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 Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 9:23 pm
There was a bit of a shrug. "Not all creatures have powers from there, I don't think. Bergie-" He smiled wryly at the nickname, it was cute. "I think is a bit of an exception. Or the turtle has some amazing powers and we just don't know, that could be it too. I once saw a lizard that I thought was normal and it turned out to be a bit of a trickster." A bit of a trickster was an understatement - that apple was a cruel joke and it fully knew it too. He hated the thing.
"I do need your shirt all the way off though. I can't treat anything without seeing and it can get in the way." He looked towards Shiloh though, who seemed to be helping. "I'll try and be quick." It wasn't much of a promise but it was something.
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Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 8:33 am
Conflicted, Jamie was conflicted. It's not that he didn't want to entirely; his chest hurt and he was afraid of infection and he hated to disagree with anyone, especially an authority, because arguing just wasn't in his nature. Taking off his shirt was scary, though. It was so damn frightening because kids could be so cruel and for a moment Jamie was back in elementary at his very first pool party, so goddamn excited he'd finally been invited to one, only to have his heart broken as they laughed and he cried.
Jamie was weak and those kinds of memories tore at him deeply.
"I..." he tried, feeling the lump in his throat as he worked to hold back the panic. It felt so stupid to start freaking out over this when everything had finally calmed. His face was red. "I don't-"
Looking at Shiloh, Jamie's eyes widened. "W-We can...?" The question was almost desperate. It felt so selfish when Shiloh had been rejecting the help so adamantly earlier, but if he didn't have to do this alone, then maybe it would be okay. They'd promised to be there for each other. Jamie still felt guilty, but...
"O-Okay." Turning back to Chris, he tried to make eye contact but failed. "O-Okay, Mr. Watts... I'm... I'm sorry for being... difficult."
It was painfully slow, but Jamie tugged off his soaked jacket first, hanging it over the edge of the tub before fiddling with the hem of his torn shirt. His eyes never left the floor, but he eventually slipped it off over his head, wincing at the contact with his wound and the way the motion stretched his skin. Even now he was nervous, his face still tinted in embarrassment as one of the things he hated the most was exposed for Chris and Shiloh to see.
Maybe it was childish to get this upset over something as simple as a birthmark, but it was significant to Jamie.
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Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 1:19 pm
Shiloh was torn. Part of him wanted to look away. He wanted to give Jamie both the privacy and comfort of being there without prying with his eyes. In another sense he was curious, he wonders, and another part still wonders if looking away would do more harm than good. Whatever Jamie's hiding—whatever insecurity lies under his shirt—Shiloh wants to acknowledge it. He wants to look at Jamie the way he's always looked at Jamie, because whatever fear it is he has, whatever emotion he's feeling that's stopping him...
Well, Shiloh said they'd be there for each other, right?
He was still busying himself with the first aid kid when Jamie started to slip his jacket off. Unraveling a roll of gauze in his hand, Shiloh finally turned when he heard the wet sopping sound of submerged fabric hitting the tiled floor. "Here Chris, I—"
Shiloh stopped when he looked at Jamie, eyes immediately drawn to the birthmark, but his expression was hardly hostile or demeaning. Instead, despite all the s**t and stress they'd been through tonight, his eyes broke through with an almost childlike wonder.
"Wow Jamie..." he stopped gawking long enough to start handing supplies over to Chris, "You kinda look like a gold fish... or maybe a koi?" he was tapping his own shoulder tactlessly, but innocently. "Maybe that's why you like fish so much."
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Posted: Mon Jun 06, 2016 6:25 pm
It was easy to see why Jamie was reluctant to take off his shirt once it actually came off. He couldn't see the birthmark fully but with his height, he was able to see that it wrapped over his shoulder. It surprised Chris for a moment and he could only smile a touch at Shiloh's comments, taking the supplies from him easily.
