my foolish heart...

[comelately]

WHO: Jonathan "Johnny" "Jojo" "Joe Kid" Joestar & Pleromies
WHAT: post-event failing to relax after getting heroically fucked up in Godsblood
WHERE: Greentruth (main portion and ground-level farms)
WHEN: post-event, late in the month
WARNINGS: n/a other than injury care



A. greentruth higher levels

[ They'd won the day in Godsblood. They'd won the day, and, somehow, he helped them win it. Johnny's not really one for heroics. That said, he is a big fan of winning things, and he has to say that it feels damn good for the underdog to come out on top this time.

Or, rather, it would feel good if he wasn't covered in burns.

After barely managing to crawl back to Greentruth, he's been in the same boat as many other Pleroma: laid up in a sick bed. Their makeshift medical camp up in the trees is "rustic," as are most things in their treetop hideaway, but the presence of a few people capable of using healing powers makes a big difference. Of course, being lit on fire was no small injury, and the medics around insisted that Johnny make time for his body to heal - in his condition, particularly. If an infection set in on his legs, he might not know until it was too late without anyone paying attention.

So he stays. For a day. A day and a half, actually. He's grateful that the place is mostly open-air, because it makes it a little bit easier not to think of dark, stagnant air or remember the smell of blood and piss that sat heavy in it. It means it takes a little bit longer for him to start waking up with his heart racing and a hand clutching at his thigh for a needle that isn't there. Every nurse that isn't an Aion is treated with tense cordiality, Johnny's eyes on their hands, their pockets. It's paranoia, he knows. Knowing, however, isn't enough to make him stop imagining the smile on their faces when they turn away, the things they might be doing when he's asleep.

Those coming to visit on the second half of that second day - whether looking for Johnny specifically, or maybe another injured person - will see him sitting up straight on his bed, still swaddled in bandages, staring quite hard at his wheelchair, parked on the other side of the makeshift sickbay. And, miraculously, the wheelchair actually starts to head in his direction... although it's less miraculous to anyone who can see the supernatural, as they'll see his tiny Stand struggling to push it over towards him. ]

B. greentruth ground level

[ Eventually, he does make his great escape from the recovery ward, such as it is. Since then, he's been trying to keep busy. It's partially because he wants a distraction from the pain of his injuries, partially because he needs the money, and partially because he's realizing that he can't keep living like this. He's not making progress. He saved Vaeka. So what? For him, nothing has changed.

He needs to do something. What that something is, however, he has no idea, and, severely limited in his ability to search for that something, he defaults to the only something he's good at: raising and riding animals. There aren't any horses in Greentruth (outside of one very rude one, and he doesn't want to talk to her), but he's become rather familiar with a handful of the kocsigyik breeders due to his regular need of their animals. One of them, finally, agreed to let him do a little bit of work around the stables, though he'd regarded Johnny with quite a bit of skepticism. Of course, that only made Johnny more determined to excel.

Today, he's helping train a few of the younger beasts. Two of them, towering over Johnny in his chair despite their young age, are following after him, their leads in one hand as he rolls backwards with the other. Despite the uneven terrain, the wheel turns unusually easily under his fingertips, and while he looks tired and bandaged, he's also surprisingly tranquil. They sure as hell aren't horses. But they aren't all that different, and they have their own charm about them, he thinks - not at all like the awful creatures he knew as dinosaurs back home, something that's very, very clear as they reach the end of the paddock and one of them wanders up to him and starts trying to eat his hat. ]

Hey - hey, careful! [ but he's laughing a little, even as the dinosaur makes him wince touching his burns, and the kocsigyik swiftly finds what it's looking for: a few treats that Johnny had hidden up there. ] All right, smartass, you got me.

C. OTHER

[ if you want to meet up with Johnny for something specific, just PM me and let's figure something out! ]

Comments

closed to hayame and yuuta

[comelately]

See? There she is.

[ so Johnny has seen Hayame, once in a while. Not that he's looking for her or anything, but since he's started spending more time down on the forest floor, it's become apparent that this is where she's usually hanging around, too - and she's pretty hard to miss. She's hardly a constant presence, but she does seem to come back now and then to get supplies. (God only knows where she is the rest of the time.) After their one and only encounter, he hasn't interacted with her beyond the occasional dirty look; even so, in these brief glimpses, it's hard for him not to notice that she's hurt. He grew up around horses; he can easily recognize the signs of strain and stress, and he also knows how fragile their bodies can be, despite all the muscle.

