter]

I don't think he actually leaves the creatures a lot of choice.

[ James laughs but only very briefly. It feels soothing and good to talk about Keith casually, but at the same time there is something profoundly off about teasing Keith at his bedside while he lays comatose... ]

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya's going to take that as a joke, and not that Keith is forcefully taking animals from their homes.]

You're close, right?

[onebetter]

.... yeah. We... we actually started going out after the Herald battle.

[ It still feels a little weird to say out loud, but they had agreed that on-campus it's not a secret. ]

[hippocarnival]

Oh... oh! [His brows raise in surprise. He'd just assumed... but he always just assumes, and lets people assume about him.]

Then there's no way he can't wale up with you waiting for him.

[onebetter]

He could hurry up with it, if you ask me, but being difficult has always been his specialty.

[ And that's totally why James paid attention to him in the first place, but bad life choices aren't for debate here. ]

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya's expression twists wryly. He knows the type. He kind of is the type, so he sure doesn't blame James.]

... I could teach you how to make one, if you want. [He gestures.] A crane.

[It's hard, watching and feeling like you can't do anything but wait.]

[onebetter]

[ James blinks, somehow surprised by the offer. Despite having had the tradition explained to him, the idea of partaking hadn't yet crossed his mind. ]

I'd like that, really. Doing something like reading feels... inattentive. It'd be nice to have something to do that relates back to watching over him.

[hippocarnival]

Okay, one second! [Yuya moves around to go pester one of the nurses by the desk.

He returns with two books for them to work on, and sheets of paper. He sits on the floor next to James instead of pulling over another chair, and starts folding two pieces so he can tear them down to a square shape.

Once the proper shape, he smooths them out and offers a book and paper to James.] Here you go.

[onebetter]

[ James takes them readily, laying them out on his knees as he looks down to what Yuya is doing. ]

Alright, I am ready, Mr. Sakaki. Impart wisdom on me.

[ The levity in his tone is a little forced, but he is very focused on the task at hand. ]

[hippocarnival]

[Yuya grins, pressing his hands together before he starts on the first crease.] First, you fold this side over like this. It's important you get a really neat crease.

[He's moving slowly too, to make sure he provides the best example for James about how it should turn out.]

[onebetter]

[ James is a natural at.... folding papers into a single neat crease. This is probably not actually brag-worthy, but at least it means he follows the instructions quickly and smoothly. ]

Got it.

[hippocarnival]

[James is the ideal student, so it probably goes smoothly wit Yuya verbally and visually leading James through the steps of making a paper crane.

Once they're both done done, he leans over to put his on the desk next to the one he brought for Keith.] It looks good!

[onebetter]

[ This was... fun. It's nice to work with your hands and clear your head. James is actually smiling proudly when they're finished, admiring his work. ]

Looks like I'm a natural, heh. Keith is going to have a lot of questions when he wakes up covered in cranes.

[hippocarnival]

Maybe you can teach him how to make them, too. [Spread them around!! Or maybe this is too fanciful for Keith, but Yuya thinks the thought matters.]

[onebetter]

I can certainly try. Maybe keeping busy will stop him from trying to escape the infirmary early....