April Catch-All

[leatherdaddy]

who: Gladio and a lot of scrawny dudes YOU
what: Two missions, and a whole lot of bad decisions social interactions
when: April catch-all means... all of April!
where: Various
warnings: Warnings will be in subject lines!




Mission: Brownout (closed to Reaper, Sans, McCree, Gladio)

Mission: How to Train Your... (closed to Gladio, Sans, Gooeygetsu, Eichi, Sasuke, McCree)

I Never (closed to mission-goers; tag in with your I, Never and threadjack away!)
 
Training Sessions (OTA who wants to play out survival, weapons training, etc)

Comments

[bone_idle]

"Sure you are," replies the skeleton, "You're breathing, aren't you?"

Although there's something about the way his supraorbital ridges shift that suggests Sans finds that coughing fit a little, shall we say, disconcerting. He's no expert on human biology, but it seems to him like Eichi's an especially frail example of his species. Pretty much a polar opposite to the rest of their ragtag party.

That's not to say Sans pities him. But seeing as Sans is closer to the ground, he's going to plant down right here and, hell, if that means Eichi's still hanging onto his hand, no big deal. But he does angle an eyelight up at him.

"You gonna keep looming like that? Siddown, buddy. You're makin' me anxious."

There, see? Make it about the skeleton being anxious, not about the guy being... well, whatever is running through his head right about now.

"Those guys? They're just gonna do their thing," he rumbles, giving a gesture with his other hand that doesn't exactly leave his knee so much as flick out phalanges a little. "Don't worry 'bout 'em, they'll be fine."

[finethanks]

Even though Eichi coughs another few times, Sans' words are working. He sits, slowly, and closes his free hand near his mouth, silently praying that he doesn't keep up coughing. Soon enough, there will be blood, and he doesn't want to deal with that while people are around. So he takes a few slow breaths, and then finally releases the skeleton's hand. He's okay.

"They're incredibly strong, aren't they?" He wants to turn back and look, but he manages to restrain himself, eyes focusing on Sans instead. "This weak body of mine can't keep up." He coughs again, and wants to bring his knees close to his chest, but that would be such a vulnerable pose in company. He's fine, he's fine...

[bone_idle]

Probably for the best that, after his string of speculations, assurances, and just words to fill the silence, Sans doesn't actually press Eichi to speak. Him, he's a monster. No telling what a being like him might think of a human spitting up red fluids.

"Something like that," Sans replies, though his more honest assessment would've been less 'strong' and more 'violent', but he's still a little, uh. Shall we say... biased?

"Buddy," he adds, levelling both eye lights on him, "It'd take about two hundred of us to make up for maybe half of one of those guys. Especially the one with one arm. Uh. Sasuke," Sans amends, remembering the name. "Don't sweat it."

[finethanks]

"I suppose you're right."

He coughs, again, and closes his eyes to attempt to steady his breathing. His words have been calmed down, and his posture is confident once again, but there's no hiding the way this has already upset his very fragile health. He'll be coughing for a little while now, some more violent than others, and eventually he pats around his pockets to try and find the medicine he'd brought along.

He remembers that he might have shoved that into a pack that someone else is holding, and glances over his shoulder back to the fight, far, far away from them now. He's not sure he can make out anything from here. At the very least, this seems much safer.

"Do you also avoid fighting, Sans-kun?" He notices that he'd been grouped in with him during all of this reassurance, and it seems odd to think that anyone would be on his level. Especially a skeleton...

[bone_idle]

Sans doesn't look at him, just looks up, leaning what of his weight isn't planted on the ground onto his arms, slouching here and apparently distracted by the golden shafts of afternoon sun slanting through the thick forest canopy.

He'd say it's peaceful here, but the noise of the ongoing battle in the distance is kinda ruining the effect. Anyway, the point is, he isn't staring at Eichi in concern at his coughing, because he's pretty sure the guy doesn't want the extra scrutiny. Ok, so he does look, just for a moment, long enough to see he's searching his pockets and coming up empty-handed.

"Yeah," he drones, "I hate exercise," adds the skeleton, grinning at Eichi. "'Sides, uh, I don't have all the cushioning you humans have.

"You forget somethin'?"

[finethanks]

"Even if I wanted to exercise, it's difficult for someone like me. I suppose it will be the two of us on the sidelines, then."

He says it with his usual tone, but it's still clear that he's bothered. He only wants to exercise because he can't, he knows this. He should just accept his limits and sit down, but he hates that sort of thing. Right now, though, he truly appreciates how Sans is handling this. No nagging, no constant staring; it's all casual. Even the question about his search is acceptable in this way.