Not that he cares. Not really. But Yuuta noticed too, and wanted to help, and correctly presumed that Johnny would know how - that he's probably the only one who knows how, considering that there essentially are no horses in Greentruth. And it's not like he wants Hayame to die. So here they are, near the lift up to the higher levels of the city, waiting to catch sight of her from their own purposefully-inconspicuous little spot.

Johnny rests his chin on his hand, looking over at Yuuta. ]

... You call out to her. She'll cuss me out if I try anything.

[recursive]

Oh! You're right. ( yuuta had already checked, and hayame had certainly made good on her promise to vacate the last spot she'd made camp and move it elsewhere. he had lucked out in stumbling across her trail the first time, but he's found it much harder going forward — knowing that someone might try to come looking for her (as yuuta had plainly threatened to), it wouldn't have been difficult for her to simply relocate to some place harder for someone to track her. it's not like he's some sort of expert outdoorsman. hell, up until a little under a year ago, he'd only ever really been out of the city on things like field trips... living in greentruth had been a culture shock at first, but even starting to grow accustomed to it didn't make him a master of the wilderness.

it's not as though she never emerges from the forest, however, and just as johnny had noticed that the more equine parts of her are ailing (yuuta has no concept of what a healthy or ill horse might look like), he still finds himself concerned. she hadn't looked all that great when he'd spoken with her a month or so ago, and the warpath she'd carved through venera surely hadn't helped matters. it had taken a few impassioned words and pleading eyes to get johnny to agree to go with him, but now he leads the way toward her, similarly steeling himself in.

yuuta chuckles, the sound quietly dying off before he replies, ) The last time I saw her, she shot an arrow at me. But, no worries, I will.

( no harm, no foul, as they say. it had cut him, just a little bit, but he didn't think much of it.

he's aware that it's going to look like they're staking out the lift (they are), but there's not much they can do about that. he just tries to head the trouble off at the pass, brazen in his geniality as always. )

Hayame-san! ( he raises a hand in greeting, approaching a few paces. ) Hi. Um - do you have a moment? ( you know, to spend with two of her favorite young men? (: )

[warmare]

[Hayame did not want to meet anyone who knew her name to see her on this visit to Greentruth proper for supplies. Ever since she had returned to the forest via the ship from Venera to Godsblood, she has been holed up as much as she could manage in the hidden part of the mists where she made her camp rather than live amongst the rebels or the rest of the Pleroma, binding her wounds as best she could and hoping that time would heal them. Even if she found it in her to swallow her pride and dislike of magic to ask that healer woman to lay hands on her...

She was captured and gone. If life was kind to her, perhaps she was dead.

Hayame isn't, though. Her walk is slow and measured to try and disguise the limp of a left foreleg with a swollen shoulder and heavy bruising that her dun coat is not dark enough to fully disguise. Her upper left shoulder is held just as stiff, bound and wrapped tight beneath an uncharacteristic sleeved shirt...but no amount of fabric disguises cuts from a blade along horseflesh- a sword, judging by the length, that's left a wound still weeping because each step disturbs the flesh attempting to scab over and heal.

And in addition to not having the fortune to have died in battle against a worthy opponent, in addition to her failures in Venera to kill a single Kenoma, to capture (save) either of the two that she had attempted to, slinking back to Greentruth in defeat... she now has the misfortune to have run into a monster-wielding exorcist and a cripple.

Her eyes narrow. Hackles raise.]

... What do you want?

[comelately]

[ that gets him to jerk up, looking over at Yuuta. ]

Wait, what?!

[ she shot an arrow at him?! Johnny is (understandably) concerned about this, but he's already calling her over - a hand flies to his temple, and he shakes his head. Hayame, of course, looks pissed off. He has a feeling that's her default expression, but he also has a feeling it's worse when she's looking at him. Or them, maybe, depending on what Yuuta did to warrant attempted murder.

Her wounds do look bad. He's one to talk, with swaths of his skin wrapped up in bandages wherever it might normally be visible, but hey, at least he has bandages. She doesn't even have that. She's done nothing to warrant his concern, after the way she treated him, but he can't help but feel a little badly seeing those injuries. If she were a regular horse, he would be at her side instantly...

