[Open] I wanted all the things that I haven't got

[firewalled]

Who: Rich Goranski and you!
When: Beginning of the month up until the event
Where: All around the city, including in Desmodus Mori and the refugee area
What: Rich goes about fulfilling some quests while also dealing with some monster changes. Also feat. a dash of punk.
Warnings: Some mention of broken families in the last prompt. Otherwise it should be good!



Anyways, here's Wonderwall

[Rich needed a break.

Honestly, most people probably did. Dorchacht had taken a lot out of the spirits of the people involved in that struggle, and even for the ones at home, Rich heard about what they had to deal with from anti-Bonded protestors.

And of course, there's been the whole issue of the SQUIP's continued efforts to get to everyone Rich ever happened to care about, which is making Rich more than a little worried about the new arrivals, especially Jeremy and Michael. He knows the two of them are smart, but could they hold up against literal magic? A freaking android apparently couldn't.

But worrying can only get Rich so far. And speaking of freaking androids, Connor had definitely given Rich a suggestion that's been kind of ingrained in his head as he starts looking for an outlet for pent up energy.

So after his shifts at the music store, Rich takes his guitar out from the shop, moves to an empty spot by the park, and sets up. He feels a little silly, leaving his guitar case open on the ground, but... hey, this is where most stars start out, right?

So he plays. His voice is fairly shaky at first, confidence not quite embedded into that aspect of his musical interest, but as he starts getting into the music, old classics he listened to freshman year of high school, his enthusiasm picks up, and he bounces around to the beat.

When he finishes, he looks up to whoever might have been observing, giving a sheepish grin.]

Any requests?

[His taste is unique, but he can stop playing anti-establishment 'fight the man' nonsense and pull out a classic love song if he must.]

Well, it's true that they say love bites

[The request had seemed fairly simple at first. Donate blood for some vampires to have a sustainable and consensual source of food and it's done. Rich wasn't squeamish, so donating blood seemed like an easy way to make some cash. Hell, maybe it was like the blood drives at school and he'd get a cookie after.

But when he does get into the bar, he does feel... a bit like he's bitten off more than he can chew. Particularly because he remembers now that this place probably doesn't have modern day needles and IVs. How in the hell does he donate?

Any vampires or regulars who know the drill should probably help the guy, who's now staring at his arms, wondering if tattoos were an issue.]

Carpenters: having daddy issues since Jesus Christ

[Even if Rich needed a break from the stress of last month, he couldn't completely stay out of it, so when he realized the refugees were in need of homes, he didn't blink before signing up. Whenever he has spare time, he's over in the area, helping move building materials and furniture around. He's not an expert in carpentry, but he took wood shop, so he knows how to at least cut planks of wood down to smaller planks.

When he takes a break from heavy lifting, Rich can often be found goofing off with the kids, teaching them games or telling them stories. He might appreciate a teammate to help him wrangle all the kids after a run outside... or he can always be scolded for encouraging the kids' loud laughter and screeching. But would you really ruin the fun of a dozen little kids, plus the biggest kid of them all?]

When you're half dragon but not even the cool Skyrim protagonist kind

[No matter how busy Rich attempts to keep himself, there isn't much he can do to avoid the changes, when they come. They aren't even noticeable physical ones this time... but they're still frustrating.

First comes fatigue. The rain probably makes everyone a little gloomy, but Rich wasn't expecting it to be this overwhelming. It gets to the point where he doesn't even want to crawl out of bed... and when he does, he can often be found an hour later, passed out leaning against a wall or just faceplanted on the ground. If anyone attempts to approach him then, they'll likely end up with a very cold teenager clinging to them until he's warm enough to come to and realize just how embarrassing he's acting.

Then there's a little itch, some urge in the back of his mind that gets worse when he passes art galleries and shops with framed paintings. He doesn't mean to, but he spends ages staring at the pictures, especially those of families... of happy, sweet mothers and brave, protective fathers. Happy scenes, no alcohol or hospital rooms in sight.

Perhaps you see him staring at one of these paintings, looking like he's going to swipe it off the wall at any moment. Or perhaps, if you carry any photos on your person, you may find them missing from your pockets, only to see Rich wandering past, the picture still in his hands as he stares down at it, making a beeline for home so he can add it to his collection.]

Comments

i apparently can't not tl;dr whoops

[shyhara]

[Shuichi should be used to complete nonsense by now, between the murdergame run by a talking bear and all his weird classmates.

Still, all that shit had always been ultimately grounded in reality. Even given a few days to settle in here without any death or anything similarly awful coming up, it still seems impossible to find his footing. It's just...magic. And monsters. Theoretically. A large part of him is still skeptical of basically everything. Surely there's some trick to it all, even if he hasn't been able to find any evidence of it yet. The things he'd discovered just before arriving here really didn't hell with that uncertainty either. How could he just trust his eyes when he already knew he couldn't trust his own memories?

The fatigue isn't really helping either, but at least that wasn't anything too new. He was tired basically all the time back at the school just dealing with everyone there.

ANYWAY. All that aside, he does still manage to get out of his provided housing occasionally, as much as he'd like to just stay curled up in bed forever. And despite being very Uncertain about basically everything, he's still not the kind of person who could find someone passed out on the ground and just ignore them.

