Freaks and Friends
Re: Freaks and Friends
Heh, an amusing take on Hachisame and Hitomi, I quite like how you approached it.
[13:00:51] <buckingham> why do you have to shit on my parade delta-kun you baka >_<
Re: Freaks and Friends
Part 2
Despite my attempts at refusal, they insist on helping me unpack. I suppose saying Hachisame insists they help me unpack would be more accurate. Tana and I do nearly all of the actual work while Hachisame stays out of the way for the most part, probably due to the size of her wheelchair. Of course the idea that she's just lazy is a possibility too.
Between somebody that has no depth perception that keeps missing things by inches, and another person that can't respond to things until seconds after they happen, we make a grand mess of things. Miraculously, nothing gets broken, but we run into each other more than just a few times and quite a bit of my stuff ends up on the floor.
"So, what all is there to do around here?" I ask hoping to get them out of the room anyway possible. I can finish unpacking when the only person I'll embarrass myself in front of is me.
"Have you got your uniforms and medical stuff out of the way yet?" Hachisame asks.
"Clubs haven't quite got started yet, but the two of us go swimming a lot," Tana responds just as Hachisame finishes. It feels like I'm getting two different conversations at once. I'm not quite sure who to address so I just stand there and wait for Time Warp to catch up with us. "Yeah, we should handle the school stuff first, before everybody gets back for the new year."
"All I've gotten is my homeroom assignment and my room key," I tell them. "For the record, this room and I go to class in 3-2 in case you were curious." The two of them exchange looks when I say this. Sort of. Hachisame glances over at Time Warp, and then, probably when she realizes that doing so was pointless, she looks back at me. As soon as she does, Tana looks over at her. So, they kinda missed that enhancing glances thing by a few seconds but the intention was there. … and here I thought I was the one who had a hard time seeing eye to eye with people.
… okay. That was horrible. I feel bad for even thinking it.
I wonder what that was about. Does 3-2 have a weird reputation or a sucky teacher or something? I also wish I hadn't thought up that "eye to eye" thing. I get this queezy feeling in my stomach whenever I think about my eyes, which is often. Trying not to think about it after I've thought about it only makes matters worse. I can only hope Tana and Hachisame don't notice.
"So, I figure we could get the medical stuff out of the way first and then drop by supply for the uniforms. I could use a new shirt or two and I can't find my winter jacket anywhere." Hachisame seems to be talking more to hear herself talk than for our feedback, but then again, there's not much I can add. I don't even know what the this school's uniform looks like yet.
Having decided our plan for us, Hachisame wheels herself out into the hallway and I step out after her. We wait for Tana to follow. Once everyone is outside, I close and lock the door behind me. Only two tries to actually get the key in the lock that time. Yay for me.
"Hold up," Hachisame says stopping us as we walk past an open door. Tana takes a few more steps and nearly plows over her before she registers the change. "Let's see… anybody interesting here you should meet…?" Hachisame says more to herself than to either of us. I'm noticing she one of those types that tends to think out loud. "boring person… bunch of new people…"
I look over the room. It appears to be some sort of recreation room. There are various couches and chairs, a small bookshelf that has more magazines than books, a TV with a DVD and VHS player, several closed cupboards, and a well worn foosball table in the corner. A few girls sit scattered around the room watching a game-show on TV.
"This is the floor's dayroom. Each floor has one. There's also a kitchen on the other side of the building and a laundry room on the first floor," Tana explains to me, seemingly proud of herself although I have no idea why.
"Yoshi!" Hachisame calls out happily, having noticed somebody she recognizes. A large man sits up from one of the couches. I'm not sure how I missed him before. He looks about fifty, maybe sixty, and is built like a sumo wrestler … well, maybe not that big, but he's pretty huge. The fact that he has the sort of leathery looking skin you only get by spending almost your entire life outside only adds to the intimidation factor.
"Howdy," he nods and smiles. "How's my girls?"
"We're cool," Hachisame says, pointing over to me. "We just wanted you to meet Hitomi. She's new."
"Hello," Yoshi says turning back to the TV about the same time Tana smiles and waves at him, doing nothing else to draw his attention. "Up to anything no good?"
"We're just showing the new girl around," Hachisame says. "How about you?"
"Doing my rounds. I stopped to have a little sit-down for a few minutes." He turns his head back and chuckles at something on the TV.
"Anyway, we'll see you later," Hachisame says, and spins her wheelchair around. Yoshi raises a hand as if to halfheartedly wave goodbye. Hachisame turns to leave, but waits before actually going anywhere, I'm assuming so Time Warp could stay in the loop.
"Okay, let's go," Tana says a few seconds later.
"Who's the old guy?" I ask once we were a bit further down the hall and out of earshot.
"Campus security. They've always got two or three people walking around the buildings watching for any kind of trouble. Yoshi's the one you want to see," Time Warp explains.
"Yoshi does not give a ffffuuuuccck!" Hachisame added in a singing tone. "If he's on duty you can get away with just about anything. He's awesome. The only thing he watches for is the medical stuff. Anything else, he figures we can take care of by ourselves."
"Okay," I say with a slight shrug. I really have no idea what to make of somebody like that. "And that thing about 'my girls'? … Are you related?"
The laughter I got from Hachisame answers that question for me.
"That's just the way he talks," Time Warp clarifies before she catches the laughing bug from Hachisame. "No relation at all." She says after the laughing dies down and close to a minute after the initial question had been asked.
We continue our little tour, with Hachisame pointing out things like the bathrooms, the emergency alert switches, where the better vending machines were, and other boring stuff like that. Tana stays mostly silent.
"So, does everybody get the grand tour like this?" I ask as we cross the courtyards to the main building.
"Eh… somebody was bound to show you around sooner or later. We just figured that you shared a hall with us so --," Hachisame's explanation is cut short as one of the wheels on her chair catches in a small hole in the sidewalk. She tries to rollback and forth a few times to get it loose but it doesn't appear to be helping.
"Need a hand?" I ask.
"Nah. I got this," she says. She stands up out of her wheelchair and pulls it back onto level ground. It just doesn't feel right to me. People in wheelchairs aren't supposed to be able to get out of them and walk around. They're kinda' made for the people that can't do that. I know I shouldn't be thinking this way. Everybody has their own problems right, but the whole thing just strikes me as bizarre.
… Then again, this whole place does that to me.
"You okay?" Time Warp asks. I'm not sure if she's reacting to Hachisame being stuck or not. It adds to the mood of everything just being slightly out of whack.
God, look at me. I've just met them and already I'm focusing on what's wrong with them rather than trying to actually make friends.
"So… Umm… Thanks for showing me around, guys. Remind me on the way back and I'll buy you each a drink." I hope that doesn't sound too pathetic and desperate. Hachisame chuckles a bit. I'm not exactly sure if she's laughing at me or not.
The administrative building houses all the official office stuff, the medical things, and, according to Hachisame and Tana, the pool. Until they pointed it out, I thought it was just part of the main building. There aren't exactly a lot of students hanging around the dorms but the school building feels like a ghost town. I can practically hear the echo as we walk down the halls towards the Nurse's office. As we come closer, a few adults that I can only assume are medical personal pass by, going from one room to another and taking little notice of us.
