december catch all + a new 'you'

[dies_irate]

« Who: John Doe and YOU
« What: John's never had a job or a body. Thus, both of these things are going to require some investigation and some experimentation
« When: Late December
« Where: Arthur's apartment, with Yellow, any shop/workshop/stall/etc. willing
« Content Warnings: none other than 'occasional tentacles'

[ closed to Arthur - their apartment ]

Arthur is the first one who's going to see it, once he's made the decision. Well, 'decision' is a strong word. Once he's come up with a workable concept. It's definitely human. It works in some of the features he liked from a few different people he'd seen in New York and others he'd seen here in Pumpkin Hollow during his few excursions out. It's restricted a little by what feels right to him: the shape of his hands, his size, the way he moves. It's a translation, in a way, albeit one that takes artistic liberty, and he's still not sure how well he'll be able to keep it static.

...he's having trouble with that.

But when he feels like he's got said workable concept he's going to stick his (new) head around the corner and shout.

"Arthur! Come here, Arthur, I need your opinion on this!"

He's not sure what he'll do if he hates it but he needs feedback.

[ closed to Yellow - John's room at the Oak and Iron ]

...okay. He got the okay from Arthur. Now he has to-

Yes. He's going to let Yellow see it. Partially to see what he thinks, especially since it's so different from what he'd ended up with, certainly older looking (though he feels older, honestly, even if it's just by months or days or whatever length of time) and... otherwise-different-looking.

The other part is that he doesn't want Yellow assuming he's trying to be sneaky or hide from him or something. And to let him know that he takes the whole 'meet my dog' thing seriously. He does want to meet his dog. Even if he doesn't know how that'll go, exactly.

So he sends a message on the sending stone to meet him at the Oak and Iron, since he still has a room here, and hopes for the best.

[ Around Town - shops, streets, etc.]

...have you ever seen a man with such powerful "How do you do fellow kids?" energy who hasn't even approached a group of people yet?

Well, now you have.

John, dressed in what seems to be the Usual Clothing around here, is walking around the town, visiting every shop he can and seeing if any of the workshops are willing to let him in to take a look around. He wants to get a job, after all, and he's certainly willing to both learn AND work, but there's so many choices.

He's used to the choices being 'fall in a pit' or 'Arthur listens to me' and that second one rarely happens so really, this whole experience is new in every direction.

It does and doesn't help that he's trying this human look thing for the first time while he does it. The 'does' is that people are probably more willing to open their door to a burly looking man with big bright curious eyes who says he's looking for work over a robed and masked-but-not eldritch horror floating in on starry tentacles. The 'doesn't' is that someone has never had a facial expression before so the resting bitch face is real, okay?

He won't ignore the people out on the street either, to be fair; this whole social thing is New and Exciting after being the voice in the back of someone's head for most of his existence in a mortal realm. He does (thanks to a stint in New York City) know at least enough not to approach people to talk who are clearly doing their own thing. But he might be a little blatant with his curiosity if you're doing something interesting. He also doesn't know the social rules of mind-your-own-business well enough to avoid a situation if it looks like someone's in trouble.

Comments

[lestercraft]

"I'm coming-! Christ, with the pipes on you you'll wake up half the town," he comments with a wry laugh, but hasty footsteps suggest he's coming immediately to see.

And even when he sees John's new face around the corner there's a short "Oh-!" of surprise, before he's darting up to see it in full.

[dies_irate]

What he'll get to see 'in full' is a rather tall man, clearly over six feet tall, built with heavy muscle and long dark hair that seems to reflect more gold than blue despite the color. His eyes are the gold from before, albeit in a human face that's wearing a slightly awkward expression as he tries to read whatever the hell Arthur thinks about it before Arthur says anything.

Just before Arthur would say something-

"Well?"

[lestercraft]

That's nearly half a foot on Arthur, then, and he has to crane his neck a little to meet John's eyes. Not that they linger there for long, instead coasting up and down his entire body, taking in every detail John's created.

He's curious before anything else, and has he opens his mouth - John interrupts.