Sigh. ]

Listen. If you keep on walking on that shoulder, you're gonna give yourself nerve damage. You wanna end up like me? [ apparently, he has no problem putting himself down for the same thing. ] You need help.

[ ... ]

I've treated injuries like that before.

[recursive]

( oh, you know. normal things that happen when trying to befriend an angry jinba.

hayame had looked rough the last time he saw her in the forests beneath greentruth as well. he had thought to offer to help however he could, but given how (understandably) wary she ended up being of him and rika's looming presence, he had begrudgingly decided that leaving her be was likely the kinder option. at least from what he can tell from johnny, however, he can help attend to whatever injuries she might have even without a supernatural ability to do so. well, the equine parts of her at least, but that was still better than leaving her to the elements.

this time around... none of them look great. hayame hides an obvious limp and wounds beneath her clothing, johnny is partially mummified, and yuuta's face is a patchwork quilt of fading bruises. he's largely here to get johnny some support in his offer (and maybe extend an offer to help heal the other injuries of hayame's, if she's feeling magnanimous enough), so when his friend speaks up, he falls silent, though he still has that nervous energy of someone just barely holding back from leaping into the conversation at any moment.

he doesn't resist perfectly. he just waits until after johnny's said his peace. )

We just want to help! And - we won't do anything you don't want us to do. We promise.

[warmare]

[No matter who it was that confronted her in this moment... Hayame would not have been happy. That might not be a comfort, but it is the truth. She begins to look a bit defensive the moment it becomes obvious what this is about, her stance stiff(er than it already was), her jaw tight, and her lip tempted to curl into a sneer.]

You two... are healers...

[The irony, she hopes they realize, is palpable. A man covered in bandages who cannot even walk and a man who has a monster following him that tries to hurt people... are healers? They expect her to believe that?

The problem is... As much as it would hurt her pride, as offensive as she finds the insinuation, and most importantly... how genuinely horrifying she founds it to have magic course through her body... There is a reason lurking in the back of Hayame's mind, growing more and more difficult to ignore... that she needed to not be injured. If that man had broken his word to meet her here, there must be a reason. Either he was injured somewhere himself... or perhaps more likely, he had not been able to trust her at his side when she was this weak.

And that possibility clamps down on her hearts in a way that is painful. Almost more painful than her wounds- the idea that she would be useless. It feels like it takes her an eternity to throttle herself into submission, to even begin to hint that she might be open to this idea, but. ... If they were capable, and that healer woman was not available-]

... And how do you expect that debt be paid?

[It's not a rejection. Though it it is followed up by a curt,]

Do not say something cloying like "we just want to help".

[That wasn't something she could believe in. That she would be helped with no expectation of service or debt. And she could not just let it be decided by her opponent the other what form that expectation might take.]

[comelately]

[ at her comment, she shakes his head slightly, jabbing a thumb in Yuuta's direction. ]

This guy's a healer. I'm just-- [ he hesitates for a second. In their first meeting, he'd been wary of comparing her to a horse for fear of offending her; now, he's certain it would offend her, but hell, what else is he supposed to say? Like it or not, her bottom half is basically identical to a modern equine. ] -- I'm a professional horse racer. I've been around 'em my whole life, including when they get hurt. I don't have any magic or anything, but I bet no one else around here actually knows their way around that half of you.

[ it sounds really odd, but Johnny doesn't know how else to put it. As for how to pay him back...? ]

You can apologize for callin' me a cripple and a charity case, for starters.

A

[chronosynthesis]

Ah, you're up! [Syrlya is just sticking his head into the tent, for the second day to see how Johnny is recovering. The first one he only found him sleeping, and left him to it.]

How are you... [He trails off as he enters the tent and see the wheelchair rolling along. From this distance he doesn't even see the Stand.] Recovering?

[comelately]

[ the moment he hears someone's voice, Tusk blinks out of existence and Johnny jerks up ramrod-straight (which is followed by a hissed "ow!" as he exacerbates some burns on his back.) Glancing over, he sees Syrlya - right, the weird wooden guy from the mission - and immediately looks somewhat awkward, ignoring the wheelchair completely. ]

Uh... Fine! Ernesto helped me a little, so, you know...