Hachisame pushes the door open to the office marked head nurse and we all follow her in. Sitting behind the desk is a man with blue hair drinking out of a fast food cup, thumbing through folders, and occasionally jotting something down on a separate sheet of paper. When he finally notices us, he quickly closes the folders and snaps to his feet. "Ah, Kurosawa, Wakahisa, and …somebody else," he greets us with an overly happy tone. "How can I help you?"
This wasn't what I was expecting. When I heard them talk about the head nurse, I pictured somebody older and more female. "Are you the Nurse?" I ask.
"I'm not Chris Eccleston, if that's what you were asking," he smiles widely waiting for us to comment on his joke, if that's what it was. When we don't, he frowns and continues. "No? Nothing? … I suppose it wasn't that funny anyway." He looks obviously disappointed by something. Beside me, I hear Tana trying to hold in a chuckle. I'm wondering if she got the first joke or if she's laughing at something else. "I'm assuming you didn't show up for the pleasure of my company, so how can I be of service to you?"
"Hitomi here is new. We figured --" Hachisame starts only to be cut off.
"This is Hitomi. We came to make sure the medical records where up to date before school starts and get the physicals out of the way," Tana says oblivious to that fact that Hachisame had already started to explain. Halfway through her statement, she seems to realize she talked over somebody and gives an apologetic looking grin, but continues speaking anyway.
"Hitomi…Hitomi…," he repeats my name a few times, as if saying it out loud would jog his memory. Tana mouths the word "sorry" to Hachisame but by this point Hachisame's has already stopped paying attention.
"Hitomi Fuku," I say. "This will be my first year here." The words don't sound right coming out of my mouth, but I have no idea exactly how to politely say "I was just crippled," without sounding overly bitter.
"Let me just find your records then," he says turning his back to us and leafing through a filing cabinet. "Are you finding everything on the school grounds okay?" he asks while flipping through files.
"I kinda just got here. I haven't really had time to look around yet," I tell him.
"Don't worry, we'll show her everything," Hachisame says slapping me on the back. I hate it when people do that but I try not to show it.
"Nice to see you're making friends already," the Nurse says although I'd be surprised if he actually cares. He pulls out a file folder with my name on it and flips it open. "These are certainly two of the more interesting students we have at our school, but this school caters to a vast variety of disabled students. It may seem strange at first, but in time I'm sure you'll get used to it." None of that makes me feel any better. He looks over the files with a few soft "hmm"s being his only comments, and then suddenly slaps the thing closed.
"It says here you've lost an eye in an accident," he says as if it wasn't obvious, "but otherwise you seem to be in good health. Are there any other ill effects you want me to know about? Any medications you're taking? The files don't list anything."
Well, there's the fact that I have no depth perception and keep bumping into things, there's also the occasional headache, but I'm not sure that's related. Either way, I feel telling him is just going to prolong a conversation that I didn't want to have to begin with. "I'm fine."
"That's good. Really you should consider yourself lucky," he says. I've already heard that from tons of doctors. I could have stabbed my brain and killed myself. Instead, I just have some scars where there's supposed to be an eye and I feel like a freak. Lucky me. The Nurse spends a few more minutes mulling over my records. During that time, Tana has grabbed a few medical pamphlets. She halfheartedly flips through them merely to have something to do. Hachisame on the other hand is sitting there looking as bored as humanly possible.
"So, what's the verdict? Is she going to live?" Hachisame finally says, probably just trying to break the silence. The Nurse looks irritated for a minute, looking like he wants to say something to her, but doesn't. "Looks like they took care of everything during your recent hospitalization. Likewise, Wakahisa had her physical done at the end of this past school year, so she's caught up. That only leaves you," he says turning to Hachisame. "If you like I can have somebody take care of you now, or you can come back on...,” the pauses and seems to make an show of thinking hard about it. “Let's say Thursday."
Hachisame's shoulders droop. "Fine. Let's get it over with."
"If you'll excuse us, my patient tends to be a bit sensitive about her condition." the Nurse says with far too playful a tone to be natural. I make a mental note to ask Time Warp if he's always this happy about everything. "Actually this is going to take a bit longer than the average check-up, so if you have something else to do, it might be a good time to do so."
There's a pause between the end of his statement and Tana speaking. "Is there anyone upstairs?" she says, setting her pamphlets back down.
"The staff had a meeting earlier today. I'm sure most of them are still there. It would probably be a good idea to take care of that as well, since you're in the building." The Nurse says. I feel like I'm missing some part of this conversation.
"I'll catch up with you later," Hachisame says.
"Later," I say and start to head out of the room, bumping against the door frame as I do. For a minute I'm afraid the Nurse is going to call me back in, but I don't think he noticed. I stop right outside the door when I realize Tana isn't behind me. I'm left holding the door open for her without actually knowing if she's coming or not.
It takes her a few seconds, but she gets up and follows me. As she walks to the door, I step out of the way. Then so does she. It's the kind of hallway dance that happens all the time, except that she isn't reacting at the same speed I am, so I end up having to practically jump out of the way to keep her from walking into me.
"Sorry about that," she eventually says trying to put her hand on my shoulder but missing due to me having stepped out of the way again. "Ready to have your head examined?" She asks, practically skipping ahead of me.
Despite my attempts at refusal, they insist on helping me unpack. I suppose saying Hachisame insists they help me unpack would be more accurate. Tana and I do nearly all of the actual work while Hachisame stays out of the way for the most part, probably due to the size of her wheelchair. Of course the idea that she's just lazy is a possibility too.
Between somebody that has no depth perception that keeps missing things by inches, and another person that can't respond to things until seconds after they happen, we make a grand mess of things. Miraculously, nothing gets broken, but we run into each other more than just a few times and quite a bit of my stuff ends up on the floor.
"So, what all is there to do around here?" I ask hoping to get them out of the room anyway possible. I can finish unpacking when the only person I'll embarrass myself in front of is me.
"Have you got your uniforms and medical stuff out of the way yet?" Hachisame asks.
"Clubs haven't quite got started yet, but the two of us go swimming a lot," Tana responds just as Hachisame finishes. It feels like I'm getting two different conversations at once. I'm not quite sure who to address so I just stand there and wait for Time Warp to catch up with us. "Yeah, we should handle the school stuff first, before everybody gets back for the new year."
"All I've gotten is my homeroom assignment and my room key," I tell them. "For the record, this room and I go to class in 3-2 in case you were curious." The two of them exchange looks when I say this. Sort of. Hachisame glances over at Time Warp, and then, probably when she realizes that doing so was pointless, she looks back at me. As soon as she does, Tana looks over at her. So, they kinda missed that enhancing glances thing by a few seconds but the intention was there. … and here I thought I was the one who had a hard time seeing eye to eye with people.
… okay. That was horrible. I feel bad for even thinking it.
I wonder what that was about. Does 3-2 have a weird reputation or a sucky teacher or something? I also wish I hadn't thought up that "eye to eye" thing. I get this queezy feeling in my stomach whenever I think about my eyes, which is often. Trying not to think about it after I've thought about it only makes matters worse. I can only hope Tana and Hachisame don't notice.
