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 Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 5:26 pm
Glub GlubYou better believe Jamie's eyes brightened like stars at that, Shiloh's motive more than obvious enough for him to get excited. "Yeah...! Hold on a second. O-Oh, um, keep holding the hose, okay? I'll turn it off in a second."
Quickly swooping away to his desk, Jamie made quick work of pulling out a pencil and a notebook. It was obviously an old school one and hide science scrawled across the front in permanent marker.
"It's got lines, sorry," he bubbled sheepishly, setting them down next to Glubby's tank before disappearing to turn off the water. They could finish filling the tank later.
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 5:27 pm
Phantoms of the PastDoing what Shiloh asked was a little hard at first, because when Jamie let himself think too much all he wound up visualizing was the inside of a locker or the faces of his bullies as they mocked him, but with time his friend's voice pushed those thoughts out of his mind a replaced them with pictures of a wild child instead. Imagining Shiloh younger really only took making him shorter and giving him less hair. Viola. Perfect.
Shudders still occasionally rolled through Jamie's body as he laid there listening, but the sniffles ebbed away into even—if not a bit stuffy—breathing. It was definitely easier to calm down when he wasn't forced to endlessly mull on the bad memories. Instead, he had Shiloh's memories to fixate on.
"I-It sounds like you almost died..." he commented after the story ended, and it was wobbly, but it was an obvious attempt at humor.
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 6:58 pm
Glub GlubShiloh blinked as Jamie bustled around, hose still firmly held in his hand. They were going to do it later? "Okay..." he responded in relative deadpan. They could at least finish what they were doing, but... well, Jamie's excitement was kind of nice. No one really got excited over his art.
"Not sure how science-y this'll be, but we'll give it a go." he cracked, waiting for the water pressure in the hose to lessen. He draped it inside of the tank to keep water from spilling over. Some droplets got out anyway.
He didn't really care.
Taking a seat on the floor by one of the other tanks, he had already set to work by the time Jamie had come back.
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 7:02 pm
Phantoms of the Past"Almost? Oh man," he was laughing as he recalled all the details, "That was nothin compared to the trash can sledding." god, he was sleep drunk and howling.
"So one time we got this bad frost and the driveway was covered in ice, so I was like, 'I'll take a trash lid and slide down it', 'cept like, I had to get that running start s**t on." he snickered, "Anyway, as I slid out into the road, there was this ********' car coming that I hadn't noticed. He swerved out of the way, but I totally panicked and ran like hell."
"Funny thing is? Like, the car doesn't do s**t to me, but then I slip on the goddamn icy sidewalk and snap my arm. I still got the metal plates'n s**t in there too." Probably not the best stories for Jamie right now, but at least they'd be distracting.
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 7:44 pm
Glub GlubIt didn't take long for Jamie to return. In fact, he was practically power walking, only glancing at the half-full tank for a second before honing in on Shiloh's spot on the floor. There was a restless aura about Jamie as he flumped down next to his friend, knees bent, arms wrapped around them.... It didn't take long before he had to ask the undeniably obvious question on the tip of his tongue. Holding it back was just impossible.
"Whaaaat are you drawing?..."
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Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 7:44 pm
Phantoms of the Past"M-Metal plates?" That was way more hardcore than Jamie was expecting, even after learning Shiloh had almost wound up roadkill. If he was more in his right mind, he probably would've scolded him, or at least reacted in a nervous and decidedly more Jamie-like way, but instead he sounded somewhere between impressed and disbelieving. It had done wonders for getting his mind off the nightmare, though.
"I-It must've b-been r-really bad... t-to get a metal plate..." A yawn cut his mumbling. Despite the near horror stories Shiloh was laying on him, the slowly receding panic and adrenaline were leaving a very tired, very heavy Jamie in their wake. "M'glad you didn't get hit b-by a car... M'glad we c-could meet..."
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 9:54 pm
Glub GlubShiloh couldn't help but notice the way Jamie was zipping around. It was kinda cute. And he felt kinda weird for thinking that. When he sat down next to Shiloh, he slowly backed away from the impromptu sketchbook, letting Jamie look.
"Your fish, duh." he was looking up at one of the populated tanks, some vague shapes sketched out on the paper, "I just haven't gotten' to the details yet." his pencil slammed back down onto the paper, furiously scribbling.
"Fish bodies are kinda fun," he said, thinking aloud, "Their bodies're so... ooobly."
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 9:58 pm
Phantomes of the PastJamie's yawn was contagious, Shiloh's own yawn echoing him over the tinny sounding receiver of his phone. "S'was pretty nasty." he admitted, the smile practically audible in his voice.
But he was caught short when Jamie spoke again. He sounded tired and worn and... vulnerable. Shiloh wasn't really sure what to say in response. Sure, he was happy he met Jamie too, and he was undeniably his best friend (even though it had only been... scarcely a month), but voicing those things were a different beast entirely. It sobered his sleep-drunk feeling.
