The Park - Monday afternoon.

[spectre_alenko]

It was a nice, slow, boring day.

That feeling filled Kaidan with dread, a little bit, because it almost seemed as if thinking it would cause the island to do an abrupt about-face. It was drizzling off and on, though more on than off, but that didn't bother Kaidan much. Kanan was planning to go to the sparring sessions with him. He wasn't sure why that was causing anxiety, but it was, and the only thing to do about it was to run and burn off all the excess energy.

The park's paths were nice and paved and far less slick than anything near the shore would be, so he hit those and began doing laps at speed, broken by laps of lighter jogging.

He tried to figure out the disquiet, but everything was a nightmare muddle of everything and nothing all at once. He had friends here. He was allowed to have friends here. His friends back home would be happy he had friends here. Why was his brain being so stupid? He didn't know, so he ran.

[OOC: Open, no OCD. Feel free to interact with the stupid boy being stupid or to make your own thread totally ignoring him.]

Comments

[hernando_fuentes]

Hernando was wearing a nylon rain jacket over his linen outfit, his only concession to the weather. He was simply taking in a different view of the park on a cloudy day instead of a sunny one.

He saw Kaidan running and waved, unsure if the man were wearing headphones.

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan slowed to a stop. "Hernando," he greeted, "How's it going?"

[hernando_fuentes]

"It is going well, my friend," Hernando greeted in return, "How is it going for you? I see you are not letting a little rain stop your exercise."

[spectre_alenko]

"Generally don't," Kaidan agreed, "At least it's a warm rain. Did you have a chance to talk to Rosalie?"

[hernando_fuentes]

"I did," Hernando answered warmly, "She is a lovely lady. I will have some of her cupcakes this week. The store even seems to approve of them. It created some nice tiered cupcake stands with a crystal cover!"

[spectre_alenko]

"Nice," Kaidan said, "Even if I am a little weirded out by a store that's sort of sentient on its own."

[hernando_fuentes]

"I think perhaps it just wants to be the best store it can be," Hernando offered with a smile, "It is a delight to me every day. I never know what it will have planned."

[battlewithstyle]

Mitsutada also happened to be out for a jog, though he was at the moment stopping to stretch out a bit by a bench.

He saw Kaidan and gave the man a friendly wave and a smile. "I hope you are well!" he said, unsure if he'd just continue along.

[spectre_alenko]

"Hey, Mitsutada," Kaidan greeted, slowing to a stop, "I'm well. How are you?"

[battlewithstyle]

"I'm well," Mitsutada said with a little nod. "Teaching my class at the school has put me in more regular contact with the other Danshii, so I have to say I'm probably at the best I've been since moving here."

[spectre_alenko]

"That's good," Kaidan agreed, "The last time we talked, you sounded a little homesick."

[battlewithstyle]

"This is quite true," Mitsutada said. "No offense to everyone else here, but when you are not quite human it is nice to have people who are like you around. It is very comforting."

[spectre_alenko]

"I can imagine," Kaidan agreed. He could - biotics were treated as 'not quite human', though he realized it wasn't at all the same thing. "How is the class going? Are the students learning about swords, or how to use them - or both?"

[intraspective]

Man, Ino usually did pretty good at the whole not-prying thing on the island, mostly because most people were kind of boring, but today she just couldn't ignore that sort of turmoil.

Maybe I should've signed you up for Brooding class, she sent telepathically. Sure, she was teasing, but her voice was also gentle. You'll make yourself sick, running in the rain.

That wasn't how colds worked, but shhh.

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan almost tripped over nothing at all, losing his stride at the sudden voice in his head. "Iris?" he boggled, then thought, "Iris?"

Scrubbing a hand through hair dampened by the drizzle, he shook water out of his face. With a lopsided smile, he added, "It's stupid, I know. I'm running to help my brain just.. shut up for awhile."

