Location: Pinefall High Main Building - Second Floor
Phase: Evening Phase (THU)
Date: 08.09.1994
Weather: Overcast
Prushka
"Ah, it's that late..."
The golden view out of the window is slowly becoming darker. Time sure flies. Even when you'd much rather it stay still. I'd like to stay a bit longer; Alpa's fun to hang out with. But if those two are about to leave now, then...
"Alpa, I'm just gonna say goodbye, be right back - got a sec, Ubon? You should definitely go with John or he'll try to Dove his way through everything, but I just wanted to, um..."
There's one thing is all. Okay, maybe two, but one of them is just for me.
"It's embarassing..."
Ubon, who had been about to chase down John Dove (not caring whether or not he was actually escaping), came to a halt and looked at the smaller girl. Confusion clearly visible on her face, the cyanhead tilted her head, putting her hands on her hips.
"Hmh? What's up, Prushie?" she asked, smiling widely. "It's not like there's anything that embarrassing to speak between us, right! So go ahead!"
She even looked a bit kiddy, wondering what the other girl was going to ask.
John Dove
John interrupts his verification of the contents of his bag. There is one thing he has to do before leaving the campus for the evening. However, Prushka seems to want a little bit more of everyone’s time.
“…Prushka,” he begins. “Here you are with two people who will accept whatever you have to say, and one who simply does not care enough to look down on you for anything you say. In these circumstances, why would you hold yourself back?”
A man who always knows the right thing to say: John Dove.
Prushka
"Uuu... you're right, but..."
But it's still embarrassing. Especially when you're the one saying it, John Dove. It's just too suspicious!
"Um, Ubon... can... can..."
If not now, when? There might not be another chance. So don't hesitate now.
I tear my eyes away from the floor and force myself to look straight ahead at the girl.
"CouldIhugyou?"
John Dove
See? It’s not even any of my business. Nothing to mock there.
However, John Dove keeps the words conjured in his mind exclusively to himself, thus proving he might actually possess actual wisdom.
"Hmm, I dunno~"
Ubon's voice was practically loaded with giddiness as she approached closer and closer to Prushka. She clasped her hands behind her back, rocking from side to side in an exaggerated way, playfully acting as if she was really deliberating the question. Like a predator, she inched closer and closer to Prushka, until...!
"Howaboutyesyesyesyes!"
With a squeal of a teenage girl past her limits with cuteness, Prushka found herself glomped into a terrifying bear hug that threatened to push the air out of her lungs. Ubon was practically squeezing her against her body, swinging from side to side - and doing the same to the shorter girl.
It was like watching an especially happy golden retriever spin their favorite ragdoll around.
John Dove
With all the conspicuousness of a chameleon in its natural habitat, John Dove naturally inches close to the sole remaining girl with a normal blood pressure in this scene.
“And this lesson, young Alpa, might be the most important thing you will gain from today,” he says, sounding somewhat sagely.
A girl who knows not human warmth and a boy who cares not for it stand as witnesses to the sight of a girl from southeast Asia testing the limits of the grey world’s physics engine.
“…be careful what you wish for.”
Prushka
"Awawawawawawa-!"
The world has just become a lot smaller. Everything is closing in, I'm being swung around like a giant doll, and for a moment it feels like I might die. But dying like this wouldn't be so bad.
"Ahahahaha..."
I return Ubon's hug with what little strength I have. She's lean enough that my arms almost reach around her waist. And just like that, for a moment, everything's fine again. It's warm. There aren't any bad things here.
"Uwaaah..."
Her tight hug squeezes everything out of me. As if I'm one of those noisy rubber chickens. My chests hurts and my eyes are stinging. I have to mumble words into her stomach, quietly, with the last of my breath.
"...is... is everything okay now?"
"Mm... yeah. Yeah! I think it did."
With a gentle smile, Ubon finally eased on her squeeze and set Prushka down on the ground, so she could stand on her own too feet. Still, the girl kept her hands on her friend's shoulders, making sure the warmth they had shared would linger.
"How about you? Are you alright now, Prushie?" Ubon asked, slight worry in her eyes. "Are you... are you starting to feel better now?"
A delicate question.
Meanwhile Alpa, who had been watching this all unfold with a look of amazement and wonder on her face, looked at John.
"I-I see! Gosh, that certainly seems dangerous..." The girl replied. "I-I'll be sure to remember! Though... are you speaking from experience?"
Curious eyes were now looking at the boy.
Meanwhile Ubon, upon hearing this, looked at John with a mischievous grin on her face.
"I dunno, I think Johnnie would need a good squeeze too," she teased. "For realsies!"
John Dove
Alpa’s completely honest and completely natural question catches John off-guard. His mind struggles to make up an answer for a few moments, before realizing that, in fact, he does not need to make up anything at all.
“No,” he says decisively, to the Himalayan girl and to himself. “Even if the entire world believed I should, my soul cannot regret anything.”