"...you really mean that, huh?" he finally said after much pause.
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 10:08 pm
Glub Glub"Wow..." came the response, genuine in its childlike wonder. Right now it just sort of looked like shapes swimming around a sea of lines. Jamie did feel a little bad for that. A school notebook wasn't exactly the best place to showcase his friend's talent, but it was all he had on short notice. He hoped Shiloh didn't mind.
"O-Ooobly..." he repeated, eyes getting bigger. "That... is the funniest description of fish I've ever heard." Looking up at the tank for a second, then back to Shiloh's drawing, Jamie laughed a tiny, pleasant laugh. "You're so right, though."
"Is it okay if I, um, watch you draw?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 10:13 pm
Phantoms of the Past"Yeah..." It was obvious even in the slow, sleepy drawl of his voice that Jamie was serious when he answered. "M'glad. R-Really glad..." Admitting that much wasn't so hard, but what he said next came with a little hesitation. "I was... really lonely b-before we met."
How were you supposed to tell someone that the fact they actually wanted to be your friend was enough to help you wake up in the morning? Jamie remembered many years without someone close, without a friend who didn't mind if he called at stupid hours of the morning because he'd had a bad dream, who genuinely cared about the silly, pointless things he sometimes liked to ramble about. Shiloh made his life that much better and, well, Jamie could say with certainty that even in this short time, Shiloh had become his best friend, too.
"T-Thanks, Shiloh..."
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 10:31 pm
Glub Glub"But I mean, it works, right? Ooobly." he grins a little down at the paper, "And yeah, uh... you can if you want."
He didn't let people watch him work, usually, but there wasn't exactly a line of people wanting to look over his shoulder. With Jamie, maybe it'd be okay.
He set to work quietly, filling in the fins and the eyes, studying the placement of the gills and how the scales worked. The latter was arguably the least accurate, if only because the fish in question was having a damn good time darting around the tank, and it was hard to get a good read when he was this far away. Shiloh erased a little bit off the tail, setting to work on the next one.
"So um... do they got names?"
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 10:50 pm
Phantoms of the Past"Mmm..." he hummed in acknowledgement of Jamie's words, mulling them over. He took them to heart.
"I almost did get hit once," he started out of nowhere, voice soft, "I mean... more than once. Some of'm weren't really....." he trailed off, unsure of how to admit it.
"Sometimes I make it a point not to look both ways." he bites his lip hard enough to taste something metallic in his mouth, "I think I was kinda lonely back then too."
"So really, don't bother thankin' me." he laughed, a little sadly and a little lightheartedly despite the turn in conversation. It felt nice to get off his chest, if not a little scary. "I'm glad we met too."
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 11:05 pm
Glub GlubThat was probably the best invitation Jamie had ever gotten if his expression was anything to go by. Eyes alight, he watched and smiled to himself as the forms of his beloved fish took clearer and clearer shape. Even unfinished it was obvious how good Shiloh was at drawing. Jamie was nothing if not completely impressed.
"Course they have names." Before now, Jamie had kept a respectable distance while Shiloh worked, letting him have his room while still enjoying the view. Now, though, he was quick to motion to the small school of neon tetras he had moved on to. "That one is Crystal," he said, pointing to the one with the short, half-missing fin. "And Tetris... He's the one who's kinda bigger than the rest." The others weren't defined enough yet to tell, but he named off the rest of the school, at least. "The others are, um, Jeanie, Flora, Slippy, Margo, Dosser, and Plankton."
Stopping there, he settled back where he'd been. There were a lot more fish than just the neon tetras, but he wasn't sure if Shiloh wanted to listen to him recite the names of each and every one.
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 11:43 pm
Phantoms of the PastEven through exhaustion both mental and physical, the implication of Shiloh's words didn't go unnoticed. Almost getting hit, more than once, the fact that they weren't really... Weren't really what? They weren't really accidents, were they? Sometimes Shiloh made it a point not to look both ways and when Jamie learned that, at least some of his questions were answered. Not all of them, definitely not. In fact, to be fair, he probably had more questions now.
They wouldn't all come up, though. Not yet.
"I see..." he muttered, answering quickly after Shiloh stopped talking, not wanting to lapse into crazy silences even though he wasn't completely sure what to say. "I, um... I'll... help you look." That sounded stupid, didn't it? It was what Jamie felt, though. He wanted to be there for Shiloh. "From... now on, okay?"
They both had their own sadnesses, some similar, some very different, but that didn't mean they couldn't reach out to each other.
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Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 12:20 am
Glub Glub
"Jeanie and Jamie huh?" Shiloh laughed, considerably relaxed despite the close proximity. "Is there supposed to be a theme? I don't really see it if there is."
He was carefully glossing over some shadows now, paying explicit detail to the way they bend and curved and hugged the shape and curvature of each body.
"What about the others? I bet you got them all named, huh?" The tone of his voice was actually... endearing.
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