[mostly closed, some open, a Sick Boy]

[coolerjunpei]

Who: Junpei and friends
What: He's sick and it's stupid
When: Pretty much the day of the explosion, some others
Where: Explosion site and beyond
Warning(s): One prompt will have an attempted murder....

sick and mopey

[After his wild morning doing tons of things he shouldn't have, Junpei is... exhausted. Things not to do when you have fast-acting flu: everything he did today? He's pale and tired and looks like hell, generally speaking, but ultimately it's just a Bad Case of Flu. So he's moping now, but he's managed to find a mouth mask to at least keep his own gross germs to himself.

Really, he's just sitting on a bench as isolated as possible from the crowd, mercifully thinned after everything else this morning, and alternating between watching people pass by and checking his phone.

So the day is going great. Every so often he wordlessly points to give directions to the clinic or shake his head to refuse to move, you know, normal flu things. Just let him sit here in misery.

Or listen while he speaks, muffled:] Don't come any closer, but have you heard anything about what the hell is going on?

wildcard

[Do you... somehow...... want another wild sick boy prompt?? Do you want to visit him at home when he's finally bullied into going back??? Let me know, jojoveller etc.]

Comments

ariadne / pop off

[coolerjunpei]

[In the end, today was not the best day to meet up and seek out more alien junk food. It's a normal day up until the explosion happens, for sure - just looking at food, buying the weirdest looking things possible just to see if they actually only taste like chocolate - nothing out of the ordinary.

And then, of course, a bomb goes off. Junpei's startled and stumbles but doesn't hit the ground, gaze locked on the purple cloud of fuck knows what billowing out from the center of the market. That's, uh. That's not good. They're too close to get away before the blast of purple something hits them in the face, leaving Junpei coughing and squinting to see if Ariadne is still upright with him.]

What the hell— Are you okay? What the fuck was that?!

[buildindreemz]

[ Today was supposed to be a fun, relaxing day. Ariadne was going to hang out with a new friend, and eat a lot of weird junk food. If she was going to get sick, it would be nausea from too many sweets, at worst.

But no, the universe seems to have other plans for her and Junpei.

There's a moment of panic as the bomb reverberates through the market, and then she's coughing and her eyes are watering. ]

Uh... I think... I'm not bleeding or anything. [ More coughing. ] What about you?

[coolerjunpei]

[Good—she's not hurt. Junpei doesn't feel anything immediately wrong with himself, either, so... they're lucky in at least one way. Still, he picks his way through the weird purple fog with one arm up to shield his face and the other reaching for her shoulder.

They should probably stick together, if anything. There's no way this is just a smoke bomb prank, he thinks, but he can't totally freak out in the first minutes.]

I'm—good enough. Let's get out of this mess before we choke on purple fog machine crap.

[buildindreemz]

What the hell is that?

[ She glances around, worry and slight fear in her eyes, hoping no one else is injured. It seems like most everyone is just a little scared and there's some property damage - but no blood anywhere, no broken bodies or anything like that. ]

Was it an accident of some kind?

[ Even as they try to get away from the purple stuff, her mind is already trying to piece things together, work out what might be going on. ]

[coolerjunpei]

[She can wonder, Junpei will quite literally grab her shoulders and steer them the hell out of here. He'll be the action guy to her brains, it's fine.]

Probably not. It looked like—no, I'm pretty sure it was a bomb going off. A... purple fog machine bomb.

[He falters at how stupid that sounds at the end, but still - he doesn't think that could have been a random accident. In a crowd this huge? It feels more like—] —Is someone targeting the market...?

snake / payoff

[coolerjunpei]

[Alright, guilty—in the moments immediately after the explosion, Junpei is too distracted by being stuck in it and running around immediately afterward to really be reachable, if Snake hears about it and tries that quickly. But he's a good boy and he doesn't want Snake to worry, so give him like half an hour before his quick text comes:]

hey are you at home? stay away from the market district. something weird is going on.

[do not!!!!! go there!!!!]

i'm okay but i have to find out what i can, i'll see you later. i love you.

[And there's like a full line of heart emojis because he's freaked out but he's also a big loser. Please don't do anything too wild, babe.]

hey... dumb

[ripvanwinkled]

[The one time Snake decides not to be difficult and just call him, and it all goes to voicemail? He's a combination of worried and livid. The texts aren't any comfort, and despite Junpei's warning, he's only gotten dressed and out the door faster with this weird pet thing's head poking out of his hoodie. It's hard texting because it's so fat, but he once he's free of the thing, his texts come in quicker succession.]