"So, I figure we could get the medical stuff out of the way first and then drop by supply for the uniforms. I could use a new shirt or two and I can't find my winter jacket anywhere." Hachisame seems to be talking more to hear herself talk than for our feedback, but then again, there's not much I can add. I don't even know what the this school's uniform looks like yet.
Having decided our plan for us, Hachisame wheels herself out into the hallway and I step out after her. We wait for Tana to follow. Once everyone is outside, I close and lock the door behind me. Only two tries to actually get the key in the lock that time. Yay for me.
"Hold up," Hachisame says stopping us as we walk past an open door. Tana takes a few more steps and nearly plows over her before she registers the change. "Let's see… anybody interesting here you should meet…?" Hachisame says more to herself than to either of us. I'm noticing she one of those types that tends to think out loud. "boring person… bunch of new people…"
I look over the room. It appears to be some sort of recreation room. There are various couches and chairs, a small bookshelf that has more magazines than books, a TV with a DVD and VHS player, several closed cupboards, and a well worn foosball table in the corner. A few girls sit scattered around the room watching a game-show on TV.
"This is the floor's dayroom. Each floor has one. There's also a kitchen on the other side of the building and a laundry room on the first floor," Tana explains to me, seemingly proud of herself although I have no idea why.
"Yoshi!" Hachisame calls out happily, having noticed somebody she recognizes. A large man sits up from one of the couches. I'm not sure how I missed him before. He looks about fifty, maybe sixty, and is built like a sumo wrestler … well, maybe not that big, but he's pretty huge. The fact that he has the sort of leathery looking skin you only get by spending almost your entire life outside only adds to the intimidation factor.
"Howdy," he nods and smiles. "How's my girls?"
"We're cool," Hachisame says, pointing over to me. "We just wanted you to meet Hitomi. She's new."
"Hello," Yoshi says turning back to the TV about the same time Tana smiles and waves at him, doing nothing else to draw his attention. "Up to anything no good?"
"We're just showing the new girl around," Hachisame says. "How about you?"
"Doing my rounds. I stopped to have a little sit-down for a few minutes." He turns his head back and chuckles at something on the TV.
"Anyway, we'll see you later," Hachisame says, and spins her wheelchair around. Yoshi raises a hand as if to halfheartedly wave goodbye. Hachisame turns to leave, but waits before actually going anywhere, I'm assuming so Time Warp could stay in the loop.
"Okay, let's go," Tana says a few seconds later.
"Who's the old guy?" I ask once we were a bit further down the hall and out of earshot.
"Campus security. They've always got two or three people walking around the buildings watching for any kind of trouble. Yoshi's the one you want to see," Time Warp explains.
"Yoshi does not give a ffffuuuuccck!" Hachisame added in a singing tone. "If he's on duty you can get away with just about anything. He's awesome. The only thing he watches for is the medical stuff. Anything else, he figures we can take care of by ourselves."
"Okay," I say with a slight shrug. I really have no idea what to make of somebody like that. "And that thing about 'my girls'? … Are you related?"
The laughter I got from Hachisame answers that question for me.
"That's just the way he talks," Time Warp clarifies before she catches the laughing bug from Hachisame. "No relation at all." She says after the laughing dies down and close to a minute after the initial question had been asked.
We continue our little tour, with Hachisame pointing out things like the bathrooms, the emergency alert switches, where the better vending machines were, and other boring stuff like that. Tana stays mostly silent.
"So, does everybody get the grand tour like this?" I ask as we cross the courtyards to the main building.
"Eh… somebody was bound to show you around sooner or later. We just figured that you shared a hall with us so --," Hachisame's explanation is cut short as one of the wheels on her chair catches in a small hole in the sidewalk. She tries to rollback and forth a few times to get it loose but it doesn't appear to be helping.
"Need a hand?" I ask.
"Nah. I got this," she says. She stands up out of her wheelchair and pulls it back onto level ground. It just doesn't feel right to me. People in wheelchairs aren't supposed to be able to get out of them and walk around. They're kinda' made for the people that can't do that. I know I shouldn't be thinking this way. Everybody has their own problems right, but the whole thing just strikes me as bizarre.
… Then again, this whole place does that to me.
"You okay?" Time Warp asks. I'm not sure if she's reacting to Hachisame being stuck or not. It adds to the mood of everything just being slightly out of whack.
God, look at me. I've just met them and already I'm focusing on what's wrong with them rather than trying to actually make friends.
"So… Umm… Thanks for showing me around, guys. Remind me on the way back and I'll buy you each a drink." I hope that doesn't sound too pathetic and desperate. Hachisame chuckles a bit. I'm not exactly sure if she's laughing at me or not.
The administrative building houses all the official office stuff, the medical things, and, according to Hachisame and Tana, the pool. Until they pointed it out, I thought it was just part of the main building. There aren't exactly a lot of students hanging around the dorms but the school building feels like a ghost town. I can practically hear the echo as we walk down the halls towards the Nurse's office. As we come closer, a few adults that I can only assume are medical personal pass by, going from one room to another and taking little notice of us.
Hachisame pushes the door open to the office marked head nurse and we all follow her in. Sitting behind the desk is a man with blue hair drinking out of a fast food cup, thumbing through folders, and occasionally jotting something down on a separate sheet of paper. When he finally notices us, he quickly closes the folders and snaps to his feet. "Ah, Kurosawa, Wakahisa, and …somebody else," he greets us with an overly happy tone. "How can I help you?"
This wasn't what I was expecting. When I heard them talk about the head nurse, I pictured somebody older and more female. "Are you the Nurse?" I ask.
"I'm not Chris Eccleston, if that's what you were asking," he smiles widely waiting for us to comment on his joke, if that's what it was. When we don't, he frowns and continues. "No? Nothing? … I suppose it wasn't that funny anyway." He looks obviously disappointed by something. Beside me, I hear Tana trying to hold in a chuckle. I'm wondering if she got the first joke or if she's laughing at something else. "I'm assuming you didn't show up for the pleasure of my company, so how can I be of service to you?"
"Hitomi here is new. We figured --" Hachisame starts only to be cut off.
"This is Hitomi. We came to make sure the medical records where up to date before school starts and get the physicals out of the way," Tana says oblivious to that fact that Hachisame had already started to explain. Halfway through her statement, she seems to realize she talked over somebody and gives an apologetic looking grin, but continues speaking anyway.
"Hitomi…Hitomi…," he repeats my name a few times, as if saying it out loud would jog his memory. Tana mouths the word "sorry" to Hachisame but by this point Hachisame's has already stopped paying attention.
"Hitomi Fuku," I say. "This will be my first year here." The words don't sound right coming out of my mouth, but I have no idea exactly how to politely say "I was just crippled," without sounding overly bitter.
"Let me just find your records then," he says turning his back to us and leafing through a filing cabinet. "Are you finding everything on the school grounds okay?" he asks while flipping through files.
"I kinda just got here. I haven't really had time to look around yet," I tell him.
"Don't worry, we'll show her everything," Hachisame says slapping me on the back. I hate it when people do that but I try not to show it.
"Nice to see you're making friends already," the Nurse says although I'd be surprised if he actually cares. He pulls out a file folder with my name on it and flips it open. "These are certainly two of the more interesting students we have at our school, but this school caters to a vast variety of disabled students. It may seem strange at first, but in time I'm sure you'll get used to it." None of that makes me feel any better. He looks over the files with a few soft "hmm"s being his only comments, and then suddenly slaps the thing closed.