[ he gestures vaguely. It's obvious looking at him that he's not healed - he's not wearing a shirt, and thus, very visibly still covered in burns and bandages - but he's clearly on his way out regardless. Or attempting to be on his way out, at least. ]

[chronosynthesis]

That's good to hear. [It's natural enough for him to trust allies he hardly knows, by now, having spent so long on the warfront... but he does always feel a little and when he has to leave someone behind. It hasn't always been with the understanding assistance was coming.

He glances to the wheelchair again.] I assume you'll be laid up for a while?

[comelately]

[ at that, he looks slightly chagrined, glancing off at the chair as well. It's still too far away for him to actually reach. No escaping... yet.

Johnny shakes his head. ]

I feel okay, so I'm gonna get out of here soon.

[ very, very soon. ]

[chronosynthesis]

[His lips twitch briefly with amusement.] Is that doctor's orders, or your orders?

[He's sure seen this enough times.]

[comelately]

[ a grunt. ]

What, are you gonna snitch?

[ he trusted you, leaf boy!! ]

A

[superbshot]

[She'd heard, of course, that Johnny had been hurt. But seeing him now, sitting in bed...it was a little disheartening. It'd been worse than she'd thought. Yet, here she was with a basket of get-well treats. Mostly fruit, but also a pastry she'd taken from Godsblood.]

...It's good to see you made it, Johnny.

[comelately]

[ oh, shit, someone's here. Tusk blips out of existence at once, and Johnny whips his head around to look at the newcomer. A woman he only sort of knows - first from a vague memory in Venera, and then later as a cooperator in the mission, though their stations were quite separate. She's got a bunch of food; he assumes it's not intended for him, but someone else in the makeshift sick bay. ]

Oh, you're... Caitlyn, right? [ he shifts in his seat slightly, though the motion causes him to flinch slightly as the sheets graze his burned hands. ] Uh, yeah. I die hard.

[ which has caused him some small amount of guilt in his life, but that's neither here nor there. ]

Same to you, though.

[superbshot]

[She'll just walk over and set down the basket where he can get at it. She doesn't really know the guy, but this is just how she is. She's...just nice?]

Yes. I...brought this for you. Assuming you feel up to eating.

[It's got to be better than what counts as 'hospital food' on Horos, right?]

I never got to really check on you after Venera.

[comelately]

[ he's not used to people being nice to him these days, which is made somewhat obvious by the way he blinks at the basket for a moment, evidently not sure what to make of it. It was a team effort, he supposes, and they did succeed - she must be one of those types that makes sure everyone gets their proverbial cut afterwards. Managerial. ]

Oh... Thanks.

[ the mention of Venera is somewhat embarrassing, considering he was feverish and out of his head for their entire interaction; he saves himself from having to make eye contact by lifting up the basket lid and peering inside while he talks. ]

Well, I lived through that, too. [ ... ] Sorry I acted so weird back then.

[superbshot]

[She's the daughter of the head of a merchant clan. She absolutely is one of those types.]

It's quite alright.

[Caitlyn's also not the type to stand on ceremony. She plunks down in a nearby chair.]

I appreciated it, regardless of how strange that all was. This world is full of bizarre things that don't make sense, and made anything you did seem normal.

I LOST THIS TAG SOMEHOW i'm so sorry!

[comelately]

[ GOTTEM

he doesn't say it, but it's nice that she sits down too - feels less like he's being talked down at. He huffs half a laugh. ]

Yeah, you have a point there... You were sick, too, anyway.

[ she probably didn't notice that he was acting particularly weird due to the fact that she was also acting weird. It's fine. Closing the lid of the basket, he looks back over at her. ]

You don't look like you got hurt too bad. You were sniping, right?

b

[dragonmount]

[ rand hasn't spent much time down here.

mostly, his time in greentruth has been restricted to training areas. places where he can teach archery, can craft bows and arrows, can train in swordplay with yuuta and, more recently, can practice channeling. but despite his frequent visits to greentruth, he hasn't explored beyond that.

granted, he hasn't explored much in the city where until very recently he had his own apartment and some semblance of steady work. so maybe this isn't so surprising. but lately, being in godsblood has been harder. any sense of safety is gone, and there are — a lot of people he's avoiding lately. so more of his free time has been spent out here.

finding johnny is more of an accident than anything else, a stumbling onto the stables and then johnny himself. somewhat literally; his leg is still healing from gray's scythe, so he isn't as steady on his feet as he usually is. still, it's hard not to smile a little at the sound of johnny's laughter, and these general antics. ]

You're good with them.