"It's okay Jamie. Kind of like Shiloh said, impressive birthmark," He said, while fussing with a washcloth to get it wet and gently wipe at his chest. "I don't think you'll need rubbing alcohol, it's pretty clean looking. I hope I'm not hurting you or anything, just say if I am."
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Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2016 12:58 pm
The world stopped for Jamie in that small apartment bathroom. Breath hitched, body instinctively bracing, he tried to tell himself he was prepared. Whatever they had to say—good, bad, or indifferent—it didn't matter. It didn't matter. It didn't matter.
Except it did matter and it mattered a lot.
"You kinda look like a gold fish... or maybe a koi?"
Jamie opened his eyes, ones he hadn't even realized he was squeezing shut defensively. They swept over to Shiloh, who was looking back at him not with disgust, but with what could only be described as wonder. Then it was gone, just like that, because time had started again and everyone was moving on as if things were absolutely normal.
Or... maybe they weren't completely normal, because Jamie let himself think for a second that there might not be anything wrong with him. He was like a fish, his all time favorite animal. The birthmark wasn't gross, it was impressive, like a koi's back. Jamie couldn't completely believe it yet, but Chris and Shiloh had given him validation he desperately needed.
"T-Thank you..." he sighed out as he gently reached up to touch his own shoulder, because he wasn't sure what else to say or do. "I, um, I will, Mr. Watts." Moving his arm away, he let his teacher work. It did hurt, despite his gentle it was, and he winced here and there. "I'm okay..."
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Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2016 3:00 pm
Jamie was nervous, that might had been obvious. He had been terrified, scared... but the thing was (and Shiloh couldn't say it really, not yet, not in this situation, but maybe someday—) that Jamie was strong. A lot stronger than he realized. For all the s**t they'd been through tonight, for all the s**t they'd been through in the entirety of their lives, Jamie was strong.
As was Shiloh, as was Chris, but Jamie needed to hear it the most. Shiloh knew this, because when he looked at Jamie in such a state of vulnerability, he saw a facet of himself from the past. A younger Shiloh that desperately needed to hear those words, hear that validation. He never got it. Shiloh had to learn it himself. The words were on the tip of his tongue, but they didn't leave. Not yet, but he thought it, and it made him smile in an exhausted sort of way. He had to hold up his end of the bargain.
Chris was still busy with cleaning up Jamie, and that was fine. There was a loud plop as Shiloh's own saturated shirt landed unceremoniously on the ground. There in all of its glory was the full extent of Shiloh's wounds; the tear in his shoulder looking nasty and raw. There were no birthmarks to speak of, nothing natural marking his body that he was shy of, struggling to hide.
No, his insecurities were carved into his arms. Some of them were small and discolored, some deep and raised; the only comfort, if there was any to be had, was that none of them looked fresh. They were demons from a darker time, lingering scars that marked him as a survivor.
Didn't make him any less... ashamed was the wrong word, because he wasn't ashamed of them, not really. He was scared because they showed a reflection of his character and like Jamie, he didn't want to be judged, he didn't want to be gawked at, he didn't want to be the focal point of someones attention, not in the surely negative way it would bring. He didn't want to be thought less of for something he couldn't control.
So it made sense, when he started to gather up peroxide and bandages, as to how he knew this strange routine of patching himself up. Chris would probably finish with Jamie before Shiloh was done with himself—and he wouldn't reject the help—but he didn't want to stand around waiting either when he was chilled to the bone and tired.
"No reason to thank anyone, Jamie." Shiloh said, somewhat belatedly. His expression twisted as he doused his wound with a little too much antiseptic, trying to ignore the familiar sting.
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:55 am
Chris only hummed in reply to Jamie, fully focused on trying to clean out the blood that was around the cuts as gently as he could. To get everything as clean as possible before he smeared on his salve and bandaged it the best he could manage. He wasn't great at the whole bandages part but he could try his best and Shiloh was around so he could possibly help. He seemed experienced at the whole thing.
It was a little easier to manage himself while in the bathroom, just doing something simple and almost repetitious. He could decompress a little without having to think about everything, unpack some of the weird s**t that had happened.