"It says here you've lost an eye in an accident," he says as if it wasn't obvious, "but otherwise you seem to be in good health. Are there any other ill effects you want me to know about? Any medications you're taking? The files don't list anything."
Well, there's the fact that I have no depth perception and keep bumping into things, there's also the occasional headache, but I'm not sure that's related. Either way, I feel telling him is just going to prolong a conversation that I didn't want to have to begin with. "I'm fine."
"That's good. Really you should consider yourself lucky," he says. I've already heard that from tons of doctors. I could have stabbed my brain and killed myself. Instead, I just have some scars where there's supposed to be an eye and I feel like a freak. Lucky me. The Nurse spends a few more minutes mulling over my records. During that time, Tana has grabbed a few medical pamphlets. She halfheartedly flips through them merely to have something to do. Hachisame on the other hand is sitting there looking as bored as humanly possible.
"So, what's the verdict? Is she going to live?" Hachisame finally says, probably just trying to break the silence. The Nurse looks irritated for a minute, looking like he wants to say something to her, but doesn't. "Looks like they took care of everything during your recent hospitalization. Likewise, Wakahisa had her physical done at the end of this past school year, so she's caught up. That only leaves you," he says turning to Hachisame. "If you like I can have somebody take care of you now, or you can come back on...,” the pauses and seems to make an show of thinking hard about it. “Let's say Thursday."
Hachisame's shoulders droop. "Fine. Let's get it over with."
"If you'll excuse us, my patient tends to be a bit sensitive about her condition." the Nurse says with far too playful a tone to be natural. I make a mental note to ask Time Warp if he's always this happy about everything. "Actually this is going to take a bit longer than the average check-up, so if you have something else to do, it might be a good time to do so."
There's a pause between the end of his statement and Tana speaking. "Is there anyone upstairs?" she says, setting her pamphlets back down.
"The staff had a meeting earlier today. I'm sure most of them are still there. It would probably be a good idea to take care of that as well, since you're in the building." The Nurse says. I feel like I'm missing some part of this conversation.
"I'll catch up with you later," Hachisame says.
"Later," I say and start to head out of the room, bumping against the door frame as I do. For a minute I'm afraid the Nurse is going to call me back in, but I don't think he noticed. I stop right outside the door when I realize Tana isn't behind me. I'm left holding the door open for her without actually knowing if she's coming or not.
It takes her a few seconds, but she gets up and follows me. As she walks to the door, I step out of the way. Then so does she. It's the kind of hallway dance that happens all the time, except that she isn't reacting at the same speed I am, so I end up having to practically jump out of the way to keep her from walking into me.
"Sorry about that," she eventually says trying to put her hand on my shoulder but missing due to me having stepped out of the way again. "Ready to have your head examined?" She asks, practically skipping ahead of me.
Last edited by Oddball on Sat Jan 03, 2015 9:47 am, edited 5 times in total.
Not Dead Yet
Re: Freaks and Friends
As if dealing with one's own issues wasn't enough, poor Hitomi has suddenly found herself flung between a pair of strangely afflicted friends. I assume the head examination Tana mentions is psychological rather than physical. I like this so far.
There are some tense mistakes, typos, missed punctuation, and you have two people talking in the same paragraph a few times, but that's just what I saw while reading. With that stuff fixed up (technical things, really), the story itself flows nicely. One thing I did notice is that Tana's reaction time seems varied; I'm not sure if that's normal for her condition, but if it isn't there's a few spots where you should be a little more descriptive.
There are some tense mistakes, typos, missed punctuation, and you have two people talking in the same paragraph a few times, but that's just what I saw while reading. With that stuff fixed up (technical things, really), the story itself flows nicely. One thing I did notice is that Tana's reaction time seems varied; I'm not sure if that's normal for her condition, but if it isn't there's a few spots where you should be a little more descriptive.
Re: Freaks and Friends
I think this will be my new unofficial story summary.As if dealing with one's own issues wasn't enough, poor Hitomi has suddenly found herself flung between a pair of strangely afflicted friends.
So, you picked up on that, I see. Yeah. It's intentional. Her reaction time tends to vary a little bit.One thing I did notice is that Tana's reaction time seems varied; I'm not sure if that's normal for her condition, but if it isn't there's a few spots where you should be a little more descriptive.
Not Dead Yet
-
Scissorlips
- Posts: 308
- Joined: Mon Mar 19, 2012 6:21 am
Re: Freaks and Friends
Glad to see this story living. The more I see of Tana, the more horrified I become at trying to even imagine what living like that would be like. Uurgh.
I'm enjoying the set up so far, and I look forward to finding out more about this little band of misfits.
I'm enjoying the set up so far, and I look forward to finding out more about this little band of misfits.
[Pastebin] [Familiarity]
Your troubles shall cease, and you will know peace.
-
Mirage_GSM
- Posts: 6148
- Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2010 2:24 am
- Location: Germany
Re: Freaks and Friends
Not sure if she's being sarcastic here or if your sentence is ambiguous...Well, there the fact that I have no depth perception and keep bumping into things, and the occasional headache, but I'm not sure that's related.
Emi > Misha > Hanako > Lilly > Rin > Shizune
My collected KS-Fan Fictions: Mirage's Myths
My collected KS-Fan Fictions: Mirage's Myths
Sore wa himitsu desu.griffon8 wrote:Kosher, just because sex is your answer to everything doesn't mean that sex is the answer to everything.
-
Total Destruction
- Posts: 326
- Joined: Thu May 10, 2012 5:45 am
- Location: Hit Deborah Cliff with your head to make a hole.
Re: Freaks and Friends
This.Scissorlips wrote:Glad to see this story living. The more I see of Tana, the more horrified I become at trying to even imagine what living like that would be like. Uurgh.
I'm enjoying the set up so far, and I look forward to finding out more about this little band of misfits.
Time Warp is the best Goddamned thing to happen to this forum since ever.
... Danger.
Re: Freaks and Friends
Not sure? Good. That's the way she's meant to be.Mirage_GSM wrote:Not sure if she's being sarcastic here or if your sentence is ambiguous...Well, there the fact that I have no depth perception and keep bumping into things, and the occasional headache, but I'm not sure that's related.
... And the correct answer is it's a bit of both.
I'm glad I've gotten such a strong reaction out of you and I'm honestly a bit surprised considering I really haven't even shown much of Time Warp's character yet.Total Destruction wrote:This.Scissorlips wrote:Glad to see this story living. The more I see of Tana, the more horrified I become at trying to even imagine what living like that would be like. Uurgh.
I'm enjoying the set up so far, and I look forward to finding out more about this little band of misfits.
Time Warp is the best Goddamned thing to happen to this forum since ever.
Not Dead Yet
Re: Freaks and Friends
Part 3
Tana heads up the stairs and I follow her lead. After checking a few rooms, we eventually find some people, teachers maybe, sitting around a table passing papers and files to each other.
"Excuse me?" Tana says announcing her presence to the staff. I notice she's gotten out one of her introduction cards but she hasn't held it forward for anybody to take. I grab Tana's sleeve and pull her back slightly, telling her with a look that I should probably handle this.