[comelately]

[ he's the opposite: getting around the main portion of Greentruth is difficult enough for him that he's found it's easier for him to spend the majority of his day down here. The inherent danger of being on even ground with the giant beasts that live in the woods is a caveat he's willing to accept for a little more freedom. Plus, this setting in general is more familiar to him. It can, occasionally, be a bitter reminder of all the things he can no longer do, simple chores he took for granted; for the most part, though, it's nostalgic, and he prefers the company of the animals, even if these particular animals took some getting used to.

The general privacy is another thing he enjoys, and so Johnny jumps a bit when he hears the voice, not having expected to see anyone that wasn't the owner or another farmhand - though he relaxes when he looks over and recognizes the owner. His hat, though safely retrieved from its hungry captor, is now covered in a generous amount of dino slobber, so he just drops it in his lap as he glances away at the culprit again. Self-conscious, maybe. ]

Never met an animal that didn't want food. [ even dinosaurs, it seems. His gaze flicks over to Rand again, and his limp, specifically. ] I guess you survived Godsblood, too.

[dragonmount]

You have a point there.

[ is conceded, because — while he doesn't have johnny's experience with horses (or dinosaurs) — farms are more familiar to him than anything. maybe a lot about these are different, strange, but...being down here still aches in that homesick way he knows, has known since before horos. some pain you just get used to.

as for the look at his leg,]

One way or another.

[ wry. gray made a strong effort to get rid of him when they came down to it, fighting for vaeka's freedom, and the time before had been — well, the point hadn't been to kill him then. best not dwelt on. ]

How have you been healing?

[comelately]

[ it's a good thing that he doesn't know Gray is the one who inflicted that wound on Rand, or he'd be dealing with a ton of mixed emotions on top of his full-body burn status... ]

Better than I would've back home. The dog guy has some kind of healing ability he used on me, so... it doesn't hurt as bad as it could.

[ it still hurts, and he's decided that getting burned is possibly worse than the various stab and gunshot wounds he's endured in other Stand fights because of how the pain lingers, but the presence of magic here in this world makes it a lot easier to cope with.

Of course, the fact that a lot of Johnny's visible skin is still bandaged up like a mummy suggests that he's far from being actually healed. He probably shouldn't be mucking around with a bunch of large animals in his condition. He's simply decided he'd rather take a few extra days (or weeks) of healing over a single moment longer laid up in a medical bed. ]

It's fine - I'm used to taking a beating. Tusk protected me from the worst of it... Yuuta's girlfriend, too.

shamefacedly puts a hand over timestamps

[dragonmount]

Oh, Ernesto. [ "the dog guy with healing" ] He'd be willing to help you again if you need it. [ by way of explanation, ] He's healed me more than once.

[ honestly, more than once just since vaeka's rescue. rand would've been perfectly willing to walk on his bad leg even on one healing — even if it'd been less powerful than it was — but living with the perro means that he can't so easily get away with ignoring hurts.

and maybe it makes him a little more sympathetic to johnny. there's little rand dislikes like being cooped up with nothing to do. and while johnny doesn't — seem like he's out of pain yet, or healed enough yet, rand can understand wanting to be outside, do some honest work. be with animals. they seem to be doing johnny good, anyway. and that's important.

but he's distracted by... ]

Yuuta's what?

pats you gently

[comelately]

Mm.

[ he'd gotten the impression that Ernesto was very happy to help - some parts of his personality do seem to match that golden retriever-esque pair of ears on his head. Johnny would think about it if the pain got really bad. He might not like needing help, but he's not so obstinate that he'd suffer for it. (Usually.)

The question about Yuuta has him freeze up for a brief moment as he wonders if he's said too much. It's not something that Yuuta had seemed ashamed of, though; he'd told it to Johnny freely, and all the others from the mission had seen or at least heard about his Stand (or his "curse?") by now. So, after a moment, he nods. ]

Yeah, Rika... That ghost thing that fights with him. It's more like a warped memory of his girlfriend, I guess. But if it weren't for her, Ciel might've killed me.