Accept that he'd have to protect Shiloh and Jamie now, he best he could. Least he could do, honestly, what with feeling like he had dragged them in, in some manner.
"Shiloh's right Jamie," Chris said absently, swiping at his chest one last time before finally deeming it acceptable. "Are you allergic to any plants, by any chance? You too for that question Shiloh, allergic to anything?"
He glanced up finally, rising the washcloth out and looking to see where the antiseptic had gone. He had registered more clothing hitting the ground but hadn't bothered entirely to look up in the moment, too focused on Jamie. So it was a bit of a surprise to see Shiloh had finally unclothed and was standing there with the missing antiseptic, putting it on his shoulder cut with a grimace.
Chris was pretty observant but even if he wasn't, it would be hard to miss Shiloh's arms. Whatever he wanted to say next - something about bandages, he thought, slipped from his mind as he could only stare at the scars.
It wasn't something he had ever seen in person, nothing he had ever had to try and help with. Even when Hyejin was self destructing, she hadn't done anything to affect herself physically. Mentally, yes, but nothing physical and Chris had been spared trying to figure it out. It was hard enough to hide everything in the first place from his nosy parents and this only would've made it a little more difficult. He had been thankful at the time when a desperate, fifteen year old version of him had been trying to look up on google something, anything to help her out with everything going on. Now he just felt bad nine years later that he didn't know anything at all.
The small comfort that could be offered from none of them being recent was taken and held to Chris' heart quickly. He didn't know what he could do if it wasn't, if it would be overstepping his bounds and making something worse. It was clear why Shiloh hadn't been comfortable with him helping earlier and Chris was clearly out his depth. This wasn't something he could help.
Regardless, "Oh, Shiloh..." slipped out before Chris realized it, soft and concerned, instead of pitying which was a small mercy. He stiffened at his own words but pressed his lips firmly together and instead shifted to just look for bandages to wrap Jamie's torso with instead after the salve. This wasn't his place to say anything and he hoped Shiloh hadn't heard, that he could pretend he hadn't said anything at all.
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Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2016 2:59 pm
Wet clothing had such a unique and obvious sound when it hit tile. It was an unusual thing to know, but Jamie loved the water, he loved swimming, and even though he'd given up on public pools because of his birthmark, he still loved to play outside in the sprinkler as a kid. When he could convince himself the neighbors weren't watching, at least. Countless times he'd changed out of wet clothes in the bathroom, so it was no surprise that he recognized Shiloh had taken his shirt off.
Jamie didn't look right away, he didn't want to interrupt Chris's work. "I'm... not allergic to any plants," he said, glancing down at his own cleaned up wounds for a moment. "Or anything that I know of."
To be fair, interrupting Chris wasn't the only reason Jamie didn't look right away. There was a part of him that worried, too, over what it was Shiloh meant to hide. There was a part of him that wanted nothing more than to respect his friend's privacy, to know that they shared a similar fear, but that he didn't need to know why to believe they could bond over it. They could understand each other. At the same time, he was conflicted. Both Shiloh and Chris had looked at him. They had accepted his self-perceived flaw as if it wasn't a flaw at all. They had treated him like they always did. They had been kind and he appreciated both of them so much for that.
The least he could do was acknowledge and accept Shiloh, too, because no matter what it was, their friendship was so much more important to him.
Looking up, Jamie's eyes lingered on Chris for a moment, hung on the way he was staring, fixated, somewhere that definitely wasn't at the wound on his chest. That's when Jamie finally looked, that's when he turned towards Shiloh and let his eyes settle first on the injury, raw and painful looking. It wasn't until Chris uttered those words, the two he wished he hadn't let slip or that anyone had heard, that Jamie's eyes wandered and found the likely source of Shiloh's reluctance.
They weren't apparent at first, the scars, because Shiloh's arms were busy and Jamie didn't know what to expect. When he saw them, though, his heart sank and he swallowed hard against the huge lump in his throat. It was hard, but he forced himself not to stare when every fiber of his being wanted to. Instead he looked at Shiloh's face and wallowed in his own concerns before he had to look away.