Actually, now that I think of it, I'm not quite sure if my facial expressions come across the same way as they used to. I'll have to check that out in the mirror later.
"What can I do you two ladies for?" A man with ketchup stains on his tie asks in a friendly but reserved manner.
"Are any of you the counselors?" I ask. I sound complete unsure of myself. I'm not even sure if "counselors" is the right word. Hopefully they will get my point. Of course, I don't really know what we're doing up here anyway.
"You could say that we're part of the counseling staff, yes," Mr. Ketchup-tie says. I stand there long enough that even Tana notices I don't know what to ask them.
"We just wanted to get the standard check-ups out of the way before school started," Tana comes to my rescue.
"Ah, yes. We weren't expecting anyone today. I really wish you would have called ahead. I suppose it can't be helped though," the man sighs a bit in a manner that makes it seem like he's putting on a show for our sake. He snaps his fingers and points to a lady in a gray sweater and then to Tana. "If you'll follow us."
The man leads me one way and, after reading her card, the lady leads Tana another way. I don't know what the room Tana is taken too looks like, but my room looks more like rich person's personal library than a school office of any kind. The man directs me to take a seat at a nice expensive looking table.
"I'm Okada. Would this be your first year here?" he asks. There's something phony about the way he talks. Every sentence feels like he's testing me.
"Hitomi Fuku. Yeah. My thing is pretty recent." I hesitate a bit at the word 'thing'. Calling it a condition seems too clinical and I don't want to call it a disability because… well, I just don't want to think of myself as disabled. "This is actually my first day here." First couple of hours really, but I don't say that.
"Jumping right in head first, eh? Ambitious of you." He nods his head as if in approval. Really, I wouldn't say it was ambitious. I just got swept up in the crowd. … a crowd consisting of two people, one of which can't interact with anything in real time, the other who may or may not need a wheelchair. "I'm assuming you know why you're here. In my office I mean." I shake my head 'no'. "Ah." He replies and cracks his knuckles. "We at Yamaku take special interest in the health of our students. That includes their mental health." The more this guy talks the more I'm convinced that everything he's saying is rehearsed. He goes around to a large desk and fumbles through the drawers. "Where does he keep those things…?" I hear him mumble to himself.
I guess this isn't his office after all. Seeing a small break in his facade, I decide to speak up in the hopes that it will put us on more even footing. "There's something on your tie, sir." I say, letting him know that I know he's not as perfect as he acts.
"Very perceptive of you," he says without looking at his tie or me. "First thing I'm needing you to do is fill out these questions," he moves along as if our exchange had never happened. The man I can't help but think of as Mr. Ketchup-tie hands me a stack of papers stapled together along with a pencil. It's an odd assortment of questions. Some of them like, "what's your favorite color?" seem insultingly simple. Others are remarkably personal. I'm not even entirety sure it's legal for them to ask about recurring sexual fantasies. Who came up with this stuff anyway? I jot down answer the best I can without trying to think too much about them, but there are a few that resist the simple approach. Frankly, the whole thing feels more like some weird online personality quiz than a professional psychiatric evaluation.
It's the final question that really gets me.
"Name one good thing about the condition that brought you here."
I hesitate here and I think the man watching knows exactly why. I write down several answers and end up erasing them all. Really, is there anything good about losing an eye?
I end up writing "it could be worse," on the paper and set the pencil down. "I'm done," I tell him, even though I think he's already noticed.
He asks if I'm sure; I quickly add my name to the top of the paper, which I'd forgotten to do and double check to make sure I haven't missed any questions. When I'm absolutely positive, he takes the paper. Without even looking at it, he puts it into a large envelope and closes it.
"You're not going to read it?" I ask confused.
"The file is for the head of the psychology department. She's the only one that gets to see it." I'm a bit relived by this. I wasn't comfortable answering some of those questions. Knowing that only one person is actually going to see them makes me feel a lot better. There was some seriously embarrassing stuff on there. I was tempted to just make things up for a few of those questions.
He places the large envelope in a tray and then sits down on the edge of the big desk. It's a very unprofessional looking thing to do. "So, one more question. One that isn't in the paper but is probably the most important one of all…," he pauses and as if waiting for my permission to continue.
"Go ahead," I say with a nod of the head.
"Do you want to speak with somebody here ... on a regular basis I mean," he says.
"You mean it's up to me?" This is dumbfounding. They insist I answer their question, but it's my call if I need help or not?
"Mostly. If we're looking over your questionnaire and find out you listed "dead squirrels" as your favorite childhood toy or anything of that nature, we may insist, but for the most part, if you don't feel you need to talk to somebody, we're not going to make you." He chuckles a bit at his own joke far more than it deserved. I wonder if that was part of his rehearsal.
"Okay," I say in a way that I hope also implies, "What's the catch?"
"So, for the record, do you feel you would benefit from counseling?" His tone seems too formal all the sudden. Maybe they told him he has to ask it that particular way to leave no room for confusion.
"Well, I'm not crazy and I'm not going to kill myself or anything, so …" I drag it out hoping to see some kind of reaction on his face. Nothing. Remind me never to play cards with psychiatrists.
"There are people that have problems adjusting to their new circumstances or to school in general. It has nothing to do with being crazy." He has that overly clinical tone in his voice again.
"Nope. I'm good. I don't think I need anybody," I tell him. Yeah, loosing my eye sucks. Being sent to a new school and all that goes with it, it's kinda rough, but I don't think I need to talk to a shrink. I'll be okay by myself. I just need a bit of time to adjust.
"Very well, if you change your mind, feel free to drop by," he says. The official tone is gone in is voice and he's back to friendly again. With that, our business is concluded. He leads me back out into the main hallway. Surprisingly, Tana is already their waiting for me.
"I didn't expect you--" I start.
"I just had to do an update. Nothing really changed from last year so it didn’t take long," she says cutting me off.
That was weird. I thought she had to wait for things to finish. I just stand still without any further comment or movement. Hopefully she'll get the point and explain.
"Sorry. I was just guessing. I thought that you'd see me here and just ask how I got done so quickly, so I just guessed and started talking. I tend to do that to keep up with conversations. I'm usually pretty good at guessing." It feels almost like she's apologizing.
"No, it's my fault. You took me off guard there. So, are we going to wait for Hachisame?" I ask and then stand there and wait for my words to register with her.
"Nah. Her physicals usually take a while. She can catch back up later. We still have other stuff to do, like getting you unpacked, remember?"
"Oh joy. I was hoping you'd forgotten about that," I didn't even realize I was talking out loud until my words came out. "Sorry about that. Never mind. Look, it's not that I don't appreciate it..." I quickly try to cover up my blunder.
It's surreal watching her reaction. F or a minute, she seems rather disappointed at what I said, but before she says anything, my jumbled apology comes across and she seems cheerful again. "No biggie. You don't want help; I'll leave you to your business."
"Thanks. I appreciate that," I tell her. "It's just … this is a lot to take in all at once." We start to walk down the stairs then she turns and grins.
"I know. No problem," she says.
As we walk down the stairways, we each turn to go different directions. She walks a little ways before she notices I'm not following her.
