New Accomodations [Closed RP: Satou, Jasper, the raptor]

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

((Permission to control the raptor granted by its player. Feel free to jump in when/if ever you want, though, and if not I'll just have the dino act as you suggested. Poor Satou. Timeline-wise, this takes place before Jasper realises Alice has come back.))

Following the two horrendous slip-ups that had occurred during his Sorting, Jasper was relieved beyond measure to finally be free of the crowded, suffocating room. (He also had the creeping suspicion he'd been quasi-molested by talking headgear, but pondering that was perhaps best left for another day.)

If Edward hadn't been there to intervene...

Jasper would have to thank him for it later, when his nerves weren't quite so raw. Edward would understand.

In the meantime he had a bribe to fulfill, which was the sole reason he hadn't taken off running for the nearest castle exit yet. Disappearing into the woods for a few days was an appealing thought. Unsurprisingly, he was less keen now on sharing Satou's room—what if he lost control again?—but he fully intended to keep his word for as long as he could. As high-strung as Satou sometimes acted, Jasper didn't particularly mind his new roommate's presence. He was easy enough to keep calm, and seemed pretty agreeable in that state, so ideally it would be smooth sailing from here on out.

Slinging his bag over a shoulder, he lightly patted the raptor's snout and then turned to Satou. "Are you ready to go?"

Comments

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"Ha, ready, yes, of course." Satou was nervous as well, but that was something of a default state with him. Sharing a room at all was a rather drastic step, but if it meant feeling so good all the time...

"It's this way," he said, starting out towards the Ravenclaw tower.

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

It seemed unfair to completely ease Satou's current nervousness—he still had time to change his mind, after all, and it wasn't as though Jasper would hold it against him if he did. It might almost be a relief, actually...

He fell into step with Satou, making sure to walk at a slower, more human pace. The raptor followed behind them, occasionally sniffing at Satou's back and making low grumbling sounds Jasper had no idea how to interpret.

"Are you sure you don't mind sharing your room? We can always come up with some other arrangement, if you do."

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"I want to feel..." Satou wrung his hands. His reclusive nature was very much at odds with his ache for the sense of peace he knew Jasper could provide, and he stifled a whimper. "Why shouldn't I want company, ha ha, what a ridiculous idea. I'm very social, having someone around will be great!"

Which sounded a lot better than 'I want to keep my dealer on tap'.

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

Satou was sadly mistaken if he thought he was fooling anyone, but it seemed unkind to point that out, so Jasper just let it go.

"Oh, well, I'm not usually too social myself," he said, and it wasn't exactly a lie. "I'll probably spend most of my time studying, assuming the library here allows books to be taken out."

He was still trying to get a feel for Satou's particular brand of weirdness. Not having to worry about constantly maintaining conversation and pretending to be socially functional would hopefully relieve his anxiety the old-fashioned way.

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"I spent a lot of time on the computer at home." Better not to say what he was doing on it. "I mean, I was a creator! My friend and I had our own game company."

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

"No computers in this place, then? What kind of games did you make? Maybe I've played them." Jasper did occasionally enjoy gaming and being online, but it was very unlikely either pursuit had led him into the wonderful world of eroge yet.

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"Well, we're, ha, we're still working on our first game." In fairness to Yamazaki, that was Satou's fault. "I haven't seen any computers here yet."

There were some, he just hadn't found them.

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

"I wonder if they're not allowed. Why don't you find out? You should finish your game," he said in an encouraging tone. Since Satou probably wasn't doing anything else productive at Hogwarts.

It'd be easy enough to get a computer from outside the wizarding world. Jasper would have no real use for it beyond maybe email, conveniently leaving it free for Satou the rest of the time. Something to look into.

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"I'd need Yamazaki for that," he admitted. "I write the scenario, he does the programming."

Look out, Jasper, the hard drive would be full of porn in no time.

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

As long as Satou wouldn't leave the keyboard disgustingly crusty, the porn could be politely ignored.

"Couldn't you email back and forth? Although the internet may not work here..." He hadn't seen any power lines, anyway, but that didn't rule out satellite technology. And after Jasper meets Starscream, he could ask for the giant robot's help.