Junpei where are you. You can't just keep run off after something like this

Junpei please tell me you aren't doing something stupid I don't want you to get hurt

Please call me soon. I am not at home. I love you.

3g is kicking my ass fuck

[coolerjunpei]

[After Junpei's wild morning, he thinks... maybe... he's in trouble. He can't say he doesn't deserve Snake's increasingly irritated tone, considering, but— bad habit?

He is okay, though. Wheezy and achy, but he's alright. Enough to call this boy, anyway, especially since he didn't stay home.]

Hey, are you okay? You didn't go to the market, did you? Uh, I'm not hurt.

[Annnnd... wheeze. He's good, where are you, can they go home.]

[ripvanwinkled]

[Junpei's probably pretty miserable over the sickness, and Snake's miserable because Junpei's probably sick. He's just sitting around that fountain they frequent, trying to keep his mind occupied on other things. He can't stop checking his phone, up until Junpei calls.]

I didn't go to the market, but I most certainly am not okay. People are getting sick, and you ran off, and... are you alright? I've been worried, and... [Wait, this isn't really the time to be about him.] I'm at our spot.

[coolerjunpei]

[Aww, their spot. That's cute. Junpei makes another noise, like he's coughing again but pretending he isn't, so it's kind of a weird... sound... it's stupid, he's being stupid, he'll go to the fountain.]

It's okay, Light. [look he even remembered to use the Real Name all by himself] I'm okay, so just— just calm down, alright? I'll be there soon.

[But he'll stay on the line and mumble about people being in his way on the way there, so Snake doesn't just sit there with no indication of where Junpei actually is. Someone hands him a surgical mask thinking he's not one of the sick at some point, but those work both ways, so good enough... He'll just sound a litlte muffled when he finally arrives at the gay fountain.] ...Uh, hey.

[......ok now he hangs up the phone]

dio / get back

[coolerjunpei]

[After the explosion hits, Junpei thinks he's fine. Purple smoke is a little weird, but all things considered he makes it through a good chunk of trying to piece things together with Ariadne and tries not to worry about it. It's only when he starts coughing and feeling like there's a ton of lead pressing down on him that he realizes something is up; seeing other people whose faces he remembers from the market reacting the same way as they hurry home only confirms it.

So somebody felt like being a wiseass and dropping a bioweapon in the middle of this city market, and goddamn it, Junpei is not dealing with bioterrorists again. A kindly stranger tries to get him to go home and he shoves them off, set on doing something about this before he goes anywhere near people he actually gives a shit about. (And maybe he should find a mask, or something? At least keep his own sickness from getting too far.)

But first: the anger. He's found someone suspicious and immediately lost them around a corner, nearly crashing into that guy who isn't Carlos as he pulls up short in his chase.]

You again— [hey.] Did you see that bastard come this way?!

[That's helpful, Junpei. That's a good description.]

aoi / perceptive end

[coolerjunpei]

[No investigation is going to bear fruit enough to satisfy Junpei's out of control anger (possibly made worse by how he's bordering on delirious with illness? Maybe?) until all of the people responsible for this are put down... one way or another. Nothing about him says he's healthy enough to be doing this; the symptoms are only flu-like in nature, fatigue and aches and coughing, but he's made the fever worse by running around the city for hours and now, only a few hours after the explosion, he looks more worse for wear than he probably should.

So, oops.

He hasn't spoken to Aoi since their last... confrontation, and he honestly hasn't tried to. But when he sees Aoi looking like he's apparently just loitering around outside in the middle of all this total bullshit, well - it's lucky that the effort it takes him to storm over there actually abates his bad temper a little bit. He can't deny that he's at least relieved Aoi seems to be okay, but it looks like he still has an awful attitude problem and that's annoying!!]

What are you doing? Or, no, my mistake— what aren't you doing?

[21stcenturyguy]

[Aoi's been leaning against a wall, his earbuds in his ears. He's tried to blend in a little, so he's dressed in the Olympian style, but with a black scarf because baby steps. He looks up when Junpei stomps over.

He winces, both because things are awkward between the two of them and because Junpei looks like death.]

Shut up, don't draw attention to us, idiot.

[Aoi looks around, makes sure nobody is paying attention to them, then offers one ear bud to Junpei.]

Trust me, I'm doin' plenty.

[coolerjunpei]

[Yeah he feels like death, too. In fact, he feels so much like death that the ear bud being offered gives him pause, and not only because sharing earbuds with Aoi is the last thing on his usual agenda.]