What are you talking about, John Dove? About Her, or about coming to Pinefall, and this very moment? Regardless of the answer, what is the meaning of that half-hearted smile on your face?
Right after that, Ubon makes a very Ubon suggestion. Inevitably, his thoughts drift towards the previous night, and one Lucille Faraday. It is not a lie that he does not remember another instance of receiving a hug used solely as a hug—that is, as a tool for emotional comfort and succor. Other hugs he has given and received were…
“Allow me to apologize beforehand,” he says as calmly as ever. “I do not have any experience in hugging outside of greetings and sexual intercourse.”
A man who always knows the right thing to say: John Dove!
Prushka
"I'm..."
The hands on my shoulders are warm, and the smile looking down at me is gentle.
Her face blurs. I reach up and wipe my eyes with a sleeve. With a sniff, my lungs finally draw in a shaky breath, followed by another.
Is Ubon okay now? If she's okay, if that smile is real, if that warmth is real, if everything that happened here was real, then...
"Yeah. A bit better."
I migiht be able to forgive myself now.
"Thanks, Ubon... you're... really warm, y'know."
For an Esper like me... that warmth of yours is reality. So I'll hold onto it. That's a promise.
But, even for a human... like, say, that moody boy over there...
"...he does look like he could use a hug, doesn't he - bwah!?"
I almost choke on nothing at all.
D-d-did he just say what I think he said!?
"L-language! You can't just - gah!"
This! Is! Why! John! Dove! Is! Awful!
For a moment, Ubon could only stare owlishly at the boy who had let out such an improper thing from his mouth. A silence that was almost deafening, punctuated by the fact that Alpa was now staring at John all bug-eyed, looking like she was too shocked to even retort.
But then.
Just like that, a snort came out of Ubon's mouth.
Followed by a giggle... giggling that just wouldn't stop.
Wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, Ubon let go of Prushka and walked over to John, grinning from ear to ear. As she got close enough, the girl put both hands on his shoulders and patted them, mischievous glint clear in her eyes.
"Mm, sorry Johnnie! All you get is a perfectly normal, cutesy hug from a cute girl!" She exclaimed, almost like telling a child they weren't getting the Christmas present they had hoped. "None of that overly formal hugging, n-nor any of the lewd hugging either!"
And with that, grinning again, Ubon pulled John closer into a hug. While it was not the same sort of squeezing extravaganza like it had been with Prushka, it was still tight and strong, and rather warm. Ubon even swayed from side to side, though not able to glomp the boy in similar way thanks to his larger size.
"Mwahahaha~! Gotcha now~!" Ubon giggled with a mock-villainous voice.
Meanwhile Alpa, having recovered a bit, turned to look at Prushka.
"H-he really gives off a different view when viewed from afar, d-doesn't he?" She asked, pointing at John.
Prushka
"..."
This guy.
This guy...
I take a deep breath. One that goes all the way down to my lungs. Then I hold it, and...
"Hah..."
Release it with a sigh. Along with a few bad dreams that had outstayed their welcome.
"Alpa. John Dove might seem like that, but the truth is..."
I scoot closer to the fluffy girl, then lean over. Just a bit. Not too close to set off her phobia, but close enough that if she's paying attention, she might feel the warmth of my breath.
I can't help but giggle a bit at the sight of him getting the Ubon treatment.
"...he's the kindest, sweetest jerk you'll ever meet."
John Dove
“My cousin once told me to be careful with girls that call themselves ‘cute’,” idly comments the boy now wrapped in Ubon. He did not return Lucille Faraday’s hug because he was rather out of it, and came completely out of left field. Not having much of a sense of personal distance, it is not as if he is particularly reluctant to receive them.
As careful as ever, he slowly closes his arms around Ubon’s narrow waist, making sure not to touch anywhere inappropriate.
It is warm.
Ubon is warm.
A sigh escapes his lips for whatever reason.
His body is strained by her squeezing, and a little tense, but he tries to sway along with her, let the girl do as she pleases. He did not need this hug, and still finds no purpose in it—objectively speaking, it is a waste of his time.
However, he accepts it. Not because he accepts everything at face value, but because the other person, Ubon Sĕeklêun, wants this.
“…is this real?” he murmurs to nobody. Even at this point, it comes out as a question, not a statement of fact…
“…I see…”
…even if a part of himself already knows better.
“Ubon…regardless of what happened in the past, regardless of what happens from now on…” he continues in a soft voice, perhaps not really talking to Ubon at all. “…this, is not a lie.”
He holds her just a little tighter. Just a little closer.
“Please be safe, Ubon.”
His eyes look for the other two girls, mumbling to each other about gods-know-what.
“Please be safe, both of you.”
He chose life all the way back on Sunday. That is the decision powering this actions—the obvious fact that life is better than death. It must be.
John Dove is still not ready to even consider the fact that these girls—these particular, specific three lives—may have a worth to him.
And that is precisely why he must chase after moonlight, one more time.
One last time.
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Originally Posted by Lobo the King of Currumpaw
