Awakening

[notsosou]

Who: Shin Tsukimi and Anyone
When: July 2nd
What: Opening Post!
Warnings: None as yet.

Shin’s arrival to Yogen is heralded by a slam as he sharply closes his locker and dizzily leans against it while two sets of memories jostle each other. He gathers himself enough to glance around, grab his jacket, and lock it, mind furiously racing as he puts it on and tries to process how he is here. The raw relief flooding through him is turning sour at the immediate possibilities that come to mind.

A: School Life (Day, Misc)
Shin… keeps going to classes he half-remembers, eyeing any non-human-looking students he sees. He feels exposed (and also mundanely chilly) without his scarf and beanie, and his hands keep drifting to the empty space of either. When classes end he returns to his locker, puts them on and pockets the items inside, before trying to leave through the front doors and finding he… can’t. Ah. So that’s how it is. You can catch him in such states as staring at the School Rules with an unreadable expression, at one of the vending machines with more of a debating one, or in one of the classrooms sitting with his elbows on a desk and his hands tugging his beanie down over his head.

B: Washing Day (Evening)
So it turns out one of the side effects of dumping a bag of dirt out inside a locker is that everything in that locker... becomes covered in dirt. So if you go into one of the bathrooms after 6PM you may see the strange sight of someone in a dirt-dusted purple jacket not-so-gently washing their clothes in one of the sinks with half his face buried into the similarly adorned scarf around his neck, because as furtive as he’s been about waiting for one to be empty it’s just a bathroom and people can just walk in. Ask him how his day is going.

C: Safety In Numbers (Night)
At this point you may see Shin file quietly into whichever room seems to have the most people in it and sit down in a corner or seat. Somewhere he has a good view of the room; if you catch him looking at you he’ll give you a polite smile and glance away, fiddling with his scarf. He’s exhausted, and his head will occasionally dip and jolt back upright as his body tries to collect the day’s debt.
Believe it or not this is him starting to try out that ‘trust’ thing again… or maybe it’s just there’s no dorm rooms he can lock. Baby steps.

Comments

[notsosou]

[Shin starts to wonder if this guy is cursed when he spots the knife shaking. He buries his hand in his scarf rather than try to catch it, because he's learnt that much. Then he gets distracted, because oh no.]

I don't think locker mushrooms would taste good, Komaeda.

[Yes he heard about those. How do you even manage that? If anyone can it's Komaeda. Please do not soup them. He has no idea about Rokkun's tree.]

I'll check the fridge.

[The meat is off limits, but maybe there's something else in there... even though the soup is probably just fine on it's own. As he moves over he takes a stab at leaning and putting his hand down with the aim of pinning the knife to the table by the handle.]

[commences]

( as shin makes his way over, komaeda watches what he does, noticing the way he messes with the knife, and he blinks curiously at him like he doesn't understand the method to his madness. he could say something like "what was the point", but that would be rhetorical, he thinks, because it feels like he should already know. rather than point it out, komaeda shakes the can in his hand to act like it's been his main concern. )

It's been tedious to find a use for them, but if you'd rather pass... that's understandable.

( they're edible, shin just has to stop rejecting already made food when komaeda himself shouldn't make food — well, he's going to go do it now as he walks to the drawers, opening a few so he can find a can-opener to use. once he finds one, he looks around for a pot so he can pour the substance inside — a pinkish-brown color, thick with different vegetables and meat stored inside. )

Would you want omurice on the side... If you see eggs inside, that's a good start.

( last time he made rice, it was made with maggots, but maybe komaeda will be luckier this time around? )

[notsosou]

[Heeeeeee's just going to slide that knife into his jacket pocket, don't mind him. Will this cause continuity issues later? Honestly it's entirely in keeping for him to ask for someone else to lend him theirs when he already has one.]

I can't really handle them much anyway... maybe you could fry them?

[If Komaeda wants to eat his own locker mushrooms Shin isn't going to stop him. That's on him. Shin is blissfully unaware of the maggot rice and therefore exactly just how much danger he's in. He lifts his head over the fridge door.]

Is there a rice cooker? [The words of a man who has had to put a smoking pot of charcoal rice in the sink at least once. He steps back and kicks the fridge door shut with his hands full of egg carton. Somehow this is happening. He squints at the packaging. They looked like normal eggs...] These look like they're in date at least...

[commences]

I think I used a pot with Rokkun last time... I can't remember, but it doesn't matter as long as it's edible, right...?

( he questions, grabbing another pot, and a singular pan for them to use and sets it on top of the stove beside the one that has the chowder inside. walking to the sink, he turns on the faucet as clear water (to him, but probably pinkish in shin's eyes) pours out, and he grabs a cup to fill it to the rim so that he can bring it back to the pot to pour inside. the water simmers a little, bubbling on the surface to show that the heat is doing its job. )

...Three will be enough.

( he thinks, reaching out to pick out one, two, and then three into his hand as he sets it down on the counter in front of him. )

Tsukimi-kun, are you a third year, or a second year?

( first year is out of the question when komaeda asks, and he just doubts the other would even be in the same year as him. god isn't that cruel, but it does make him curious all the same. )

[notsosou]

Yeah, exactly. [He's had that thought before (often preceding regret but shhh). The slightly pinkish water wigs him out, but Komaeda is just casually using it... if it's for something he's also going to eat then it's... probably not outright poison, right? Right?? Maybe he should avoid eating the omurice just to be safe.]

Aha, I'm a third year, apparently. [He places the carton back in the fridge and does the awkward slouching around of someone with nothing to do in a kitchen where someone is cooking for a bit before hopping up on one of the benches to sit crosslegged on the edge of it.] What about you?

[commences]

( you know how dementia works, he hears one thing, ignores it, moves onto something else when shin asks him what year he is. there's no reason to talk about komaeda, actually, nothing important behind his efforts, or his reasons, just walking around avoiding people, things like that. )

That means you're closer to graduation...

( he thinks of rokkun who is also... a third year... who also almost didn't make it. despite it being a sad memory, komaeda doesn't let any remorse slip into his voice. instead, he plays natural as he starts setting up what needs to be cooked — he starts cracking the eggs into a bowl as he looks towards the other. )

I wonder if you'll make it.

( he cracks one egg, perfect drop into the bowl. he cracks a second egg, perfect into the bowl. the third one he cracks drops a little harder, but that's because it's a different egg, but that doesn't stop komaeda from whisking it all together... )

[notsosou]

[Well that's ominous... and of course that turned out to be important. Small talk is never small talk with people like this. If he's really doing this he can't afford to just forget basic things like that. There was a net loss of information here.]

Huh? Why wouldn't I, Komaeda-san?

[0% survival chance... the Damocles sword of it still looms at the back of Shin's mind. But he's got no reason to let slip that little secret, his tone having more of a 'are my grades that bad?' lilt.
He's died four times already as it is, three symbolically and one actually. Maybe his fate is clear.

...okay, definitely avoiding the omurice if possible.]

[commences]

( will he make it, everyone knows that graduation is everything, and then again some others see graduation as nothing. him and rika has noticed how rokkun acts about it, he's obsessed with the idea of finally leaving this school, and forgetting everything along with it. no other third year has acted that way, well, none that he really talks to — it's probably only him in the end. )

I wonder...

( yep, he seems to not want to give much himself, but after enough whisking, he'll look at shin. )

I need a strainer so that the texture comes out properly.

( shin has no choice, he's going to eat this, komaeda went out his way. )