"I know you said you didn't need my help, but you do still have to get your uniforms," she reminds me, thankfully, as it had already slipped my mind. Showing up the first few days of school without any uniforms wouldn't exactly make the best impression. Heh … 'Hi, I didn't have any uniforms, so I decided to show up naked,'. The idea pops into my imagination almost against my will. That'd be a fine way to make myself popular with the boys. I giggle to myself a little bit.
Oh, who am I kidding? Nobody wants to see my scrawny butt.
"Did I miss something?" Tana says trying to turn and look in my direction but missing.
"Sorry, I was just just thinking of something. It's a personal joke," I tell her. I half expected her to ask, but she doesn't. She just smiles and nods and we continue on. I spot a vending machine and dash ahead of her. A cold drink really sounds good right about now. Before Tana can react, I buy her a strawberry milk and mango juice for myself. Maybe I just picked a bad machine, but nothing in this machine has any caffeine in it, which sucks. I could use a bit of a jolt to my system.
"Here you go," I say handing it to her. I let go before she has a firm grip on it and the drink tumbles through the air. I make a grab for it, but miss, my perception again being off completely. The drink hit’s the ground before she can even make a move to try to catch it.
God, I feel horrible.
"It's okay," she says bending down to pick it up. The can rolled a little from where it first hit the ground, so it takes her more than one try to pick it up. I can't help but shudder at the sight. Is this really what life is like for her, reaching for things without even knowing if they're still there? "It's okay," she says again, popping the tab of the can open. "It dented a little bit, but it's drinkable. Thanks." She takes light sips from it as we walk on. I, on the other hand, gulp down my drink and toss the empty can in the bin by the machine. I guess I was so nervous I didn’t realize how thirsty I actually was.
Tana leads me around a few corners in a roundabout way I'll probably never be able to remember. We engage in a bit of clumsy small talk, not once mentioning the drink incident again, and frequently talking over each other or pausing too long waiting for the other to talk. Conversation isn't exactly easy with somebody like her …
Somebody like her? Is there anybody like her? I've never heard of anybody that has a condition like that. Ever. Yet here she is. I'm wondering if there's any other people like this at the school, people that are here because there's no place else that they can function.
Before I realize it, Time Warp stops at a door that doesn't look too different from any other door we've seen so far. She waits or me to open it (or maybe that's her natural pause, I can't tell) and follows me inside. The room itself is large and filled with shelves and racks of clothes. It would almost look like a store if the clothes weren't all in the same basic style and colors.
"You know what you need?" Tana asks me.
"The basics, summer uniform, winter uniform, gym clothes, that stuff, right?" I say as I flip through a rack of blouses looking for my size. There's the standard pause and then Time Warp answers.
"This school doesn't really do the whole, summer/winter uniform stuff. Get both, sure, but don't worry about which one you have to wear." I suppose that make sense. Some people might be more susceptible to the cold or heat. Looking around, I noticed a few uniforms are made out of different materials from the rest, probably for students with allergies, sensitive skin, or who knows what other kind of problem. Even the clothes here are a reminder that the students aren't normal.
"Can I help you?" A voice reveals a short man sitting behind a counter, half hidden by a movie magazine he was reading.
"I'm new," I say. Probably the best and easiest explanation I can give.
"I'm just replacing a few things," Time Warp answers a little bit after I do.
The man dives behind the counter and in a short time produces a few papers and a clipboard. He waves the papers in the air beckoning me to take them and sets the clipboard down on the desk. "Just write down what you take and sign it," the man says getting back to his magazine without any further fuss. He doesn't seem too excited about his job.
The paper is a checklist of what items make up a uniform and explaining how many things I can take before the school charges my parents extra. I also notice a brief explanation of the dress code. I skim it, but even just doing that, I can already tell that this is probably the most relaxed code I've ever seen.
Several minuets later, I've filled up a rather large plastic bag full of clothes, and Time Warp has gotten whatever she came for. I'm sure my parents won't mind being billed for a couple of extra blouses and skirts. We sign for our items and head back to the dorms. After All this time, Hachisame still hasn't caught up with us.
"So, what did you get?" Time Warp asks.
"Umm ... Uniforms?" I hate giving her such a sort answer, considering how hard it is for us to really speak, but I don't get what she's asking.
She takes a few more steps before she's able to answer. "No no. I mean what sort of things did you get. Rin, for instance, she wears the boys' uniform. Hachisame wears the boys top with an ankle length skirt, and I wear the girls top and rock the mini-skirt."
You can do that? Damn. I almost want to go back and swap uniforms now. "Oh. I didn't know they allowed girls to wear guys stuff and I wasn't even paying attention to skirt length. I just assumed they were all the same." Yet again, I feel like an idiot.
"Oh yeah, there's a few girls that wear the pants, and even more than that wear the tops. I guess the school just wants to make everybody feel comfortable. I dunno," she shrugs a bit and giggles. "There's even one guy that wears the girls uniform but he's a bit off. I think he graduated last year anyway."
I can't help but laugh a little bit at that. No clue if she's joking or not, but the mental imagine is funny. My old school wouldn't let anyone get away with anything like this no matter what was wrong with them.
It doesn't take much longer before we're back at the dorms, which is good, because my arms were getting tired. "So, want to hang out a bit?" Tana asks as I fish though my pockets for my room key.
"Sorry, I really have to unpack. Maybe later?" I feel bad about ditching her, but the smile never drops from her face. Obviously she doesn't take it as an insult. I just need a bit of time by myself here.
"That's cool. No biggie. Catch, up with you later then," she smiles and waves. She's still waving when I close the door. I'm sure it's not the first time it's happened to her, which frankly, makes me feel sorry for her even more. I glance in the mirror again seeing the red slash where my eye used to be and feel even worse. I've been feeling sorry for myself, and there are people like her out that that would probably kill to have it as easy as I do.
God, even the people trying to make me feel better about things are making me feel rotten.
Tana heads up the stairs and I follow her lead. After checking a few rooms, we eventually find some people, teachers maybe, sitting around a table passing papers and files to each other.
"Excuse me?" Tana says announcing her presence to the staff. I notice she's gotten out one of her introduction cards but she hasn't held it forward for anybody to take. I grab Tana's sleeve and pull her back slightly, telling her with a look that I should probably handle this.
Actually, now that I think of it, I'm not quite sure if my facial expressions come across the same way as they used to. I'll have to check that out in the mirror later.
"What can I do you two ladies for?" A man with ketchup stains on his tie asks in a friendly but reserved manner.
"Are any of you the counselors?" I ask. I sound complete unsure of myself. I'm not even sure if "counselors" is the right word. Hopefully they will get my point. Of course, I don't really know what we're doing up here anyway.
"You could say that we're part of the counseling staff, yes," Mr. Ketchup-tie says. I stand there long enough that even Tana notices I don't know what to ask them.
"We just wanted to get the standard check-ups out of the way before school started," Tana comes to my rescue.
"Ah, yes. We weren't expecting anyone today. I really wish you would have called ahead. I suppose it can't be helped though," the man sighs a bit in a manner that makes it seem like he's putting on a show for our sake. He snaps his fingers and points to a lady in a gray sweater and then to Tana. "If you'll follow us."
The man leads me one way and, after reading her card, the lady leads Tana another way. I don't know what the room Tana is taken too looks like, but my room looks more like rich person's personal library than a school office of any kind. The man directs me to take a seat at a nice expensive looking table.