And then he scoffs, lifting a hand to bap John's chest. "You could give me a moment to think, you donkey. But you look good, yes. You look like you might actually be good as a miner after all!"

[dies_irate]

Closer to a foot, which he hadn't realized when he'd done it. But he doesn't seem bothered by it until Arthur gives his verdict. Then the frown deepens.

"What does that mean? Does it work or not?"

[lestercraft]

"Yes, it works, don't worry. No-one's going to think you're not human just from looking at you."

He steps back a little to look at him again. "Though we'll definitely have to get you your own clothes, you certainly won't fit mine."

[dies_irate]

"Why would I wear your clothes?"

It's not that he doesn't know that Arthur wears clothes and that those clothes are separate from him and, say, have to be bought and tailored. He's been through some of that. It's just that he's got a lot going on and so that thought process isn't going all the way through given he's putting himself in that place and, well-

"I can change what I'm wearing. Is this... inappropriate?"

He'd taken the outfit from one of the people in town: it's a basic beige shirt, a dark vest, a pair of slacks and a pair of boots beneath them.

[lestercraft]

"Well i-it’s often the case, sometimes, in hard times that people share resources. And since you wouldn't have much money, yet, I just-"

He flaps his hand dismissively. "Never mind, it was a joke, mostly. You look perfectly fine -" though he certainly doesn't remember John coming in with clothes "--wait, did you make these?"

And he plucks at John's sleeve.

[dies_irate]

"We've always shared resources," because yes, of course, he knows that. When have they not shared anything? It wasn't really much of a choice before, but still.

"And I didn't- well, I suppose I did make them. The same way I made the rest of this." Arthur's getting a raised eyebrow. "...did you think the King in Yellow bought his robes?"

Around Town

[blindwatchersees]

Somewhere or another, John’s come across the information that there is a shop in town that does “body modification,” called the Butterfly’s Fang salon. Apparently it’s in the building that looks like it’s made of two buildings that tries to pop into the same space. Indeed, should he go looking for it, it fits that description to a T. The sign on the building actually advertises a different business on either side: the St. Arden-Sul Surgery to one side, and the Butterfly’s Fang Salon on the other.

The smell of tea wafts through the door as he enters, should he choose to do so.

Re: Around Town

[dies_irate]

He will, he will go take a look in!

He's a little hesitant, mostly because he's not sure what's going to be on the other side of the door, but he will poke his head in.

[blindwatchersees]

The two sides are separated by an ornately-carved wooden partition. Which side does John enter: the salon, or the surgery?

[dies_irate]

Whichever seems to have the shinest door. He's a bit of a magpie.

[blindwatchersees]

That door leads him into the Butterfly’s Fang, a salon split between colorful displays of potential ink work, and the more niche gear associated with piercing and body modifications- chains, straps, suspension gear, large studs. The place smells pleasantly of tea and looks quite well-maintained.

As he enters, a smartly-dressed old man walks over, smiling. He looks fairly ordinary, aside from his luminous, catlike yellow eyes, but he’s utterly steeped in eldritch vibes.

“Hello! Don’t think we’ve met, exactly. Sheogorath’s the name! What can I help you with?”

[dies_irate]

To John, that usually reads as a kind of faint mist around someone and catching it now makes his own bright gold eyes perk up curiously. He's not wary, yet. After all: that would be a bit hypocritical.

"John," he offers in reply, and his voice is deep and reverberates oddly. Inhumanly odd. Looks are one thing, but changing his voice? Never. "I was just... looking around. Trying to find out more about the, uh, shops here. The artisans. I'm... trying to figure out what I want to do for a job."

It would be his first one, after all.

[blindwatchersees]

“Oh, that’s a nice touch with the reverb. Always seems to impress the mortals. Can you do that thing where you speak forwards and backwards at the same time? Ah, but that isn’t important. A job, you say? Well, what is it that you do, John?”

He mostly sounds chipper as he rambles, though occasionally his expression will flicker with inexplicable anger that vanishes as suddenly as it appears.

