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 Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 6:10 pm
Through either his magic working correctly, or just sheer dumb luck, Chris was pleased to find himself back in his apartment with the other two. Never before was he so glad to be back in his tiny living area, complete with heating which he was pleasantly enjoying since he was practically soaked from Other Ashdown.
The apartment itself was carpeted, a small couch in the middle where a very annoyed looking cat was perched upon the arm, eyeing Jamie in a rather suspicious manner. There was a coffee table with some folders and some piles of papers on it, a TV in front of that perched on another table, and a couple of chairs to the side to round out the couch. A computer on a desk with a matching chair was off in the corner. The furniture looked worn, Chris obviously a college student, but it was home and at least his living room was mostly clean disregarding the piles of papers and the amount of mugs surrounding his computer desk.
"Oh good, we're in my apartment," Chris said out loud, moving to pull off his shoes and dump them by his front door. It was a step up from last time when he had landed in the middle of his room and ended up getting mud on the carpet, which had been annoying to clean out.
He turned to Shiloh, saying quite suddenly "Jibega is korean for 'go home', it's better to use words for spells you won't use frequently. Obviously, most people here don't speak korean. Also, my magic isn't exact. If the portal hadn't ended up here, we would've ended up somewhere in Ashdown. Not in another state though or anything, I don't have that kind of power."
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Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 7:19 pm
The last thing Jamie expected upon tumbling back into regular old Ashdown was getting the stink eye from a cat. Sure, he was a cute cat, and if Jamie weren't soaked to the bone and freezing and currently perched unceremoniously on top of his friend, he probably would've wanted to pet him. Given that look, though, the hypothetical attempt may or may not have been successful. What? Was it the ears?
"Your... apartment?" he mumbled, looking up at Chris. The casual way he spoke felt almost as surreal as everything else they'd experienced before making it here, especially considering the state of the two teenagers he'd brought back with him. That thought, that realization, was what lit a flush across Jamie's cheeks.
"O-O-Oh god, I-I'm sorry, Shiloh...!" The apology was rushed and full of stutters as he bumbled off of his friend, trying not to knee him in the face as he did so. What an absolutely embarrassing way to make an entrance. All of Mr. Watts's calm explanation of his abilities went in one ear and out the other. "M-Mr. Watts, I'm sorry, I-I... I'll take my shoes off, too!"
Except well, he wasn't wearing any shoes. What he was wearing were awkward bunny toes. Plopping down on his butt in the middle of the floor, Jamie looked decidedly frazzled. Give him a few minutes and he'd be feeling the painful gashes across his chest again, too.
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Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 7:40 pm
Shiloh was dead, probably. There was a ceiling, and he was drenched, and his shoulder was so very sore and Jamie was so very heavy on top of him. Had it been any other day or time, it wouldn't be so bad, but as it was... the two of them were wet and he hated the sensation of wet denim clinging to his legs and his shirt against his arms (not that he was planning on doing anything about it). If he thought hard enough, they were warm and dry and maybe back in Jamie's room. That was a nice thought. No rabbit ears, no weird hellish nightmares to traverse, no werewolves. Just him and his friend...
And this really gay train of thought. What the actual hell, Shiloh?
"Spells. Okay." which clearly translated to '******** off, I don't understand, I'm dying'.
At least Jamie was hoisting off of him, decidedly not a rabbit (not completely anymore, anyway), scampering off for... some reason or another. Shiloh couldn't really focus enough to care. He was exhausted and in the sanctity of what Chris was calling home and that was good enough for him.
"I'm just... sleeping right here..." he rolled over onto his side—his good side, gnarled shoulder facing up—as he gently cuddled the very-much-a-live-tortoise shell under his chin. Good night, world.
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Posted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 7:50 pm
Chris disappeared into the hallway, emerging a second later with three towels, one he handed off to Jamie, the other he dropped on Shiloh, and a third that he started drying himself off with. "It's okay Jamie," He said mildy, "Just dry yourself off for now. My shoes are just a habit." Really he couldn't think past just getting everyone dried off and cleaned up for now. If he did well, he'd probably lose it.
Bergamot in the meantime had hopped down from the couch, giving Shiloh a sniff before moving closer to Jamie, his intended target. There was a considered head tilt, his eyes squinting for a minute, before the cat moved closer to Jamie and rubbed against his leg. Chris only regarded it with a raised eyebrow before letting it be for the moment.