I'm— no, keep that. Just use your big boy words.

[Don't get ear sick from him, please.]

[21stcenturyguy]

[This would be a lot easier if Junpei would just take the damn ear bud. Aoi lets the rejected bud dangle so that he has a free ear to listen to this loser.]

Dude, I'm not jamming to my tunes out here.

[He almost says 'trust me', but he reins that in, because his whole kidnapping and tricking everyone is a giant, lumbering elephant in the room.

Aoi drops his voice to just above a whisper.]

They're, like, kick-ass gear. I can listen in on people with 'em. Dunno how you do things, but I'm hoping I can catch something better than the inane crap we'd hear if we were just watching around eavesdropping like dumbasses.

[coolerjunpei]

[Kick... ass... gear. Okay. Well.]

I know I'm sick, but you're delirious. They're just headphones.

[Like, please explain without him having to put that thing in his germ-filled ear. He's looking out for you here, Aoi, despite several elephants in the room all tripping on each other.]

hey he don't know how you got home but he know why you there

[planetary_bonds]

[It's...been a long day. A really long day. Between the surprise of the attack-and then hearing two close friends of his named as conspirators, one of them his own damn roommate, he's been out on the streets trawling for information himself. It's not unusual to see him in the more decrepit areas, after all, so he'll play that potential to the fullest.

But he's also heard about the effects of said attack, and somehow he's heard that Junpei is one of the unfortunate ones struck down. He can't help but remember how...scarce...the food in the house was (cake. for breakfast. junpei.), and in the end, he feels like he should do something for a friend. Between his own wayside jobs and Sanzo's actual career (probably fired now that he thinks about it), they actually have enough to make some variety of food, and a good hot broth is something he thinks Junpei could use right now.

It doesn't occur to him that Junpei might not actually be home, but hey. He's knocking on the door to the house now with a basket of ingredients to make soup with.]

thanks bud

[coolerjunpei]

[Junpei is indeed home at this point. This must be the single hour of the day Snake leaves him home alone and ill to go get, who knows, even more bland food a sick person can eat, so Junpei is left to his own devices when it comes to answering the door.

So Yusei might need to knock a second time, and then he'll have to wait before some slow shuffling can be heard before Junpei cracks the door open. The surgical mask he bummed off the clinic was hanging down around his neck, but he tugs it back up as he opens the door. He looks exhausted because he is exhausted, but that's alright.]

Hey. I'm sick, so...

hey. anything for a friend.

[planetary_bonds]

[Yusei smiles wryly-maybe even a little sympathetically.]

I heard. Thought you could use some help.

[coolerjunpei]

[Hmm... alright. He shuffles off to the side, so Yusei can come in.]

Just don't touch anything, I guess. Or sit on the couch. Chair's okay. [He's going to wobble back to the couch and collapse there.]

[planetary_bonds]

[Yusei carefully steps in once Junpei moves aside, and he glances around the house. Did Junpei getting sick meant it got messier, or is it the same to navigate around as ever? Either way, he picks around the furniture as instructed.]

Should I wipe down the kitchen a bit, then? I had something in mind.

as though I don't have old tags with him

[winddaughter]

[There's a weird banging on the door. She's hoping he's still mobile (although knocking isn't really encouraging him to rest). If he manages to open the door, she's standing there with Gulliver in her arms and wearing a protective mask and some other weird useful stuff, courtesy of the Institute.]

you're just asking me to destroy your inbox and i can't complain

[coolerjunpei]

[A weird banging... can't she knock... Junpei's been forced to sit on the couch since he finally got home this afternoon, which would be worse than it is if he didn't have a cool fantasy TV playing weird black and white shows, but it's... it sucks. But it could suck more.

Still, the couch isn't so far from the front door that he needs assistance in dragging himself over there, pulling his own mask back up over his mouth like he's been doing whenever someone is actually around. Uggggh, so sore.

But look, it's Anemone. He blinks.] Uh... hey. Didn't think I'd see you after you banned me from coming over.

true facts

[winddaughter]

[She can't knock with Gulliver in her hands like this.]

I wasn't planning on it, but I figured you could use a furry companion. [She holds up Gulliver eye level to him like it's no big deal. Gulliver just wiggles his arms like he's swimming.]

[coolerjunpei]

[Okay - he's confused, but fuck, that's cute. Look at him wiggle. Shit.]

You're gonna let him in here...? [Hmm!] Can he get sick?

[Junpei doesn't know shit about animals.]