[howtheyshine]

His first thought is that he's in trouble. That John is upset with him or Arthur is and so John is or- or-

He at least gets to the end of that thought and can tell in the abstract that he's being ridiculous. He just wants so much-- He doesn't know what. But there's something about Arthur and now John in particular that makes Yellow want in a prickly aimless way he hasn't been able to smother.

He wants to bring a gift. He wants to, but he doesn't have anything to offer that John and Arthur don't have equal access to. In the end he brings a stone he found at the edge of a stream in the woods, slate blue and banded in white, smoothed by the water. He's massaging it in one hand when he knocks on John's door.

Oh, wait, should he- He should- Tentacles unspool hastily from the bottoms of his pants as Yellow starts to shift.

[dies_irate]

The door is going to open almost immediately and the person who is behind the door is...

John. It's absolutely John. Yellow can tell it's John, because it's John. But it's a man, with two legs, two arms, tall and muscular with long dark hair and gold highlights and bright golden eyes beneath a pair of dark brows. One of those brows is scarred through with a mark that disappears into his hair.

He catches Yellow mid-shift and blinks, holding back an eye roll before he huffs and tries not to say something in irritation.

"You don't need to do that," he say as he steps back. It's an invitation to come in.

[howtheyshine]

It takes Yellow a moment to recover from shock. Not the unpleasant kind, not the kind that makes everything burn from his chest to his gut before it goes numb. It's closer to awe. He self-consciously lets his extra limbs fade to shadow, but doesn't move yet.

"I brought..." He brought a rock. How stupid is that. "Uh, never mind."

He glances into the room. Old paranoia and the echoing grind of phobia pinch at him, tell him to find the trap before he steps in it. One more look at John to make sure he's interpreting the invitation correctly before Yellow slips inside, trying to give John space at the same time.

[dies_irate]

John will let him in and close the door behind him before looking back at Yellow. John is not lacking in curiousness, after all, and Yellow is not Arthur. That's why he's going to lean in a little and look around to see what he 'brought' before turning back to Yellow.

"One, what do you think? And two: what did you bring?" Beat. "Or why 'never mind'?"

[howtheyshine]

Beautiful and strong, which tracks.

"We all have the same eyes." There's wonder in that, and at all of this in general. As for what he brought--

"Rock," he mumbles, and opens his palm. "I found it in the woods. I thought it was pretty and you might like it."

[dies_irate]

He looks at the rock, which is indeed rather pretty, especially the bands of color like streaks of cloud against the sky, and then he looks back to Yellow.

"The why did you hide it? I can't see how pretty it is if you hide it." And then a perk. "Is it for me to keep?"

[howtheyshine]

Yellow perks up in response. "Do- Do you want to? Because I wanted you to, but then I thought-- i-it's just a rock, who cares about a fucking rock."

[ss_buttcrack]

It's a nice enough day, finally, that he can bring his "little" Wayne Larve, Runt, out for some fresh air without worrying its many, many legs might catch frostbite. Crichton has still taken precautions, of course. His yellow child is all bundled up in a blanket with a knitted hat on both horns for good measure. The entire bundle is tied to the front of Crichton's chest like a lumpy papoose. John won't be the only person on the street looking at Crichton with curiosity. Most of them, though, are reacting like Crichton grew another head.

"There, there," Crichton coos, paying the attention no mind except to give out a few glares here and there, "They'll come around on you. I promise." He's saying this to Runt, but he also happens to be very close to John as well.

[dies_irate]

John, on the other hand, is fascinated, and he's going to try to walk a little closer to see what's underneath some of the hat and blanket. The man is treating it like a baby. Is it? Is that what some babies look like? He's only seen one or two, after all.

"Is... is he all right?"

The baby, he means. Is something wrong? Does he need something? There is concern here!!!

[ss_buttcrack]

"Huh?" Crichton looks up and gives a pleasant half-smile while he tries to get a good grip on why this stranger is so concerned.

"Oh, sure, yeah. Runt's just fine. He, uh... he's just a little different lookin' from most of the folks around here so they don't quite know what to make of him. Here, let's dig him out a little."

Crichton shifts the blanket around until Runt's face and head are revealed from the fabric. "There he is. Say hi, Runt."

Runt babbles random sounds.