oo1. This is me in Grade 9 [action/open]

[no-sausage-fest.livejournal.com]

[Lost Junpei is lost. The school deal he can handle. The dorms deal he can handle. Even the giant inexplicably floating island-sorta-thing he can handle. But he's not all that great with directions, and he's pretty sure he's been past this corridor about six times already. He doesn't want to ask the creepy guys in robes with turkey platters over their faces--they don't look very hospitable--but he's starting to wonder if he's ever going to find his dorm room. A217... A217...

Crap.

These books are getting heavy. He really wishes he had his stupid purple backpack right about now.

Hefting the books, Junpei turns down yet ANOTHER corridor, hoping perhaps to find a big helpful YOU ARE HERE sign.]

[Perhaps he'll find [Bad username or site: witchesreign title=you @ livejournal.com] instead? 8D]

Comments

[fierybluebird]

Drums? Music class?? Do we have one of those?

[no-sausage-fest.livejournal.com]

[Myoojikku? Myoo...Music? What? No... Shit. Okay, maybe he had something else useful in his limited English repertoire.]

No, no, za... [Uhm... Dorms. DAMMIT, what was the word? Well, they were kind of like a hotel, right? Maybe that would be easier.] Hoteru. Hote...rlu. H-- [Goddammit. Why were L's so freaking hard??]

[fierybluebird]

Hotel drums? [Thinks this over a bit.] Rooms? Dorm? What number are you staying at?

[no-sausage-fest.livejournal.com]

[Oh, good, he figured it out! Junpei hadn't really intended for speaking with him to be a riddle or puzzle, but these things happened sometimes.

Deciding that was quite enough of this fumbling around, Junpei muttered a quick, 'ah, hang on a second' in Japanese and then dropped to a crouch to set his books down. Phew! Okay, that was better. Digging into the pocket of his jacket, he pulled out his translator and prodded it a moment until it whirred to life, lighting up cheerfully.]

Ah... hm. Okay, you can prolly understand me better now, huh. Sorry about that. [He rises to his feet and gives the yellow-haired man a grin.] Just got here, don't really have my act together yet. I'm lookin' for A217.

[fierybluebird]

[Waves a hand to dismiss the problems.]

It can take a lot of getting used to. Ah, all right, let's see... It should be this way. [Nods vaguely with his head, but starts walking, helping to carry the books.] Did you just come from the library?

[no-sausage-fest.livejournal.com]

Ah--hey, thanks. [He wasn't expecting help with the books. This is a nice change from the silent stoic plate-faced guys. Picking up the rest of the pile, he falls into step just to the blond man's left.]

Yeah, they gave me a big list of books I needed for classes and shit... Man, school's lame even in other dimensions. I didn't have this many books back home.

Oh, my name's Junpei, by the way. Iori Junpei. What's yours?

[fierybluebird]

Marco. Just the one name. [Shifts hands to offer one up for shaking.] They've got some cool classes if martial arts and magic interests you.

[no-sausage-fest.livejournal.com]

Nice to meet'cha. [He extracts one hand from the pile of books to sort of awkwardly shake Marcos, then quickly moves back to make sure the books don't fall.] Ah, yeah at least the classes here seem a little more interesting than the ones I had'a take back home. We didn't have weapons classes or anything. There was the kendo team and all, but that was about it.

Have you been here long?

[fierybluebird]

Heh, you're lucky. I never got to take classes in my world. It's kind of a luxury.

Let's see... [Rubs his chin roughly.] Going on 5 months in another week or so I think.

[no-sausage-fest.livejournal.com]

Dude, no school sounds like the luxury. You don't have to worry about studying for exams or getting bitched at for being late...

[He's still not sure what to think of this different worlds thing, but all trying to figure it out will get him is a headache, so he's just gonna roll with it for now and worry about what the hell it means later.]

Five months, huh? Does it get less... weird? I mean, do you really know what they're talking about with all these sorceresses and stuff?

[fierybluebird]

If you're self-motivated, you don't have to worry much about those either, eh.

[Pauses at the question.]

I'm the wrong person to ask that. This place has nothing on my home. It's not boring, but it's not nearly as chaotic or confusing, or to put it bluntly: weird. The Time Compression hasn't let up if that's what you mean, but this place is like a vacation for me.

[no-sausage-fest.livejournal.com]

[Self-motivated? Well, Junpei's motivated enough, but perhaps in the wrong fields. He regards Marco then, and sort of laughs.]

I hear that. There was some pretty crazy shit going on where I come from, too. I guess this is just weird to me 'cuz it's new. [Funny that going to military school and having free nights and weekends is so outside the norm.] So... can I ask what kind'a place you're from? Sounds pretty hardcore.

[fierybluebird]

The Grand Line, it's an ocean.

[no-sausage-fest.livejournal.com]

You're from... the ocean? [BUH?] So you're like... a merman or something? Where are your fins? [This makes absolutely no sense to Junpei. Silly pirate--people don't live in the ocean.]

[fierybluebird]

[Stares at blankly again.]

Not Fishman island. I mean yeah, that's Pops' main territory, but I'm a devil fruit user, if I tried to swim I'd drown.

[Because there won't be MORE confusion from that.... no... of course not.]

[no-sausage-fest.livejournal.com]

[....................................Okay WHAT? Junpei just stares at him for a few seconds, trying to figure out which part of this confusing casserole of a subject to tackle first. He finally settles on the one part of that explanation that adheres to some sort of familiar logic.]

So... you can't swim?

[fierybluebird]

Correct.

[no-sausage-fest.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear that, my man; you're missing the best part of the ocean that way. There's a swimming class here, though--I'm sure they could teach you.

[fierybluebird]

No, I'm cursed. I'd drown.

[no-sausage-fest.livejournal.com]

Dude, not being able to swim ain't a curse--you just have to work on it! [Your point. He just missed it entirely.] I'm a great swimmer, so I could even help you sometime, if you want. Summer's no fun if you can't like go swimming at the beach!

[Seriously. Dude. You're missing out! XD]

[fierybluebird]

No, look. [Marco no longer cares if it freaks the guy out, he's covering his arm and hand in a fine blue fire that while it looks awesome, it won't burn, just feel warm and soothing to the touch.] I have fire in my blood. If I tried to swim I'd drown. It's not a matter of not knowing how, it's a matter of I can sprout wings and fly, but I'll never ever be able to swim.

1/3

[no-sausage-fest.livejournal.com]

2/3

[no-sausage-fest.livejournal.com]

3/3

[no-sausage-fest.livejournal.com]

[Okay, he's never seen anything QUITE like that, but weirder things have happened, right? ... Right??

Actually, there's really just one pressing thing on his mind.]

Dude, does that hurt?

[fierybluebird]

Quite the opposite. My blue flames heal, eh.