[Safeholme] A Student Renewed

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

The unwitting German was thunderbolted to the spot. His pale complexion burst with color as if the clown had clubbed him with a cherry pie. It was so fast, he wasn't even sure it had happened. And what did she say? He was a man? What? Did that even make sense?

Honk! He jumped and was finally free of his paralysis. But she was gone. He watched her go. Tomorrow? What was tomorrow? In that moment, Johann was fairly confident he understood being stupid. He didn't even know what day it was. He wasn't entirely confident he knew his own last name anymore.

He shook his head, trying to clear it, but just stirred the whirling emotions all the more. Another glance at the door-- and he froze. There was Drysi. Drysi had seen. She. Had. SEEN. HIM. AND HER. And they-- !!!

"I i i i i i, uh, em, I mean... Uh, wwwwwwell, um yyyyyou... shshshshe." There wasn't even a cogent thought in his head, just malformed half-starts that were colliding with one another in a verbal train wreck.

How do you apologize for getting-- for having that happen!?

[Kokuten]

In the dim, Johann could see Drysi throw her head to Manon's door, and then back at him. She repeated this motion a couple of times, her eyes wider and shoulders seizing tighter each time she did so. Then, all of a sudden she stamped toward him like a three eyed mouse seizing upon a crumb.

"Y-you! A-an-an-and sh-she! She---Sh--sh- and -yo-u!" The two of them rambled like this for some time. "Wh-whe-when di-did y-- Who do-- How did y--

Then, as if snapping out of a trance, she clamped her hands on his shoulders, her eyes almost glowing green in the crystal-lit gloom.

"How. How did you do that? How do you kiss girls!?" Drysi, realizing the content of her words versus the context, pursed her lips and shook her hands free, flailing them on her wrists. "MMmnngh-- I mean how do you get to that point!?"

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

Johann was still stunned enough that his legs failed to move, even as Drysi stormed toward him. He raised his hands as if to shield himself, though there was no honest expectation for violence. "No!" he interjected, and the pair proceeded to stutter at each other awhile. "I ddddiddnnn- we don't- I was- we, were just, umm... Well, Mmmmmr. Caxton's offfffice and then-"

Drysi grabbed him, halting the jumbled flow of words. "Nnnno! I didn't! We- she- she kissed ME!" His eyes went wide, hearing his own words; he slapped hands over his mouth, realizing how loud he was. They were both being loud. "C'mon," he hissed, grabbing Drysi by the wrist and pulling her into his room before anyone came out to investigate-- or worse, Manon returned.

Chuffy had been loitering near the door since he first heard Johann's voice and wagged his necrotic tail excitedly when they entered. But he was well trained and refrained from pouncing as he so desperately wanted to. Johann absentmindedly patted his best friend's head as he looked at his triclopian friend. "Oh my god, she kissed me. Whwhwhwhat do I do?"

[Kokuten]

"What do you do?"

Frazzled and never too happy about being so easily led about, Drysi was at a loss. A loose lock of her blonde hair was smoothed behind her ear with a thin hand. She crossed her arms and stared off at the desk where they started the evening.

"What do you do... I... How would I know?"

It was evident that Drysi didn't have that answer, at least by the way she looked at Johann after thinking about it. The triclops pressed a finger to her temple, struggling with a solution. She thought on how Mr. Flynn would solve a situation like this. What would her master do if faced with something shocking like that? He'd stay in the moment. He'd plant his feet. Root and think. Like the ponderous trees.

"No. If ..."

With a growing, self-satisfied smile, she began to pace, "... if Wil--... a girl kissed me out of the blue... I would..."

Suddenly, in a rapid swing, she was angry, throwing an accusatory finger at the window, "I would set boundaries. Who does she think she is? Kissing me like that, so suddenly? No. Boundaries. And if she can't respect that..."

Her mind pendulating again, she put her hands on her cheeks, chortling now, "... that might be romantic, if not a little stupid; as long as its nothing atrocious. I'm a woman, not a piece of meat. No... But I would know. I would know she likes me. Finally."

At this point, Drysi was in her own little world, swapping between giggling silliness and muttering foulness.

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

Johann had an epiphany watching Drysi work through the problem, and it distracted him enough to calm him.

"You knnnnnow you could just ask her, right?" He paused, and seeing the look on Drysi's face, he pressed. "Willow. Also, Willow is great but... She's..." He fidgeted, trying to find a nice word that was also accurate. "If you don'ttttttt tell her, she won't notice."

He took a deep breath. "Whichchchch is totally different frommmmm mmmy dilemma! You know you like Willow! I thought Manon was a bully! Kind of. Like, not a bully, but she's mean and always teasing me, and I jusssstttt decided to be her friend, and then she KISSED me, and I now I'm conf- confffffused, because I thought I liked--" and Johann froze. Two solid seconds of silence followed where Johann could not find words.