"I'm Okada. Would this be your first year here?" he asks. There's something phony about the way he talks. Every sentence feels like he's testing me.
"Hitomi Fuku. Yeah. My thing is pretty recent." I hesitate a bit at the word 'thing'. Calling it a condition seems too clinical and I don't want to call it a disability because… well, I just don't want to think of myself as disabled. "This is actually my first day here." First couple of hours really, but I don't say that.
"Jumping right in head first, eh? Ambitious of you." He nods his head as if in approval. Really, I wouldn't say it was ambitious. I just got swept up in the crowd. … a crowd consisting of two people, one of which can't interact with anything in real time, the other who may or may not need a wheelchair. "I'm assuming you know why you're here. In my office I mean." I shake my head 'no'. "Ah." He replies and cracks his knuckles. "We at Yamaku take special interest in the health of our students. That includes their mental health." The more this guy talks the more I'm convinced that everything he's saying is rehearsed. He goes around to a large desk and fumbles through the drawers. "Where does he keep those things…?" I hear him mumble to himself.
I guess this isn't his office after all. Seeing a small break in his facade, I decide to speak up in the hopes that it will put us on more even footing. "There's something on your tie, sir." I say, letting him know that I know he's not as perfect as he acts.
"Very perceptive of you," he says without looking at his tie or me. "First thing I'm needing you to do is fill out these questions," he moves along as if our exchange had never happened. The man I can't help but think of as Mr. Ketchup-tie hands me a stack of papers stapled together along with a pencil. It's an odd assortment of questions. Some of them like, "what's your favorite color?" seem insultingly simple. Others are remarkably personal. I'm not even entirety sure it's legal for them to ask about recurring sexual fantasies. Who came up with this stuff anyway? I jot down answer the best I can without trying to think too much about them, but there are a few that resist the simple approach. Frankly, the whole thing feels more like some weird online personality quiz than a professional psychiatric evaluation.
It's the final question that really gets me.
"Name one good thing about the condition that brought you here."
I hesitate here and I think the man watching knows exactly why. I write down several answers and end up erasing them all. Really, is there anything good about losing an eye?
I end up writing "it could be worse," on the paper and set the pencil down. "I'm done," I tell him, even though I think he's already noticed.
He asks if I'm sure; I quickly add my name to the top of the paper, which I'd forgotten to do and double check to make sure I haven't missed any questions. When I'm absolutely positive, he takes the paper. Without even looking at it, he puts it into a large envelope and closes it.
"You're not going to read it?" I ask confused.
"The file is for the head of the psychology department. She's the only one that gets to see it." I'm a bit relived by this. I wasn't comfortable answering some of those questions. Knowing that only one person is actually going to see them makes me feel a lot better. There was some seriously embarrassing stuff on there. I was tempted to just make things up for a few of those questions.
He places the large envelope in a tray and then sits down on the edge of the big desk. It's a very unprofessional looking thing to do. "So, one more question. One that isn't in the paper but is probably the most important one of all…," he pauses and as if waiting for my permission to continue.
"Go ahead," I say with a nod of the head.
"Do you want to speak with somebody here ... on a regular basis I mean," he says.
"You mean it's up to me?" This is dumbfounding. They insist I answer their question, but it's my call if I need help or not?
"Mostly. If we're looking over your questionnaire and find out you listed "dead squirrels" as your favorite childhood toy or anything of that nature, we may insist, but for the most part, if you don't feel you need to talk to somebody, we're not going to make you." He chuckles a bit at his own joke far more than it deserved. I wonder if that was part of his rehearsal.
"Okay," I say in a way that I hope also implies, "What's the catch?"
"So, for the record, do you feel you would benefit from counseling?" His tone seems too formal all the sudden. Maybe they told him he has to ask it that particular way to leave no room for confusion.
"Well, I'm not crazy and I'm not going to kill myself or anything, so …" I drag it out hoping to see some kind of reaction on his face. Nothing. Remind me never to play cards with psychiatrists.
"There are people that have problems adjusting to their new circumstances or to school in general. It has nothing to do with being crazy." He has that overly clinical tone in his voice again.
"Nope. I'm good. I don't think I need anybody," I tell him. Yeah, loosing my eye sucks. Being sent to a new school and all that goes with it, it's kinda rough, but I don't think I need to talk to a shrink. I'll be okay by myself. I just need a bit of time to adjust.
"Very well, if you change your mind, feel free to drop by," he says. The official tone is gone in is voice and he's back to friendly again. With that, our business is concluded. He leads me back out into the main hallway. Surprisingly, Tana is already their waiting for me.
"I didn't expect you--" I start.
"I just had to do an update. Nothing really changed from last year so it didn’t take long," she says cutting me off.
That was weird. I thought she had to wait for things to finish. I just stand still without any further comment or movement. Hopefully she'll get the point and explain.
"Sorry. I was just guessing. I thought that you'd see me here and just ask how I got done so quickly, so I just guessed and started talking. I tend to do that to keep up with conversations. I'm usually pretty good at guessing." It feels almost like she's apologizing.
"No, it's my fault. You took me off guard there. So, are we going to wait for Hachisame?" I ask and then stand there and wait for my words to register with her.
"Nah. Her physicals usually take a while. She can catch back up later. We still have other stuff to do, like getting you unpacked, remember?"
"Oh joy. I was hoping you'd forgotten about that," I didn't even realize I was talking out loud until my words came out. "Sorry about that. Never mind. Look, it's not that I don't appreciate it..." I quickly try to cover up my blunder.
It's surreal watching her reaction. F or a minute, she seems rather disappointed at what I said, but before she says anything, my jumbled apology comes across and she seems cheerful again. "No biggie. You don't want help; I'll leave you to your business."
"Thanks. I appreciate that," I tell her. "It's just … this is a lot to take in all at once." We start to walk down the stairs then she turns and grins.
"I know. No problem," she says.
As we walk down the stairways, we each turn to go different directions. She walks a little ways before she notices I'm not following her.
"I know you said you didn't need my help, but you do still have to get your uniforms," she reminds me, thankfully, as it had already slipped my mind. Showing up the first few days of school without any uniforms wouldn't exactly make the best impression. Heh … 'Hi, I didn't have any uniforms, so I decided to show up naked,'. The idea pops into my imagination almost against my will. That'd be a fine way to make myself popular with the boys. I giggle to myself a little bit.
Oh, who am I kidding? Nobody wants to see my scrawny butt.
"Did I miss something?" Tana says trying to turn and look in my direction but missing.
"Sorry, I was just just thinking of something. It's a personal joke," I tell her. I half expected her to ask, but she doesn't. She just smiles and nods and we continue on. I spot a vending machine and dash ahead of her. A cold drink really sounds good right about now. Before Tana can react, I buy her a strawberry milk and mango juice for myself. Maybe I just picked a bad machine, but nothing in this machine has any caffeine in it, which sucks. I could use a bit of a jolt to my system.
"Here you go," I say handing it to her. I let go before she has a firm grip on it and the drink tumbles through the air. I make a grab for it, but miss, my perception again being off completely. The drink hit’s the ground before she can even make a move to try to catch it.
God, I feel horrible.