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

Satou is, at least, still civilized enough to use Kleenex.

"Email, of course, I could try that..." Not that Satou would be likely to write much without Yamazaki constantly goading him. And although he would be unlikely to admit it, Satou missed Yamazaki and Misaki very much.

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

"Your friend might show up here too," Jasper said, nudging the raptor away as it tried nibbling on his hair again. "You were brought here unexpectedly, weren't you? At my Sorting it sounded like I'm one of the few people who came here intentionally."

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

He was a little confused by the spark of hope that lit within him at that idea. Did he really want to see them that much?

"If Misaki was here, she'd want to continue our sessions," he said with a small laugh, then put a hand over his mouth; he hadn't meant to mention those!

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

Poor Satou. One can't just dangle information like that—made all the more enticing by his subtly lifted mood—and not expect to be questioned.

"Sessions?" he asked lightly, glancing at Satou as they walked.

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"Ah, conversations." They reached the Ravenclaw tower, and Satou paused to give the password. "She's a troubled girl and we talk a lot, to try and help."

Well, it was true that Misaki was troubled, but it was, after all, Satou they were trying to help.

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

Jasper smiled to himself as he took in the Ravenclaw common room. It had a nice atmosphere. He wouldn't mind studying there instead whenever Satou seemed to be needing some, ahem, alone time, as he inevitably would sometimes.

"You enjoy her company," he guessed. Or they were so used to each other the familiarity was a comfort? "Well, I won't mind moving out when and if either of your friends show up here," he said with only a hint of teasing.

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"I what? Oh, ha ha, no, nothing like that, we're not like that, We only went on a pretend date once for my mother's sake."

Not that he hadn't had some rather embarassing thoughts about her.

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

"I wasn't implying anything," he said innocently. "I just assume rooming with friends might be preferable to rooming with a relative stranger." But probably not in this case.

"You didn't wish it were a real date?"

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"Misaki? Oh, no, we just know each other, that's all." To be honest, Satou wasn't sure how he felt. Misaki had certainly been pretty, all dressed up.

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

Jasper contemplated giving Satou a little emotional nudge in what he thought to be the right direction, but it, again, seemed unfair to do so.

He lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "If you say so. I'm not good at giving dating advice anyway." Considering his last advice in that vein had been to suggest Edward kill the object of his infatuation. And then planning to do so himself. Oops.

"How is she troubled?"

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"Well, she latched on to me," he said with a nervous laugh, weaving his way through through the Ravenclaw corridors to his room. "She's very lonely and she needed someone to talk to, and she could tell that I had a lot of free time."

That wasn't even a lie.

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

((Is it safe to assume his room is probably fairly disorganised?))

"Being lonely isn't so unusual," he said lightly as he followed Satou into his room, then stepped aside for the raptor, who promptly began stalking around as though trying to sniff something out.

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

((Oh yes. He hasn't been at Hogwarts for it to be a REAL disaster area but it's definitely a mess. Thankfully the house elves will keep it from being unhygenic!))

"No, ha, of course not." He ineffectually nudged at a pile of clothes on the floor. "She's a nice enough girl, just, ha, has some trouble talking to people."

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

"That's not very unusual either," he pointed out with a faint smile. "It's nice you were helping her."

Sure enough there was an extra bed, and plenty of space, so thankfully they wouldn't be living on top of each other. Jasper took a seat on the spare bed and dropped his bag at his feet, glancing around at the clutter with the unmistakable disapproving look of a neat freak.

But it was only half his room now, and his urge to keep his living space inhumanly tidy (no pun intended) might be a source of stress for Satou... Maybe he could neaten the room subtly, one item per day. He did have the patience for it.

"Not a bad setup. This is much nicer than what some colleges offer, even some ivy leagues." Not that he necessarily knew from experience, though he'd attended dozens of colleges. He'd never lived on campus.

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"I had my own apartment, even when I was in college." That might not have been a good thing; he wouldn't have been able to isolate himself as completely in a dorm. "I've never actually shared a room with anyone before. You'll have to tell me if I start to get too horrible."

Living alone for too long, after all, could make anyone start to go a little strange.