Nothing had changed. It was just like his birthmark in the sense that Shiloh was still Shiloh. Jamie couldn't deny the worry he felt for his friend and the implications of what he'd done, but thinking less of him, judging him... completely impossible.
"D-Do you need help...?" he asked, even though Chris wasn't done bandaging him yet. Looking from Chris to back at Shiloh, he tried to smile. It was a wobbly sort of smile, but he genuinely tried.
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2016 5:47 pm
Shiloh expected a reaction. After all, why wouldn't he? Years and years and years spent growing up in that awkward middle-to-high school stage meant exposure to a lot of things; most of them bad, very few good. There was a certain stigma to what he'd done. Either that, or it was heavily underplayed.
He was either a stereotype or he was an attention seeker. So he covered them up.
And he never told anyone, sans his brother. God bless Oliver for always trying to be understanding and empathetic.
And even though he expected the reaction, he had hoped that it would stay with looks—gawking, even—just not words, god not words. It would only take a single "Why" for his resolve to crumble, because what would he have to say? Would he have to spill his entire life story? He wasn't up to par for that, not right now. Would Chris press into his home life? Would Jamie think less of him? No, no... they wouldn't, they wouldn't think or do anything like that at all, right?
"Oh, Shiloh..."
Shiloh looked up when he heard his name, eyes watching back at both Chris and Jamie as they stared. "Oh, Chris." he retorted, trying to carry on with his shoulder like nothing was happening.
Still, his voice was without venom. It was simply tired and worn; an honest reflection of his current character. Mutely, he slipped the peroxide back to Chris, setting it on the edge of the sink.
"Thanks, but I—" he looked up at Jamie when he spoke, pausing when he caught the wobbly smile. It was genuine, innocent, trusting. Shiloh swallowed. "—But I... maybe when you're done, yeah. I'm not allergic to anything either." he bit his lip, sighing as he took a temporary seat on the edge of the bathtub. Wouldn't hurt to let the antiseptic set.
And honestly, it'd probably be better if someone else tended to his shoulder. The positioning was a little awkward. At this point, he just wanted to throw himself face down into a pillow. Who knew how well his motor skills were functioning at this point.
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Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2016 11:40 pm
Chris flinched slightly at Shiloh's reply - even without the venom in it that he expected, it still hurt a little to hear it. He wanted more than anything to help, but this was so beyond him and he knew that even just saying something was going too far. What he had with Shiloh was still new and fragile, still prone to breaking. He didn't want to break that trust.
Maybe some time in the future, Chris could ask. He could help, if he learned and knew, if Shiloh needed it, or wanted it.
But for now he was dropping it entirely and honestly, it never made Shiloh any less of a person than he was now. He was still here and still Shiloh and that was all that mattered.
"That's good I have this.. salve I made. It's like neosporin but it should help everything heal a little faster," Chris said, opening the mason jar. It looked like a normal cream and smelled strongly of lavender and mint. He decided to leave out the part that magic was involved, that it had protecting properties alongside healing. They had done enough tonight. He pulled a little out of the jar on his fingers, spreading it along the cuts on Jamie's chest.
He offered the jar to Jamie, realizing it was probably a little weird for him to just be doing it. "Here, if you want to. I mean, after this I just have to wrap it up with should be quick."
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Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2016 4:12 pm
The relief at Shiloh's acceptance was honestly deeper and more profound than the relief Jamie had felt when they landed safely (albeit messily) into Chris's apartment. It made him feel like Shiloh was willing to let him in even though he was obviously nervous, just like they'd promised in the early morning hours one night when he'd had a bad dream. That support and acceptance... that alone was a blessing.
