sérðu álfa - sitja'og gera 'ekki neitt

[sportadork]

WHO: Sportacus + You
WHAT: November Catch-All
WHEN: novems
WHERE: varied
WARNINGS: TBA

Comments

OTA toplevels

[sportadork]

so it turns out you can't put links in comment headers and I absolutely refuse to leave this joke behind in the trenches so just pretend that if you clicked the second option, you went here.

warning: loud

1st, 8:09pm

[sportadork]

[so, he's dead. that's kinda cool! he's never been dead before, and he does like trying new things. he'd be having a much better time if he wasn't busy carefully maintaining his composure, because he already upset a bunch of children through the sheer fact of existing, and he doesn't want to upset them further by admitting that the only thing keeping him from tearing walls down with his bare hands until he sees pink is the acute knowledge that he is dealing with forces that are beyond his suddenly very, very mortal ken.

he feels... off, here. it wasn't like he used magic, really, having neither the knack nor the patience. he couldn't make plants grow, or heal, or anything else the past numbered heroes did. but, he's still always been... well. what he is. and even if it's not very important to your daily life, you still feel the lack of it.

the muddled parts of his mind tell him that he has a bed, but he knows it isn't his. so, having somehow disengaged himself from an awkward social situation, mostly likely through his usual method, i.e. backflipping off into the distance with maybe a polite goodbye, he finds himself in the dorm study hall, where he finds a bit of wall, slumps against it, pulls the brim of his hat over his face, and, by 8:08, is, apparently, dead asleep.]

[adsum]

[ After being walked home from the dorms, the shopkeep parts ways with Amami for a mug of hot milk with honey from the kitchen, then stops by the study hall to see if any new books have manifested for them to read before bedtime. They just barely manage to not drop the mug when they spot the dead(?) body, though, questions racing so quickly they might have well as not thought any, because what do you do when you see a dead body?

Common sense says to walk away and don't get involved. But what if he's not dead, should they make sure? Call for help either way?

...

Keigo quietly sets the mug down on one of the table and approaches slowly, picking their way towards Sportacus until they're crouched down in front of him.

...

Starts going through his pockets. ]

[sportadork]

[immediately wakes up completely. like dead asleep to wide awake in less than a second.]

Hello! [beaming] Did you find anything? I'm not used to having pockets!

[his pda is probably in there and he just thinks it's a weird calculator]

[adsum]

[ The shopkeep startles, but not enough to immediately pull their hand out of Sportacus' pocket. Just a PDA... disappointing. ]

Hello. Where do you keep your wallet if you don't have pockets?

[sportadork]

My what? I don't have a-- [he pauses, visibly confused, practically audible gears working in his brain...

he laughs, clearly delighted.]

Are you robbing me?

[adsum]

[ Sometimes people laugh and you get a little scared and you back up a little, this is what the shopkeep does ]

I'm trying to, but you don't have a wallet! What are you going to give me instead?

[ No fancy watch or expensive rings... They look down at his shoes. Maybe. ]

[sportadork]

[gives them a thoughtful look. when he speaks again, it's in a much more measured tone.]

Well, if I had a wallet, and you took it, what would you use it for? Maybe I can help you with that!

[adsum]

[ Truthfully... they'd take the money and sell the wallet, but people always ask this in a way that begs the question of what they want the money for and...

... ]

...college fund...

Schooldays, 2nd to 12th

[sportadork]

[he starts off the month just completely obliterating Stephanie's chances at the perfect attendance award.

he doesn't mean to, not really. it's just that... even with the shortened day for festival prep, sitting completely still for minutes hours on end is actually physically impossible for him. he can't even play chess without having to do handstands. but, completely shirking class to run laps around the track waving cheerfully at the students in gym class who look at him with absolute horror before deciding that someone with that level of suicidal ideation is best not fucked with is Irresponsible and A Bad Example and . by the third day, he's set up a system: if he spends one (1) hour paying complete, albeit fidgety, attention in class, he can spend a half hour running up the stairs so that he can then go down them three steps at a time. this is absolutely not how school works at all. or stairs, frankly.]

Schooldays from idk, 15th or 16th onward????

[sportadork]

[being a student? sucks, boring, can't do any jumping jacks. being a teacher? fun, exciting, able to do all the jumping jacks your heart desires.

the second years have met their mathematical savior in the form of an infinitely patient man with a true enthusiasm for both the subject and the general imparting of knowledge... once they can get used to his constant stream of weird bullshit. like how he does everything but sit at his desk, up to and including standing on it. how he'll do an incredibly precarious handstand on the back of one student's chair while tutoring another. like how the classrooms next door are probably having minor heart attacks when they hear a loud thump on the wall every 25 minutes until they're just like ah yes meanswell-sensei is doing backflips off the blackboard again, don't really know what they have to do with linear equations but they seem essential to the process.

at the start of one class, he just straight up walks into the door, because sometimes he forgets that doors don't always automatically open when you shout "door!" at them. he is vast, and contains multitudes.]

library, 6pm-7pm, days are a myth

[sportadork]

[it turns out librarians aren't really cool with people using the shorter shelves like pommel horses? he doesn't really get it, but decides that going to the library after she leaves is probably. safest. because then he can just do a one-hand handstand on those same shelves, taking out books with his free hand, examining them, frowning, and then putting them back very neatly. real dearth of 18th century novels at this here japanese high school.]