[intraspective]

Yo! I'd say in the flesh, but I'm home, warm and dry and with a sleepy puppy on me, so not so much flesh-like right now from me.

That didn't even make sense, Ino.

You're not doin' a very good job. I don't mind, but I think you do?

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan did smile at that, "You have a dog, too?" He'd ask if she meant Zack but he didn't know about them.

"I know," Kaidan admitted, "I don't know what else to try, though. If I sit still, my brain just becomes even more of a jerk and flings more anxiety at me. I'm sorry it's loud enough to bother you."

[intraspective]

If looked at a certain way, I've got two! Poor Zack. She sent a laugh along with her voice. Girl's technically Zack's, but I signed the adoption papers for her and we're engaged. I feel like that makes her my dog too. I've got a bird, though! Do you think I'll have to share Silly?

Silly liked Tseng better than Zack. Silly was a funny chicobo.

I weren't saying I was bothered by it, not exactly. Just sayin' you ain't doin' a good job at doin' what you're tryin' to do. Did you want to talk 'bout it instead?

[spectre_alenko]

"I've met Girl. She's a sweet dog," Kaidan smiled a little, "I don't know; if Zack is sharing Girl with you, wouldn't it be fair to share the bird with him? Assuming the bird likes him. Girl seems to like most people."

He scrubbed a hand through his hair again and leaned back against a tree, kicking one foot up behind him as part stretch, part resting pose. "I could try talking about it. I don't know if it would make any sense. It certainly doesn't to me."

[era_two_triangle]

Had you ever seen a tiny green person attempting to play fetch with a tiny tyrannosaurus rex, Kaidan?

Did you want to?

Because Peridot was in the park today with Jason, and she had brought a ball along, because she had read somewhere that organic creatures needed exercise. What this amounted to, mostly, was Peridot waving the ball in the air, and then throwing it, and then Jason standing there staring after it before looking at her, faintly unimpressed. Had she ever tried to bend over to pick something up off the ground using such stubby arms? With such a big head? Because maybe she ought to, sometime. And he sure wasn't going to be picking it up in his mouth.

The end result was a Gem throwing a ball, the two of them staring at the ball for a minute, and then the Gem going to fetch the ball so that she could throw it again.

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan blinked at the small dinosaur, and the almost-as-small green triangular person. "Are you trying to teach your pet lizard to fetch?" he asked hesitantly.

[era_two_triangle]

The dinosaur looked at Kaidan and gave an indignant growling sound at that.

Peridot, meanwhile, paused to pick up the ball and look back at the human who had given Jason such a reaction.

"Oh, this isn't my pet," she replied, and then stuck two fingers in her mouth and gave a sharp whistle. Almost immediately, a barking sound could be heard, but the thing that came running out from the bushes wasn't exactly a dog. It came to rest at Peridot's feet, and she crouched over to pick up...

... Well, it was a gourd. A pumpkin, to be exact.

"This is my pet. That's Jason. He's my little sibling."

[spectre_alenko]

Kaidan took a moment to process all of that information, and then he apologized to Jason. "I'm sorry, Jason. I shouldn't have assumed you were a pet." He glanced at the pumpkin, "But that is a very nice pet you have there. Do you share it with Jason?"

[era_two_triangle]

"No, Pumpkin is mine, but I share her with Lapis whenever I go back to the barn," Peridot explained.

As if that explained basically anything.

"She's my good little Veggiehead," she added, her voice dropping into cooing baby talk while she gave Pumpkin a pat on the stem. "Who's the best Pumpkin?"

Pumpkin barked. She knew who the best Pumpkin was, after all.

"Do you want to pat her?"

It was okay to, Kaidan. Everybody did.

[spectre_alenko]

He actually really wanted to pat the T-rex, but since that was a person, that was probably a patronizing thing to do.

"If she wouldn't mind, sure," he answered, "Is her stem the correct place for that, or..?"

"I'm Kaidan, by the way."