"Annnnnd I, um... I thought--" he wiped a hand through the air as if wiping away all those distracting words, "--anyways, so it's nnnnnot the same atatat all. AND ANYWAYS, why would she DO that and then run away!? Who just stttteals a first-- oh my god that was my first kiss." Johann huffed. He was confused and mortified and beginning to sweat. His cheeks were red due in equal parts to embarrassment, frustration, and teenage hormones. He started pacing and Chuffy barked at him out of concern, but the boy waved him down. His eyes never left the floor while he paced like a caged beast. What the HELL is going on!? He was so worked up, Johann didn't even feel bad about swearing.

[Kokuten]

Drysi stared off at the corner as Johann chose this moment to deliver a quick punch to the kidney. It stole her from her fantasy, and drug her back to reality where she was then. Tightly bound lips restrained anynmanner of rebuke, because there was no walking about it. Willow was thick-headed, and probably wouldn't pick up on subtlety unless it was danger. She was very heroic like that, and honest. If Willow had an idea, she'd be honest, that's all Drysi wanted.

The triclops grumbled at that point, trying to listen. She didn't even have the luxury of a first kiss; she had spent that on a dare on a boy in early secondary. Doubt and worry started to cloud her heart, before she furiously shook her head.

No, Dryce, you're just thinking about yourself right now. What was Johann saying?

"Wait..."

The Triclops finally looked over her shoulder at Johann, her eyes eerily sharp.

"You thought you liked -- what?"

Drysi floated over, eager, but restrained, a softer tone in her words as her curiosity won her over. "You thought you liked--?"

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

Johann was in a proper panic trying to find a way out of this stupid stupid hole he'd dug for himself. "Nnnno, no, it's not, we-- I didn't mean..." He rubbed his face, and was surprised by the heat he found there.

"It wwwwwas just nice, and- I didn't mean..." He looked around for something to aid in his escape, but there was nothing. Just Chuffy and his bed and the little study desk. Bed!

"I'mmmm just tired. I should- I nnnneed to go to beddd. It's- we- the time is um, late." He wrung his hands nervously.

[Kokuten]

There were a lot of things that Drysi hated more than being tugged around, and one of them was being told no. Johann witnessed her hairs stand and fluff out the curly mess on her head like a rabid, golden hamster. Just as she was about to come at him with a piece of her mind, she snapped up her hands in a halting motion. Then, she took a breath.

"Boundaries," Drysi heaved, having realized she had taken a full swing and was about to go off the deep end. "I. Respect. Boundaries."

Then, she took another breath and the intensity that surrounded her began to ease.

"Fine," grunted Drysi, making her best attempt at not sounding belligerent. "Don't tell me. You know what? Wh-Who cares? Why would anyone care?"

Unable to contain herself, she rounded back on him, "I care. I care a lot. You mean a lot to me and it upsets me when you won't tell me things. That's why I'm angry, and I'm trying to be selfish."

These motions were common for Drysi, she was trying to walk herself down from apoplectic, emotional turmoil. Johann had likely witnessed something like it before, but he was on the receiving end of it. She slapped her hands on her face as she snarled into her cloth mask. "URRGGH! You're such a ditz. When people are mean to you I want to fucking claw their eyes out, but Manon's not a bad person, she might even be good person. Who knows? I don't! UGH!"

The triclops grabbed the door handle, worked up much more than the last time she left and looked over her shoulder. "AND. AND."

This was spoken in a loud whisper.

"I don't like Willow. Who would I like Willow? Why would anyone like Willow? She's just so... she's..."

Suddenly, the turmoil faded and those severe features softened. What words she wanted to say were lost as she thought about what she really wanted to say. After a passing moment of peace, she snapped out of her daze, realizing she was still talking to Johann. Her face was now about as red as his was, and, riding that wave, she yanked the door open and hid herself behind it.

"Shut up!"

And the door shut.

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

Johann thought he had experienced the worst of it. That was when the emotional rollercoaster finally exited the tunnel and he could see the first real hill. Drysi approached, his emotions climbed. Before that ultimate drop, though, came the bunny hills.

She calmed. He breathed a sigh of relief. Up.

Then she became frenetic. His anxiety grew. Down.

But she cared about him. "Wait, wwwhat? Me?" he murmured, and his heart lifted. Up.

But Drysi rode right over him in her anger, called him a ditz. Down.

"Ffffor me?" he asked, even quieter than last time. She would fight people for him? Up.

And they were fast approaching that mountainous hill... and the plummet on the other side. But WAIT. She DIDN'T like Willow? Was he that bad at reading people? He thought it was pretty obvious, but maybe he was just a dumb boy.

"Oh," Johann whispered. "Well, wwwhat I meant- I mean, I was gggggoing to say I like--"

"SHUT UP!"

"--you," he softly informed the closed door. And then he sat on the floor. Chuffy, who had not found the energy in the room to be agreeable, nuzzled close, then laid his head in the German's lap.

Johann smiled down at his best friend and wiped the wetness off the dog's exposed skull. "Sorry, Chuff, she just gets workkkked up sometimes. It's okay. It's okay. Girls are scary, huh?"