"It's okay," she says bending down to pick it up. The can rolled a little from where it first hit the ground, so it takes her more than one try to pick it up. I can't help but shudder at the sight. Is this really what life is like for her, reaching for things without even knowing if they're still there? "It's okay," she says again, popping the tab of the can open. "It dented a little bit, but it's drinkable. Thanks." She takes light sips from it as we walk on. I, on the other hand, gulp down my drink and toss the empty can in the bin by the machine. I guess I was so nervous I didn’t realize how thirsty I actually was.
Tana leads me around a few corners in a roundabout way I'll probably never be able to remember. We engage in a bit of clumsy small talk, not once mentioning the drink incident again, and frequently talking over each other or pausing too long waiting for the other to talk. Conversation isn't exactly easy with somebody like her …
Somebody like her? Is there anybody like her? I've never heard of anybody that has a condition like that. Ever. Yet here she is. I'm wondering if there's any other people like this at the school, people that are here because there's no place else that they can function.
Before I realize it, Time Warp stops at a door that doesn't look too different from any other door we've seen so far. She waits or me to open it (or maybe that's her natural pause, I can't tell) and follows me inside. The room itself is large and filled with shelves and racks of clothes. It would almost look like a store if the clothes weren't all in the same basic style and colors.
"You know what you need?" Tana asks me.
"The basics, summer uniform, winter uniform, gym clothes, that stuff, right?" I say as I flip through a rack of blouses looking for my size. There's the standard pause and then Time Warp answers.
"This school doesn't really do the whole, summer/winter uniform stuff. Get both, sure, but don't worry about which one you have to wear." I suppose that make sense. Some people might be more susceptible to the cold or heat. Looking around, I noticed a few uniforms are made out of different materials from the rest, probably for students with allergies, sensitive skin, or who knows what other kind of problem. Even the clothes here are a reminder that the students aren't normal.
"Can I help you?" A voice reveals a short man sitting behind a counter, half hidden by a movie magazine he was reading.
"I'm new," I say. Probably the best and easiest explanation I can give.
"I'm just replacing a few things," Time Warp answers a little bit after I do.
The man dives behind the counter and in a short time produces a few papers and a clipboard. He waves the papers in the air beckoning me to take them and sets the clipboard down on the desk. "Just write down what you take and sign it," the man says getting back to his magazine without any further fuss. He doesn't seem too excited about his job.
The paper is a checklist of what items make up a uniform and explaining how many things I can take before the school charges my parents extra. I also notice a brief explanation of the dress code. I skim it, but even just doing that, I can already tell that this is probably the most relaxed code I've ever seen.
Several minuets later, I've filled up a rather large plastic bag full of clothes, and Time Warp has gotten whatever she came for. I'm sure my parents won't mind being billed for a couple of extra blouses and skirts. We sign for our items and head back to the dorms. After All this time, Hachisame still hasn't caught up with us.
"So, what did you get?" Time Warp asks.
"Umm ... Uniforms?" I hate giving her such a sort answer, considering how hard it is for us to really speak, but I don't get what she's asking.
She takes a few more steps before she's able to answer. "No no. I mean what sort of things did you get. Rin, for instance, she wears the boys' uniform. Hachisame wears the boys top with an ankle length skirt, and I wear the girls top and rock the mini-skirt."
You can do that? Damn. I almost want to go back and swap uniforms now. "Oh. I didn't know they allowed girls to wear guys stuff and I wasn't even paying attention to skirt length. I just assumed they were all the same." Yet again, I feel like an idiot.
"Oh yeah, there's a few girls that wear the pants, and even more than that wear the tops. I guess the school just wants to make everybody feel comfortable. I dunno," she shrugs a bit and giggles. "There's even one guy that wears the girls uniform but he's a bit off. I think he graduated last year anyway."
I can't help but laugh a little bit at that. No clue if she's joking or not, but the mental imagine is funny. My old school wouldn't let anyone get away with anything like this no matter what was wrong with them.
It doesn't take much longer before we're back at the dorms, which is good, because my arms were getting tired. "So, want to hang out a bit?" Tana asks as I fish though my pockets for my room key.
"Sorry, I really have to unpack. Maybe later?" I feel bad about ditching her, but the smile never drops from her face. Obviously she doesn't take it as an insult. I just need a bit of time by myself here.
"That's cool. No biggie. Catch, up with you later then," she smiles and waves. She's still waving when I close the door. I'm sure it's not the first time it's happened to her, which frankly, makes me feel sorry for her even more. I glance in the mirror again seeing the red slash where my eye used to be and feel even worse. I've been feeling sorry for myself, and there are people like her out that that would probably kill to have it as easy as I do.
God, even the people trying to make me feel better about things are making me feel rotten.
Last edited by Oddball on Sat Feb 02, 2019 10:36 am, edited 8 times in total.
Not Dead Yet
-
Mirage_GSM
- Posts: 6148
- Joined: Mon Jun 28, 2010 2:24 am
- Location: Germany
Re: Freaks and Friends
Typos or is that guy just talking funny?"Jumping right in head first, eh? Ambition of you."
"The file is for the head of the psychotically department...
Looks like copy-pasta here."We still have to get you’re your uniforms,"
That's be a fine way to make myself popular with the boys.
Inflationary use of genitive."Here's you go,
The drink hit’s the ground
Oriental towers?Several minuets later,
Emi > Misha > Hanako > Lilly > Rin > Shizune
My collected KS-Fan Fictions: Mirage's Myths
My collected KS-Fan Fictions: Mirage's Myths
Sore wa himitsu desu.griffon8 wrote:Kosher, just because sex is your answer to everything doesn't mean that sex is the answer to everything.
Re: Freaks and Friends
Cases of automatic spell correction correcting it into the wrong words.Typos or is that guy just talking funny?
Not Dead Yet
-
Silentcook
- Carelessly Cooking You
- Posts: 2572
- Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:22 am
- Location: Imola, Italy
Re: Freaks and Friends
I SHALL MURDER YOU AND FEED ON YOUR STEAMING ENTRAILSOddball wrote:automatic spell correction
*cough*
Shattering your dreams since '94. I also fought COVID in '20 and '21, and all I got was this lousy forum sig.
Re: Freaks and Friends
Calm down. It's not like I run a program and assume it's going to fix everything for me. It's just that the program I use sometimes automatically "fixes" certain spelling errors and I didn't catch those ones when I went back over it.Silentcook wrote:I SHALL MURDER YOU AND FEED ON YOUR STEAMING ENTRAILSOddball wrote:automatic spell correction
*cough*
Not Dead Yet
Re: Freaks and Friends
I like the flow of your story, but Mirage didn't even touch on how many little little mistakes there are throughout. Just clerical stuff, mostly; misuse of 'you're', misplaced periods, superfluous apostrophes, a few confused sentences and the like.
A fine-toothed comb and a few hours spent editing could work wonders.
Other than that, I have no idea where this is going, but it feels like a slow build-up, so I'm not surprised there hasn't been a lot happening yet. More coming, I gather?
A fine-toothed comb and a few hours spent editing could work wonders.
Other than that, I have no idea where this is going, but it feels like a slow build-up, so I'm not surprised there hasn't been a lot happening yet. More coming, I gather?