Yes, that's a thing that happens. While he's hurrying home one day, the sky cloudy and threatening to start pouring any moment, he nearly trips turning a corner and stumbling over a person just faceplanted on the ground.]

Woah, h-hey...are you okay?

[He crouches to nudge at the dude's shoulder. Please don't be dead, he's found more than his fair share of corpses already lately.]

but i adore you for it

[firewalled]

[Rich doesn't stir for a moment, too overwhelmed by the cool weather to react. He is breathing, at least, so Shuichi certainly doesn't need to worry about that, but his skin isn't radiating heat the way it usually did. Rich's friends always had jokingly called him a space heater, but it seems he was in need of repair.

Fortunately, the touch to his shoulder does eventually give Rich enough warmth to rouse him slightly, enough for him to realize he's freezing and needs to get closer to any heat source he can find. He grabs at Shuichi's arm, clawing up it as he drags himself into a sitting position.

Once he's upright, he immediately flings his arms around the other teen, mumbling in a half-asleep daze.]

Too cold...

[shyhara]

[Tragically for Rich, Shuichi is probably not the warmest choice of body at the moment. But he's pretty new here and definitely not completely undead yet, so at least there's some body heat there. Another few months and you'd have been out of luck.

But Shuichi doesn't know about that shut yet, so anyway...]

A-ah–

[Shuichi yelps, and between instinctively flailing backwards and having this dude basically flopping on him, he ends up on his ass almost immediately. And then he just has a lap full of sleepy stranger, so...um?????]

Uh, this...probably isn't the best place to sleep if you're cold?

[He sounds tense. He probably also feels tense, if one was theoretically clinging to him enough to feel it. What else is he supposed to do in this situation? The dude feels like he's burning up, but he's mumbling about being cold... Is he sick? Fuck, this is not Shuichi's area of expertise at all and everyone he knows that would be more helpful is not here and also dead.

Shuichi's strategy: awkwardly setting his hand's on the sleepy stranger's shoulders and trying to sit him up properly and pry himself free at the same time.]

[firewalled]

[It's still something, that spark of heat, and it's still far more than what Rich had, so he's just about curled up in Shuichi's lap. If the other boy would just stay still for a second then maybe he'd wake up a little more, but trying to be pried free means dragging him further away from warmth.

Rich grumbles, almost growls, in his sleep, reaching out to firmly wrap arms around the stranger's waist. Just hold still, dammit, he's so tired...]

[shyhara]

[Attempting to wriggle free only has the guy clinging tighter and basically laying in his lap, so Shuichi just...freezes. He holds still for a few moments, way too aware of how he's just sitting on the path out in public with a stranger very much in his personal bubble. There are definitely passerby staring and it's not a great time for a guy who'd only just finally been making progress on overcoming social anxiety.

When just sitting still doesn't change anything, though, he gingerly shakes the dude's shoulder like he was afraid he'd get his hand bitten off. Given how said dude was nearly growling, maybe that wasn't a completely ridiculous fear.]

Hello...?

[Is he just trapped here? What is he even supposed to do in this kind of situation???

A moment's inspiration has him hesitating for a moment before patting at the guy's pockets. If things were more normal, he'd probably try to find a passed-out drunk's phone and look for someone to contact, so...same theory, maybe?]

[firewalled]

[As Shuichi starts patting the stranger's pockets down, Rich is finally starting to warm up, just enough to start to rouse. It feels like waking up on a lazy Sunday morning, when it's so tempting to just hide in bed, and the only thing that encourages him to even open his eyes is the feeling of someone digging around in his pants.

He grumbles and opens his eyes, disappointed to find that he is not, in fact, in his own bed, and is apparently just... passed out on the street, half in someone's lap. He furrows his brow and looks up into Shuichi's eyes...

And then all at once, he goes bright red, yells, and untangles himself from the other boy's waist. Hopefully in his haste, his talons don't get caught on any clothing.]

Woah, woah, hey, the fuck? What...? What the hell happened?

[He's pretty sure the guy didn't do anything to him, but he feels like he'd remember just laying down for a nap in the middle of the street.]

[shyhara]

[Well. He almost had a grip on this situation (not really), but it's all immediately fucked up by the street napper abruptly sitting up and acting like he should be the one with answers. Released from the not-so-metaphorical dragon's claws, Shuichi nearly topples backwards himself. He just barely catches himself, half-sprawled and giving the guy a bewildered look.]

What? You're the one who just grabbed me...

[Don't look at him like he's the one who was getting handsy with a stranger!!]

[firewalled]

Grabbed you? I don't even know you, man!

[Rich doesn't exactly look angry at his apparent cuddle victim, at least. He is extremely confused and disoriented, and he'd think the one that was awake would have a few more answers than the one that was passed out... but at the same time, weird is just the name of the game in this place, so if the two of them got mixed up in some magic scenario, Rich wouldn't exactly be surprised.]

Ugh, and why is it so damn cold...?

[Between the dragon's lisp and a bizarre, sleepy slur, Rich won't be surprised if the stranger mishears him at some point.]