hey girl it's jo room

5:45 PM

(my own oc fuckin murders me for stupid jokes)

farts.

Gtfo

Jo's kneeling on her bathroom floor in front of the toilet, trembling from head to toe. She's torn off her coat and she's dressed down to the bare essentials, skin shining with sweat. Her heartbeat is too heavy, too fast. Her throat is dry. She's heaved what she can already and her stomach and abdomen hurt and there's only an aching tiredness left behind. She glances at the bathroom cupboard where she's stored more bottles of liquor. Jo pours a glass of vodka out, mixing in some soft drink she picked up the other day. Might as well try and take the edge off. Not too much. Just enough to slow things down and numb the open wound riddling her body after Zero used his stigma. With her glass in hand, Jo climbs into her bathtub and curls up, relishing the cool ceramic against her feverish skin. Maybe she should call Saki? Or would that only make her feel worse? She's not sure anymore. Jo's not really sure of anything right now.

When Jo messaged Kamiyama, she didn't expect the reply she got: 'dont drink in the goddamn bathtub'. Every proceeding message that came in only surprised her more as she sipped her vodka mix. The more she refilled it, the more vodka was concentrated in the drink rather than the raspberry lemonade she had chosen to accompany it. If Saki wasn't busy studying or chasing after other pretty girls—if Jo wasn't so bitterly desperate for attention from someone who can't give it to only one person—she might be having a grand old time in bed by now, hopefully a bit more sober. Honestly, now that she thinks about it, Jo only ever seems to want the people who aren't good for her. Who aren't available. Who are just another unreachable thing in her sick parody of Tantalus' myth for a life. She sacrificed her sister to live, she made a pact with a demon for diamonds to protect herself, and now all the fruits that a human life has to offer are held just out of her grasp, eternally. They tease her. Mock her. Here's the perfect man for you: he's spread too thin to give anything substantial of himself to you. Here's a beautiful woman: she'll give you her body and nothing more because you're a bore to her in all other ways. Here's a man who could not be a more glaring parallel, who you will understand and be understood by in ways no one else may ever: he is your best friend, and only your best friend, and he'll be your undoing. Here's a man we let you have for a day: he doesn't know you, you don't know him, and he's entertained by a version of you that does not really exist. Here's your food. You can't eat it. You can't be satisfied. You will hunger forever. Take your diamond corpses and eat them. Jo could spiral further, but Kamiyama doesn't act like Kamiyama tonight. She doesn't know who this is. But the sudden care, the bluntness, and the unexpected humour throw her off course. Jo, rebellious and headstrong Jo, follows each order over text.

7:03 AM

She climbs out of the bath, makes it to the floor, gets a towel and gets headache medicine, self-confiscates the vodka, and she eventually drags herself to her bed. Jo has to keep blinking the blurriness away as she periodically smiles or snorts at her glowing conversation while she rests her head. He finally called her by her name. She gives him a new one. A ridiculous one, because she's drunk and feeling dangerously sentimental, and because she thinks it might amuse him. Maybe she is a clown after all. A bad one, sure. Bear. It's a tease. Kamiyama's not warm or cuddly, she can't imagine so. Zero had called her a teddy bear, once, because of her mighty and fluffy hugs that she gave him in her fur coats. Jo's not quite sure if she'll be able to stomach hugging Zero again. And it breaks her heart as much as the fucked up kiss does. Tantalus with his desires brought right within reach—only to be snatched away when he gets too close. A kiss that should have been everything, and became nothing at the flick of some invisible coin toss. Nothing. Nil. Zero. A void where the secret, illicit fire burned within her. Kamiyama doesn't understand. The drink numbs the pain. The drink keeps her calm. The drink is refilling the empty space. 'and jo. im serious. dont make this a habit.' 'Drunk texting you?' 'drinking 2 cope with shit' It wasn't so long ago Jo wanted to hunt the bastard down and punch the living daylights out of him. Granted, she might still like to get one good hit on him if she came across him now. But she doesn't have the energy to muster all that anger and hate at the moment.

7:04 AM

'hope ur head doesnt hurt tmrw'. And why the fuck would he care? If Jo's right and she finds a way to prove Kamiyama is the mysterious guy Zero's been seeing in Frostheim, what are the chances she was also right about him doing this for Zero? Kamiyama had asked why he would give a shit what Zero thinks. Kamiyama said he had no one. Kamiyama asked her what made her so sure Seiya and Zero wouldn't be breaking up, like it was a thought he entertained. Zero said it wasn't romantic. It wasn't cheating. Maybe it's the nausea and the alcohol, but as Jo puts her phone on charge and resettles under her thick bedcovers, a heavy weight of dread sits in her stomach. Why does Kamiyama hide? Why does Zero seem to be the only person with apparent access to him? Retrieving meds and receiving wired funds? What if the only reason Kamiyama could care about Jo was because Zero cared about her and Kamiyama cared about Zero? It didn't seem too outlandish, at least while she's drunk. It'd be so like Zero to have someone unwittingly wrapped around his pretty pianist fingers. He'd managed to steal her heart, after all. Zero hadn't even tried. Didn't even want it. 'you SHOULD make texting me a habit.' 'Night Care Bear' Tears beaded and slipped over the bridge of her nose as Jo lays on her side, falling into the clutches of sleep.

