[physical education 101]

[sevenhorrorsmods]

Who: transfer students
When: July 1̷̝̤̳̙̫̭̻̝͓̄̇̾̀̕͝9̸̙̱̹͍̮̈́́̀̅͛̐̔̋ 20
Where: the. . . gymnasium?
What: an ice breaker
Warnings: moderate physical injury (not debilitating), psychological horror (absolutely debilitating)

[The school is empty. The school is quiet. The only sound that cuts through the silence is the soft ticking of the hallway clocks that mark the passing of each second.]

[. . .]

[At least. . . until a stiff breeze whips through the classrooms, scattering dirty papers and jerking the curtains aside. The clock strikes 6:00 a.m.]

[The school bell chimes.]

[ Team rooms | Endgame | Rewards ]

Comments

[selfportraiture]

Yeah, fine, sorry, just--it's harder to not touch people than I thought it'd be.

[Shit.]

You're alright?

[demergo]

I'm okay. [ really, it doesn't seem to have bothered him at all, just surprised him. ]

Was that...how you feel? [ he's not usually good at inference, but this falls into one of those rare categories where the dots connect simply. ]

[selfportraiture]

Yeah.

[She huffs out an irritable sigh, cautiously leaning over to put the last few crayons she has into the box he holds.]

Seems to be special just to me and the others who ended up in the Shiawase classroom. Not that I ever asked for this.

[demergo]

[ crayon box reassembled... yay! ]

Really? [ he pauses, a now loading bar basically visible above his head. ]

I don't think something like that happened to us... Kin'un, I mean.

[selfportraiture]

[... She sighs again, heavily.]

Yeah, I'm starting to get that idea. Seems like it's just us. As if things weren't bad enough already.

[...]

Kin'un... then you're with that tall lanky guy who doesn't know when to chill out.

[demergo]

Tall... Mr. Adair? [ fake names are probably useless for this, but he doesn't realize that just yet. ]

[selfportraiture]

... Beats me. I didn't get his fake name.

[A shrug, and she meanders back into the art room proper to start digging around for a sketchpad.]

But he was in pink, so. That's Kin'un, yeah?

[demergo]

Yeah, that's Kin'un. But Mr. Adair is really nice, so maybe you're talking about someone else?

[ he'll just stand here with the box of crayons as he thinks. ]

It doesn't sound like Rean or Eleven either though...

[selfportraiture]

I didn't say he wasn't nice. Just that he doesn't have any chill.

[She finds a sketchpad properly with a triumphant noise, bringing it over to him.]

Here. You can draw on this.

[demergo]

[ hmmm... well he guesses....

jumps a little when he's presented with the sketchpad. ]

T-thank you! [ stares at the paper blankly. ]

S-should I draw now...?

[selfportraiture]

[She shrugs.]

Go ahead. You're interested in it, right?

So no need to hold back or anything.

[demergo]

Okay.

[ people keep telling him that lately... with a nod he plops himself into a chair and grabs a blue crayon. ]

Umm, what's your name? Your fake one. You can call me Toby.

[selfportraiture]

[Good, good. She just nods approvingly at that, and moves to find a sketchbook for herself.]

I'm going by Botan for now. Toby's not a bad name, though. It sounds pretty cute.

[demergo]

Botan-san then...it's nice to meet you. [ hmm, what should he draw... he had an idea but it fell out of his head as soon as she compliments his name. ]

C-cute? Really?

[selfportraiture]

Hm? Yeah. Like... you know, a puppy.

[She's flipping the sketchbook open as she speaks, tugging out a pencil from one of the packs, making a face at how dull it is.]

[demergo]

Oh...

[ his disappointment is palpable.

but it does get him to start in with drawing at least, with big decisive strokes. ]

I don't get along with animals.

[selfportraiture]

You don't?

[She doesn't really look that shocked, though, sketching idly, squinting at him over her pad occasionally.]

Neither does my little brother. Well, he's mostly afraid of dogs. They're not for everyone, I guess.

[demergo]

I used to be afraid of them, but it's not really that anymore.

[ he's got his eyes on his sketchpad, his expression vacant compared to how animated he was before. ]

I only like fish. Toby is something you can call a pufferfish, actually.

[selfportraiture]

Yeah? Fish are fine too. I can picture it.

[Pufferfish are pretty cute, so... it fits...]

Does that mean you're fine with being compared to a pufferfish?

[demergo]

Mmmn, yeah, I think so. I didn't use to like fish until recently. [ he was a bit too excited to really link his new name to a fish as concretely as they are now, but it doesn't feel too bad. ]

I guess I'm kind of like a pufferfish too? [ doodling more. ] I scare pretty easily.

[selfportraiture]

[She arches both eyebrows at him, but mostly looks a little amused.]

Yeah, I'm not surprised, I think. You come across as pretty timid.

So what made you change your mind on fish?

[demergo]

Yeah, I am. But I'd like to be brave, one day.

[ he doesn't seem to notice her expression, too focused on his scribbles. ]

There were a lot of fishtanks in our house, so I guess I'm pretty used to them in that way. But someone I became friends with likes fish, so she taught me about them too.

[selfportraiture]

Oh, yeah?

[In response to both statements, honestly.]

Well, if you've decided to work on being brave, that's already the first big step down. Now it's just putting it into practice.

[demergo]

Well...Im going to try. I'm not the worst at that, I think.

[ the smallest ganbare ]

Why did you pick the name Botan?

[selfportraiture]

[Her pencil skids a little on the paper as she jerks her hand ever-so-slightly, and she makes a face, erasing it.]

... A friend from home gave it to me. It's--a flower that has some meaning for my family, I guess.