[mermaidcursed]

( nene... hasn't necessarily been avoiding sportacus. no moreso than she has anyone else. she's just been so tired. but eventually she does manage to come out of her room, and has decided... serotonin is stored in the strawberry milk. she hadn't expected to hear anything from the library at this hour, though. cautiously, she pokes her head in, and... oh.

standing in the doorway shyly, nene waves. )

[sportadork]

[he looks up at the sound, and then, for just the briefest of moments, loses his balance. it doesn't do much, but it does make him knock a book loose when he flips off the shelf; he manages to catch it before it hits the floor, and tucks it into the crook of his arm, holding it against his chest.

he has about three false starts, opening his mouth before closing it, reaching out a hand before drawing it back, before he takes a steadying breath and looks at her, smiling, but with a furrow in his brow.]

... Are you okay? [pause] It is okay to not be! [like, he's not! he's really not!]

[mermaidcursed]

( oh jeeze, she didn't mean to surprise him like that! even though he seems to recover quickly, nene can't help but worry. at least she's able to choke down any guilt. but at his question- and his clear struggle to start talking- she freezes.

no, she's not okay. she hasn't been okay in five, six months. he saw that meltdown. ... nene shakes her head, before going to the librarian's desk and borrowing a pen and piece of paper. )

i lost my voice
its annoying but i'll manage

i don't blame you
for this or for her

[sportadork]

[he watches her curiously, reading the text... ah. he nods, grinning. well, he couldn't say he hadn't been wondering. and he wouldn't have blamed her if she did. the only reason he doesn't is because he thinks that would just distract him from whoever is really to blame.]

I'm glad! After all, if you care that deeply for Stephanie, there is no way we could be anything but friends!

[thinks...]

Did you lose your voice here [taps his throat] or did you lose it here? [taps over his heart]

[mermaidcursed]

of course i do. she's my little sister
she had nothing but good things to say about you
she wanted to make you proud.

( but instead stephanie's left a trail of broken hearts in her wake, and nene wonders if she thought she got what she wanted in all of this. but there's no way of knowing this, is there? ...

nene sighs, before he catches her attention again. ... it's true that she did hurt her throat in her anguish, but... ultimately she settles her hand over her heart. )

[sportadork]

[he visibly winces. a mix of his usual unease about praise, and just... it's guilt. he knows it's guilt. that of all the things she was so eager to learn from him, he could never quite manage to teach her caution.]

She's very... determined! Whatever she did, she was set on it; nothing, and no one, can talk her out of her ideas. [chuckles] Even me.

[and maybe that just has to be enough.]

Don't try to force it. It will come back to you when you are ready. [...] And it's practice! Your handwriting is already very good, but it will be even better if you use it so often!

fourth floor bathroom, every night, 7-7:50pm.

[sportadork]

[what better place to begin than at the start?

every square inch of the space is to be thoroughly examined. no tricks, no moves; he moves calmly and purposefully, even as he's clambering on top of sinks and stalls to get a better look. putting the tip of his fingernail against the mirror, examining the reflection. testing the give of tiles in the floor, the ceiling. looking for clues he's starting to think aren't there to be found.

his hand touches the center of his chest, out of habit, and he clenches his fist.]

You waited this long for me. I will not fail you. [maybe she'll hear him, like he heard her. or maybe he's talking to air.]

[moraloutrage]

[Times have been rough. With the appearance of the ghostly students, he's felt a mix of pain and relief. One thing that sticks out to him, however, is that no matter how many of them he finds, none of them seem to he Stephanie.

This keeps his hope alive - and it also draws him to the bathroom on this evening, where he finds someone else already hard at work. A certain new math teacher.]

...Ah... Sportacus-Sensei? [He greets him with a soft bow of his head.]

[sportadork]

Oh, Ishimaru! [because unlike steph, he immediately noticed that naming customs were way different here and set about learning them.] Someone must have finished cleaning after we all left that night. They are very thorough! You would never even know anything happened here.

[which is, y'know, the problem. he sighs, rubbing the back of his neck.]

People... disappear here a lot, I've heard the others say... But, it is strange to disappear into thin air, even here?

[moraloutrage]

The janitor here is quite diligent and thorough with his work. [He nods firmly as he says that, his words containing respect for the custodian's work without any energy. He doubts anything can be accomplished at thos point, but he is not about to give up right away.]

These circumstances are unusual, to be sure. Someone usually does not disappear like this. Especially not in a way in which they are seemingly, ah, instantly replaced by a peer of theirs. [He doesn't sound like he blames Sportacus, at least. He doesn't knlw what to make of all this.]

[sportadork]

We will find her... And I am very certain she's not been harmed. [it's about 98%, but that 2% would be enough to qualify "she's unharmed" as a lie. that night, he could smell salt, and water, and something like magic, but not blood.] Even without my crystal, I have always been able to tell.

[even though, at some point between bidding her goodnight and waking up here, both of them just fucking died. so clearly someone dropped the ball here.]

[moraloutrage]

[Sportacus does have a naturally reassuring presence. Especially in Ishimaru's eyes, as he's had a shortage of reliable authority figures in his life for quite some time now. Not to mention that Stephanie vouched for him! So he feels some hope... he wants to believe!]

That - that is very reassuring to know. Thank you so much, Sensei. It does ease my heart to know that she is unhurt... wherever she may be. [Although who knows what she's going through now, even if she's physically unharmed?]

The way that you talk about this, it sounds as if you have some sort of sixth sense for this kind of thing!

[sportadork]

[almost imperceptible pause]

You could say that! [a slightly embarrassed sort of laugh] After so many years, you just gain a sense for such things. My job is to keep people out of trouble, after all -- and I can already tell this place will be very challenging!

[which, admittedly, he sounds super psyched about.]