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]

He gave Jasper a suspicious glance; was this mockery? But he didn't voice his misgivings.

"I will, then. I haven't met very many people here."

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

He was being perfectly serious, but refrained from pointing that out. It would only make him seem more suspicious to someone who was already overly paranoid.

"Chances are you know more than I do." That was meant to be encouraging. "And I've heard some aren't worth knowing." Satou and the Invisible Man should definitely never meet which means they totally should.

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"I met someone nice when I was getting dinner once," he said a little shyly. "She gave me a scarf."

Oh, that poor, poor scarf.

"And the man from the past who showed me the way to Ravenclaw."

By whom he meant Yukimura.

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

((Sooo I've started the NHK anime, and I'm loving how weird it is. His delusions are strangely cute, like the yelling appliances.))

Said scarf was hopefully being laundered regularly. The fact Satou must have made enough of a positive impression on someone to warrant a gift was heartening. There was hope for him yet!

"Sounds like you've met some of the good ones. What do you mean by, 'from the past'? Is that a normal occurrence here, time being messed up? My two family members here are actually from the past, too. Somehow..."

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

((They left it out of the anime, but in the book and the manga Satou had rather a taste for drugs... no wonder his appliances talk to him! And OMG Yamazaki. I love Yamazaki so much and would give good BPAL to have one.))

Thanks to the fastidiousness of the house elves, the scarf in question was kept clean and fresh, and with Jasper sharing the room, would be spending more of its time in that blessed state.

"From several hundred years in the past, or so he said. Sanada Yukimura. Famous warrior. He might have been lying, of course."

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

((He's just now been introduced, crying at his desk, ahahah. Aww, and Satou isn't a complete social leper after all...))

Jasper recognised the name, naturally. When and if he ever met the man in person, he'd probably be surprised by Yukimura looking much younger and... well, prettier... than the fearsome daimyo he was always pictured as.

"That's a weird thing to lie about," he said skeptically. "Of course, no physical records would exist to prove his identity. Maybe he's an overenthusiastic cosplayer?" Thankfully he had more tact than to ever accuse Yukimura of that to his face.

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"Maybe. He seemed very calm and confident about it, though." Of course, Satou's only real first-hand exposure to cosplayers had been that trip to Akihabara... "And he didn't seem as much intent on impressing me as I'd expect a cosplayer to be."

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

"That could all be part of the persona..."

Their Japancentric conversation reminded him of something else he'd been wondering. He shifted to lie back on the bed, staring at the ceiling with a faint frown. "This may sound strange, but are you speaking English right now?"

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"I don't speak English," Satou admitted. He'd done very poorly in the subject in school, and what he had learned hadn't stayed with him.

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

"I understand Japanese," he said, demonstrating by saying it in Japanese. "But to me you're speaking perfect English," he finished, in said language.

He glanced over at the raptor, who was currently making himself a nest out of Satou's clutter. "Can't understand the dinosaur, but I could understand the dog, Wishbone, at my Sorting. Do we all sound like we're speaking Japanese to you, then?"

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"I never really thought about it," he said, looking confused. "Of course you'd be speaking Japanese, otherwise I wouldn't understand it. But you're telling me you're not, and people aren't?"

It was a very strange idea, but then, this was a very strange place.

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

"I'm speaking English. Whatever magic is at work translates everything into our native language, I think," Jasper replied. "There was a man at my sorting, Kusuriyuri, who spoke very formally, in the third person. A native English speaker wouldn't do that consistently." Unless they were a pretentious douchebag, anyway. "I believe he was actually speaking Japanese, too. And some of his words didn't translate fully."

He chuckled quietly. "The magic here is interesting."

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"It makes me uncomfortable, really." Satou tried to smile. It came out as more of a grimace. "So many things that I don't understand, can't control, and don't know how to stop or avoid."

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

"The magic is probably only designed to help us. Supposedly no one can die on school grounds, either, due to magic. You shouldn't worry about it." This was accompanied by a drifting feeling of placidity, the empath equivalent of a comforting hand on the shoulder.

"Or..." He smiled. "Study it. Then you'll understand."

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

The wave of calm made a visible change in Satou's demeanor; his tense, drawn-up shoulders relaxed, and his wrinkled brow smoothed.

"Ha, yes, of course, why shouldn't I learn? I'm sure it will be easy."

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

((Aaack. Sorry, never got the email notif on this.))

"The basics are probably very easy, if it's the norm for young children here to learn them..."

He wouldn't go so far as suggesting they study together (no sense in turning it into an anxiety-laden obligation), but he'd be content if Satou even pretended to glance through textbooks every now and then.

"It must be pretty late by now," he realised, but was apparently too comfortably sprawled on the bed to bother moving to check his watch. "When do you usually go to bed?"

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

((Lj's being like that! Notifs have gone astray in other threads I'm in too.))

As if prompted, Satou yawned. "I mostly just... nap when I'm tired," he admitted. "A few hours here, a few hours there. No set schedule. It's what I'm used to."

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

((I'm not getting any under any account now, and two are paid. :/ Oh LJ, why so faily. Unless it's Gmail...))

"Good, I probably won't disturb you much then. I stay up... reading, a lot. But I can kill the lights if they ever bother you." He contemplated whether or not to feign sleep. Would Satou even care that he was rooming with a bloodsucker who never slept and fantasised about eating people the very non-sexy way?

He reached over the side of the bed to rifle through his bag, presumably in search of something to change into for pretend-sleep-time.

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

And Satou probably wouldn't care, wouldn't care if Jasper ate widows and orphans by the dozen as long as he kept the good feelings coming.

"I'm used to it," he shrugged, lying down on his own bed without bothering to undress. "I sleep in the daytime a lot, and the sun gets in around my blinds, but I can sleep through that, so it shouldn't bbe a problem if you leave a light on."

[j-whitlock.livejournal.com]

He didn't need light to see, strictly speaking, but it made it that much easier to read. He'd keep the light off when Satou was sleeping just to be considerate. (Was this what it was like to be someone's pet vampire?)

In his search he came across a folded note he couldn't recall packing, and stared in surprise at Alice's familiar handwriting. The instructions made very little sense, but...

"How late do you suppose the library is open?" he asked as he got up, giving the now sleeping raptor a wary glance. Hopefully he wouldn't bother Satou. "Might as well—um, pick up some books to read. I'll be back in a while." Presumably after getting laid. Awesome.

[hikikomoriways.livejournal.com]

"I don't know. I haven't been there - yet, anyway," he added hastily. "There don't seem to be many rules here. You can probably go whenever you want." He crossed his arms behind his head and stared at the ceiling.