"While I wouldn't object to sleep exactly, I don't think my floor is the most comfortable place," Chris said, eyeing the turtle. He'd let it go for now. "Why don't you dry off and let me look at where you were hit. Clean it up a bit."
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Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2016 1:00 pm
Oh yeah, he was dripping all over the carpet, wasn't he? Jamie couldn't escape his own inadequacies, even if it was only his mind blowing them way out of proportion. First no shoes to take off, now making a wet mess in his teacher's living room... About the only things that kept him from freaking out more were the sharp ache returning to his chest and how absolutely heavy with exhaustion and stress he felt now that his body had no more adrenaline to spare.
"M'sorry, Mr. Watts..." he mumbled again even after being reassured. Flumping the towel against his face, he inhaled the lingering scent of detergent and fabric softener and when he finally let his arms drop, his vision was darker around the edges.
There was a cat rubbing against his leg, though, and that was enough of a distraction from the inevitable onset of sleep.
"H-Hi..." Reaching out, Jamie tried to pet him. "I-I think my friend needs some help up..." he admitted to the cat out of no where with a quiet, wobbly laugh.
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Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2016 8:08 pm
Shiloh was all set to argue (or at least ignore the happenings) but his eyes shot open at the mention of his shoulder. Well, it was sort of fruitless because his eyes greeted him to darkness, and it took Shiloh a second to realize that a towel had been dropped onto his head. He sat up stiffly.
"No." his voice, tired as it was, remained very firm and defensive. "I don't want you to."
He silently took the turtle in his arms, setting it down onto the ground. Towel now in hands, he went to puffing out his hair—notably using his good arm—because the other one ached too much to bend.
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Posted: Fri Jun 03, 2016 9:13 pm
Bergamot arched into the pet, a content purr rumbling out of him, and in seconds a small cresting of vines around his head resembling a set of laurels appeared and bloomed lavender colored bergamot. He peeked open one eye mid purr to regard Jamie with a look akin to You don't say, before resuming his rather enthusiastic rubbing against Jamie's leg.
"You-" Chris gaped for a moment, frowning, "No? But it obviously hurts, Shiloh." Of all the battles he thought he'd be fighting, this was not one of them. "It needs to be looked at. Jamie, anything you have?" He didn't want to leave him out and anyways, there was more than enough stuff in his first aid kit.
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 2:45 pm
Quick to forgo drying himself off in favor of petting the cat—he'd been accepted, how could he not—Jamie spent a long moment zoning as his hand slid along silky fur. So soft, such a nice soft kitty, so- Wait, were those flowers? Carefully and gently Jamie touched them, just to make sure they were real. His hand paused in midair as Bergamot continued to rub against his leg.
Cool, nothing unusual here, just a cat who occasionally bloomed flowers. This wasn't even all that startling after what they'd been through.
"Shiloh..." he muttered, still petting the cat. "We gotta get looked at. W-What if it gets infected?" He sounded so tired. "I, um... o-one of them got my chest pretty good..." he admitted to Chris, slowly lifting up his shredded shirt to reveal some pretty angry looking claw marks. The more Jamie thought about them, the more they really ******** hurt.
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 5:13 pm
"I don't... I-I don't care..." his voice started to waver as the towel dropped from his head, eyes looking at the damp cloth forlornly. "I'll take care of it myself." he pursed his lips, fingers clenching in the fabric. "I'll be fine."
Jamie's condition was more important anyway. At least, it was to Shiloh. "You're worse off, anyway..." he murmured, burrowing his face into the towel again. It was such a simple comfort, but it smelled clean and fresh and warm on his damp skin.
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Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 7:27 pm
Chris sighed, but he wasn't going to fight Shiloh. He was tired and wet and needed to wipe off his face and his shoulder (both were injured now, which was wonderful) and maybe bandage everything up. If Shiloh wanted to be stubborn and secretive, he was going to let him.
"Okay, fine. Just, follow me to the bathroom? When I'm done helping Jamie you can do your shoulder up yourself," He tried to bargain, walking over to Shiloh and offering him a hand to help him up.
"Oh, Jamie, be careful with Bergamot, he might grow plants on your clothing," Chris said offhandedly, watching the pair with some amusement. He'd never seen Bergamot take to someone so quickly, but it was nice to know the cat liked at least one of his students. Bergamot gave no regard to Chris, arching up into Jamie's touch and winding round and round his legs. The purr was still ongoing and small sprouts of something were starting to grow, although they would be easily brushed off of his pants.