"Ah... It seems I left my medicine with someone else. It doesn't help much anymore, anyway, but I'd prefer to avoid going back to the hospital." Another couple of coughs, and he looks back to Sans. "It doesn't seem as if they'll take very long, though. Fufu, would you continue to look after me if I collapse? I wanted to continue to help you by carrying you once we move on, but it seems I won't be able to, like this."

[bone_idle]

"The sidelines ain't a bad place," admits the monster, "Your hands stay cleaner, for one."

Before one assumes that this is an indication of fussiness on Sans's part, one need only look at his disheveled clothes, the condiment stains, and maybe, if they lived on the 10th floor, the fact that his bed is always unmade and there's a growing mess creeping out from its immediate vicinity. No, he means cleanliness of a different sort.

"I ain't makin' you any promises," Sans warns, "But I'll make sure to leave the heavy lifting to that wall of muscle for the rest of the trip," and, with another wink, "Maybe that'll teach ya to lay off the sauce next time."

Sure, because it's not really about the fact that this guy is apparently in and out of the hospital on the regular, is it?

"They might be wrapping up," he says, "Wanna head back?"

[finethanks]

The comment about hands staying cleaner makes Eichi glance down at his own. He'd hardly consider his hands clean, even if he's never done anything like kill. It just makes him think of all the dreams he'd crushed to get the school back and running how it should be, to get idols pursuing their dreams and careers properly—

Ah, why is he thinking about that now? It's not as if he'll be getting back to that. But the comment of Gladio being a wall of muscle gets him to glance back up and relax a little with a chuckle.

"My curiosity got the better of me. I wanted nothing more than to be able to try something I might not be able to later, you see..." He curls his fingers a little into the cloth of his pants, glancing back over his shoulder at the fight he can't really see.

"I need just a moment before I can walk. We can go after that, if that's alright."

[bone_idle]

"Do I look like I'm in a hurry?"

That's not an accusation.

Sans -- sprawled there (but not bonelessly, ha ha) in his rumpled, comfortable clothes, bits of grass caught in the fuzzy pink tufts of his slippers -- looks more like he's ready to just lie back and while away the afternoon here. But, truthfully, he's observing Eichi's moment of reflection. Is it a consequence of his comment about clean hands? Or about any regrets following their little drinking game?

Hell if he knows.

"We'll go whenever you're ready. Just don't take too long," he warns, "Or Gladdy's gonna let us have it for our little vanishing act. Capiche?"

[finethanks]

"Nothing seems to bother you, Sans-kun."

But something must. He wonders what it is. If something he's doing actually is a burden or a bother. Thinking on that, though, is an endless cycle he can't get into right now. Not in public, surrounded by others. He still remembers Suigetsu looking back at them and he could swear he saw a look of enjoyment on his face for his condition.

He brushes some hair from his own face and focuses on breathing. "I know. He seemed thoroughly distracted, so another moment should be fine." He'll rest for just a few minutes longer before telling Sans that he feels okay enough to walk.

[bone_idle]

Bless you, Eichi, you lined this one up for him so nicely, like a gift tied up with a pretty bow. Sans actually sits up for this, putting up both hands to point at Eichi, grinning.

"That's 'cuz nothin' gets under my skin," he says.

Ha ha, ok, so only he thinks that's funny, but that's plenty enough for Sans. His hands drop into his lap, slouching like the lump of pure inactivity he is, listening to the distant battle, waiting for the silence to come, and if it does, for any sign that maybe their travel companions are still going to be living on the top side of the soil.

Eichi speaks up first. "Yeah? Ok, let's walk and roll," he grunts, pushing himself up to his feet with some effort. "Better make sure none of them turned out like the guy in that chainsaw accident."

He takes hold of the crook of Eichi's arm to help him up to his feet, going on to explain, quite seriously, "Took his whole left side off. Terrible. But it's ok--

"He's all right now."

Ready to shortcut back?

[finethanks]

Eichi still does laugh quietly at that joke. Mostly, he finds it so strange that Sans is so obsessed with puns, but that makes it funny by itself. It's the whole chainsaw comment that confuses him for a moment. He really has no idea how to follow Sans in conversation sometimes.

And then it turns out to be a joke again, and he's furrowing his eyebrows a little while he looks at the skeleton. "That one is much worse than the last, you know..." These jokes keep getting worse.

[bone_idle]

Sans actually looks proud of himself, saying, just before the world blinks out for a second, "That's the point."

Back a generous stone's throw from where they first left, Sans releases his hold on Eichi's arm to tuck his hands back into the pockets of his generously sized hoodie. "It's pretty effective, though."

He can't mean effective at inspiring laughter, because that one was pretty god-awful.