( open ) came back to the city with an open heart

[digestive]

Who: Mikuni & open!
Where: Around the Temple
When: September 9 - 20, so throughout the second half of the sickness event. Any prompt can be set during any stage of sickness.
Rating PG unless otherwise noted?
What: Mikuni explores the Temple, worries, tries to keep people hydrated, and volunteers as a quadrupedal walking stick.
Note: If anybody ends up being in great distress during this log (due to illness or any other factors), Mikuni may unconsciously use his emotion-dampening powers, since he isn't yet aware of them. I will check in via PM if I feel like this is likely in a given thread, but if you definitely would like to trigger those in a thread, feel free to PM me beforehand! I'm open to anything.


i. with all its boyish charm ( kitchens )

[Without question, Mikuni feels fully out of his element here. He has since the moment he was pulled bodily sideways to this place, with its stone buildings and vast forest full of unfamiliar plants. The fairies aren't particularly comforting, either.]

[All the same, it's his instinct to make himself at home wherever he finds himself, more or less out of necessity. That's made a little bit easier by how obvious it is that everything's falling apart right now. At least he's used to being surrounded by people running around like chickens with their heads cut off. Every single person here is sick? Fine. It could be worse.]

[Which is how he finds himself in the kitchen, leaning over and attending to not one, but several pots. The biggest one holds a truly ridiculous amount of soup; he's not exactly happy with it, since the ingredients aren't what he's used to, but it will be hearty enough to keep the sick on a path to healing. The rest are assorted similarly simple, hearty items.]

Here--excuse me.

[Were you sticking your nose into what's on the stove, or simply trying to navigate your way around Mikuni's horse half? Delirious with illness? The particulars don't matter. Regardless, he's holding out a spoonful of soup expectantly.]

I'm sure it could be better. But is it tolerable?

ii. but the charm won't last ( health brigade )

[There are more than a few people in the Temple of Beginnings right now who are feeling too miserable to get up and come down to the kitchens to eat, especially now that fevers have struck. It's . . . well. It's not ideal. Mikuni knows hardly anyone here, yet, nor does he particularly want to make all of his introductions in one evening to a collection of delusionally-ill mostly-humans.]

[But needs must, and pretty much anything is better than sitting around waiting for something to happen and feeling wrong-footed. Besides, he's getting a bit bored.]

[This is why there are hoofbeats on the stone of your room as Mikuni does his level best to enter quietly with a tray. His smile is soft and gentle, entirely inoffensive.]

Good afternoon. We haven't met, but I've brought you something from the kitchens to keep your strength up.

[And I'm Not Leaving Until You Eat It :^)]

iii. past the strike of the night ( outdoors )

[Looking at the trees has started to become genuinely upsetting. Mikuni is used to being surrounded by wilderness. Even at its most tamed, the world that is home to him defines itself by vast expanses of forest and mountain. To see the plant life here deteriorating so quickly before his eyes . . . he's only been here a few days and it's already gotten visibly worse. It simply doesn't look right. He doesn't have to have a modern sense of disease vectors to know how unlikely it is for plants and animals to share diseases between each other, either.]

[He glances behind him as he hears footsteps, hand falling to his side from where it was brushing worriedly against the trunk beside him. Who is that?]

Hello? . . . Do you need a hand? I'm not doing anything in particular-- [With a faint smile, he tucks his long hair behind his ears.] Just fussing. Are you well enough to be walking on your own?

[Please don't fall on your face in the dirt. Although if you do, he will catch.]

iv. wildcard

[Hit me with anything else, or contact me to plot via PM or at passiones!]

Comments

[digestive]

[There's. A beat of silence. Before the stone room rings with a brief, startled laugh. It's almost certainly too loud for Akira's poor head, but Mikuni can't help it. He's the least Konoha-like jinba there is anywhere, probably.]

Don't flatter me so.

[Leaning over, he plucks the pillow out of Akira's hands. The long black hair falling over his shoulders certainly does not belong to Konoha; it's more or less his trademark.]

And it's soup. Did she really make you porridge? That's sweet.

[purrtagonist]

[wh]

[the voice is so not-Konoha-like that it almost takes Akira by surprise. but before he can react (his reflexes are shot anyway, his entire body sluggish and exhausted), someone is taking the pillow away from him and draping him in some kind of black curtain?]

[no, wait. that's hair. with a few bleary blinks, Akira rolls onto his back and stares up at his new healthcare professional]

Ah. . .

. . . you're not Konoha.

[noooo shit, captain obvious]

[digestive]

Correct.

[Mikuni sets the pillow aside, then offers Akira a finger-wiggling wave. Very cute. At least he's less likely to inject Akira with untested substances.]

I'm Mikuni. And you are . . .very sick. Can you sit up a bit?

[Honestly, he's halfway expecting a no. Everyone is having the worst time right now.]

[purrtagonist]

[yes please don't inject him with untested substances. serve them to him in an unlabeled beaker so he can drink them instead]

Y. . . yep. I'm Very Sick. Nice to meet you, Mikuni-san.

[he says that like his name is Very Sick, Akira plz]

[with a groan, he pushes himself up into a sitting position and attempts to ignore the way the entire room spins]

I can't believe. . . [inhales a sharp breath, because even that small motion has worn him out, and that's saying something] . . . this is the second time I've gotten room service.

[digestive]

Nice to meet you, too, Sick-kun.

[Zero beats missed. He's met sassy babies before. And again, with no beats missed, he holds Akira still with a hand on his shoulder and sticks a pillow behind his back.]

You're probably just very special. Humans are so poorly balanced; does that help at all?

[Do You Need Another Pillow]

[purrtagonist]

[Akira seems both amused and impressed by the return sass as he flops backwards onto the pillow]

It's a pillow.

[yes, Akira. they all know that]

It's soft. . . so yeah, I guess it's helping.

[soft things are much appreciated in these trying sick times]

[digestive]

[It's . . . well, he's glad Akira knows what a pillow is, and that it's soft, even if that wasn't the purpose entirely. Still, Akira doesn't seem to be falling over, so it's probably fine. He really doesn't get how humans stay balanced. Like, how do butts work.]

I'm glad you're comfortable. If you're anything like the others, I imagine you're very achy.

Can you try to eat a bit for me? I'll tell Konoha you tried, even if you can't finish it. [He just assumes that making Konoha smile is a sufficient bribe for anyone who knows her. She's an angel, so it's perfectly logical.]

[purrtagonist]

[it is a mystery. don't ask this human to answer that question]

Eeeeeeh. . .

[. . . also it's 100% a sufficient bribe, even if Akira wrinkles his nose a little petulantly. he is very achy and he isn't 100% sure his stomach will cooperate with him if he tries to put something inside of it, but. . .]

[he holds out his hands, fingers wagging, silently asking Mikuni to pass him the bowl]