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Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 7:43 pm
The tired wonder at Bergamot and his flowers waned at Shiloh's stark rejection of Chris's help. It was a little upsetting, knowing his friend was hurt and seeing him so heavily deny treatment. Jamie didn't have it in him to argue, though. As long as Shiloh went along and did it himself, that was all he could ask for.
Huffing with a twinge of pain as he finally stood, carefully as to not kick Bergie, he took a short moment to admire the cat's work on his pants. "It's... really k-kinda funny he can do that," he responded, not bothering to try and brush them off. It was fine. A few sprouts on his pants were hardly a thing to worry about now.
Only now continuing to dry himself off, he eventually laid the towel over his shoulders, clutching it like a blanket. Boy, he couldn't wait for a real blanket. He couldn't wait to sleep. Walking over to Chris and Shiloh, he waited, hoping Shiloh would accept the conditions without argument. That wound had to be cleaned out...
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Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 7:51 pm
Shiloh watched Chris wearily. Follow them? "Alright... that's fine." he wanted to be there with Jamie anyway, even though he knew that was hypocritical and unfair with how adamant he was about being alone. He just couldn't risk it, couldn't risk them seeing—
He looked at Chris' hand, tentatively taking it. His boy was sore and it ached, despite his shoulder being the only part of him to bear a wound. The turtle remained stationary on the ground, still within the confines of its shell, unfortunately forgotten for the moment.
"Your cat is ********' weird." he told Chris as he watched Bergamot circle around Jamie. "Really ********' weird."
Not wanting to waste any time, Shiloh already started for the bathroom. Quicker he could get to a bed, the better.
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Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 8:03 pm
Due to the fact it was a small apartment, the bathroom wasn't hard to find. It was tucked in the hallway and Chris led to it and it was small, but enough that it could hold three people without too much of a problem. He dug out the first aid kit he had stored under the sink, one that had grown in time with his ability to go into Other Ashdown, and popped it open on the counter.
"He's from Other Ashdown." Chris was rummaging around in the kit, pulling out a bottle of rubbing alcohol and bandages, but also a small mason jar of a salve among other things. "His mom is owned by a friend of mine and she had kittens and I was gifted Bergamot. They can all make plants of some kind or another. They're one of the nicer things, from the other place."
"Okay, Jamie, can you take off your shirt?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 8:22 pm
The turtle did get a short glance from Jamie as they all shuffled out of the room, but it seemed safe enough tucked away in its shell. Poor thing was probably confused as heck about where it had ended up, but as long as Bergamot left it alone, that's all that mattered right now.
"Bergie is from Other Ashdown?" The nickname was impromptu, Jamie couldn't help himself. "But... that turtle is from Other Ashdown, too, and it doesn't seem to have... weird powers..." Or did it and they just hadn't seen them yet?
Standing somewhat awkwardly in the corner of the bathroom, Jamie's eyes widened at Chris's request. His eyes darted wildly from his teacher, to Shiloh, and back again. "Um... a-all the way?" he asked, hands knitted together nervously. "D-Do... Do I have to?" Where he'd seemed completely willing to go along with the treatment at first, there was one thing Jamie hated, and that was taking his shirt off around other people.
Draped over his shoulder, barely hanging in the front but falling all the way below his shoulder blade in the back, Jamie had an impressively large port wine colored birthmark. As a kid, he'd been made fun of for it and it sure had made him insecure. Swimming was one of his favorite things, but he could never do it publicly for fear of being judged, laughed at... Jamie knew it was irrational to think Shiloh or Chris would think any less of him, but the fear was there nonetheless.
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Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2016 8:36 pm
"Uh huh..." Shiloh was dubious regardless as he watched the cat. He was both surprised and not to see Chris' first aid kit so eloquently decked out. Made sense. Still looked foreign.
He sat down on the edge of the bathtub, towel still in his hands as he lowered his eyes to the tiled floor. He was still sopping wet and uncomfortable as the other two got situated. Jamie had seemed so willing before, but now he found himself warbling and halting. Uncomfortable. Shiloh bit his lip.
Neither of them were willing after all. Problem was both of them had things they needed to take care of. Shiloh swore very softly under his breath, making amends with himself.
"You don't want to?" he lifted his head, looking at Jamie with his towel now around his neck. "Look, let's just... we can both get taken care of. Sooner we get it over with, the better." he started to stand up. Jamie was still going to go first, but he'd do well on his promise to follow up after. "I let you both help me too."
Funny how he ended up being the one to bargain. Friendship was weird.
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