"Okay, thanks Shiloh..." he muttered, offering his smile a short moment longer before turning back to Chris. Whatever their teacher had put in that salve he made, it honestly smelled amazing. Wait now, give him a second. The sharp, pointed sweetness had to be mint; it made his lung feel cool when he breathed it in. The lavender was familiar, but not something he could pick out right away. Jamie supposed it didn't really matter, though, he already felt like a nerd for analyzing it.
"It smells nice..." Voicing his thoughts out loud this time, he breathed in deep as Chris handed him the jar. He didn't mind helping, spreading a bit on his own wound as it began to tingle. It didn't hurt, though, not anymore than it already did. It was... refreshing almost.
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Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2016 2:53 pm
Shiloh did well on promises, all things considered.
"Salve that you... made?" Shiloh narrowed his eyes. First Chris has the absolutely asinine amount of plants in his house and his school office, and now he was brewing up witch s**t? The questions just spiraled more and more out of proportion, and Shiloh was just too ******** tired. He wouldn't ask now; it'd be a problem for futureloh.
"I don't smell nothin." and maybe that was because he wasn't some weird bunny-human hybrid, so he'd take Jamie's word on it. "But if you say it works..." he watched Jamie apply it himself, eyes maybe lingering a little too long on how he tended to his chest. The cuts were a lot more gruesome up close, despite being clean now. They were so much bigger compared to his small, delicate fingers, their gentle motions and—
What the ******** Beaumont.
"W-What's even in it, anyway?" he glanced away, changing the subject with a genuine curiosity. So much for being too exhausted to inquire.
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Posted: Sat Sep 10, 2016 7:40 pm
"What it's made of?" Chris paused for a second in his rummaging around for clean gauze pads and more bandages. "If I remember correctly, coconut oil, olive oil, comfrey, calendula, beeswax, honey, lavender, and mint," He listed off, thanking that he was actually able to remember what was in it. It had been made in a less than great moment.
"I'm glad you like the smell Jamie," He said, offering him the gauze and bandages vaguely to the pair. He didn't mind who took it, so long as it was from his hands and as long as he got the jar in return.
"I could drive you home, after this?" He offered, wondering if they would take it. It wouldn't surprise him if they preferred to walk, if they wouldn't want his company, but he would still offer it. Really, it was a weird enough night that Chris didn't want to force anything on anyone. He just wanted it to be over with.
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2016 7:50 am
In return for gauze and bandages, Jamie handed back the small jar, ever innocent of Shiloh's thoughts. Instead, a light came to his eyes, a burst of vitality between bouts of exhaustion. "I knew it was mint!" he exclaimed, all but ignoring the multitude of other ingredients. Jamie looked proud of himself as he delicately pressed squares of gauze to his chest, hiding the angry scratches from sight.
"Could someone help with the bandages?" this time he sounded a touch sheepish before his attention was swayed by Chris's question. In a way, Jamie didn't want to leave. The thought of facing his parents with his mutated feet and pointy ears while explaining why he was injured was frightening. At the same time, though, he wanted to be home, to see his fish, to snuggle into his own bed and find the comfort that came with such familiarities.
"I..." he looked to Shiloh, eyes questioning what he would do with their teacher's kindness. "A ride... might be nice. I, um, don't want people to see..." A hare foot tapped against the floor. It may have been the middle of the night, but who knew what might happen.
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Posted: Thu Sep 15, 2016 4:00 pm
Shiloh's eyed widened as Chris rattled off ingredients. Who exactly was Christopher Watts? Not just an ordinary biology teacher, that much was apparently. He'd have to interrogate him later when they weren't all ******** up and drained. As it was...
"That," he turned to look at Jamie in tandem, eyes meeting his, "Might be for the best, yeah." a subtle glance at all of Jamie's new features made Shiloh bite his lip. Realizing his lingering gaze might upset the were, he quickly shoulder bumped him with his good side.
"I'll stay over too, okay?" he told the were in an attempt to comfort him. If there was one thing he learned about Jamie, it was that he hated being alone. If there was one thing he knew about himself, it was that parents had a hard time understanding things. He'd make sure his friend didn't have to go through either.
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