In the morning, when Jo wakes up with a significantly lighter hangover than she thought she'd have, she wanders over to her bathroom and pulls all the liquor bottles out of the cupboard. One by one, she pours them down the drain, letting each take one of her problems down with it. Her gaze catches on all her make up and beauty products that were moved so she could get all the bottles out. But she reaches for her phone first. Jo needed to send Kamiyama a message.

‍♀️

Jo drags herself back to Frostheim, some breakfast food from Sho's truck in tow. She didn't even know he opened that early. Maybe it was a special occasion. Her curls are a riot and her clothes are rumpled. She's still tired. Unfortunately, Jo didn't sleep as much as she probably needed to. She would later. She spots Saki waiting outside her room. "Mornin'," Jo says as she unlocks her door.

"Morningg~ Are you doin' okay?"

The door opens with a click. "I'm in yesterday's clothes and I had to put on men's deodorant. If that answers your question," Jo grumbles as she leads the way in. There's a package on her bed but it's freezing in her room. Why did delivery cats always forget to close her damn window? Jo closes the window before throwing herself onto her bed and gesturing vaguely at the box. "Open it, it'll be your fabric."

"My bad, I meant what the fuck happened to you?" She walks forward and opens the box. After touching the fabric and holding it up to check the size and quality, she folds it up again and places it neatly back in the box. "Kaykay~ Thank youuu~" Saki leans forward and gives Jo a peck on the cheek before turning to walk to the door. "Byeee~ See you at the cafe!"

Jo sits up after the peck, watching Saki turn away, and she's reaching for the other woman before she has time to wonder what she's doing. "Wait." Jo hadn't answered Saki's question, but she figured that didn't really matter. Her fingers are curled around Saki's wrist and she looks up at the other woman, tiredness fading just a little. "I need to shower, but... will you stay?" Jo holds out the bag of breakfast she bought. "At least eat here with me?"

Her eyes widen. "Oh my god I, like, literally forgot!" Saki rolls her eyes are herself. Grinning, she sits next to Jo on the bed. "Not gonna turn down free breakfast~ What did you bring?"

"Hope you like waffles, because I do. Otherwise, I got a croissant as extra. Don't worry, I brought toppings as well. If you don't want any of this, I think I still have some snacks stored away." Saki might be becoming a little predictable by now. So long as Jo had something for her, especially something free of cost to Saki, that seemed to be the only way to keep her around. Whatever. Jo had money.

"Yeah I like waffles! So do you want me to wait around for you to shower first, orrrr..?"

Jo's already claimed one waffle, taking a bite out of it while she pushes the others over to Saki. "I'll finish this while I get my stuff together. Just eat while I shower, okay? I'll be right out." True to her word, as Jo gets fresh clothes and a towel together, she finishes her waffle and goes into the bathroom, setting her things down. Jo doesn't bother closing the door as she undresses.

Saki begins to pile toppings on her waffle when Jo went to shower. After doing so she pulled out her phone to doomscroll on social media. While she does notice that Jo left her door open she didn't seem to care enough to watch while she eats.

Jo steps into the shower, letting hot water pour over her. She leans against the tiles for a minute, just breathing. Trying to set her thoughts right. Zero came unbidden to her mind, barely clothed and sweaty body pressed against her side as he carried her, still calming down from his nightmare. Then Saki that night in the ballroom and every frustrated dream Jo's had about the woman since. Maybe a colder shower could have shocked the thoughts out of her system. Jo dutifully washes herself, hands shaking slightly with something like adrenaline. There's no feelings to back up her thoughts around Zero. There's too much feeling and probably not enough rational thought around Saki. The water turns off and Jo wraps the towel around herself, coming to lean against the bathroom doorway and watch Saki.

Saki was scrolling and sending TikToks to Seiya. She doesn't look up when she hears the water stop because that would look desperate, at least in her opinion. She watches Jo from her peripheral vision, waiting for her to speak first before turning off her phone and wiping her mouth and fingers with a napkin.

Jo sighs to herself. She has to be a Grade A pervert. The worst. Was this even about Saki or was she looking for a distraction from the rest of the world again? Or... was she pretending it was a distraction because Jo didn't want to admit to how much she wanted Saki in general? "Do you have anywhere you need to be right now?" Jo asks, readjusting her towel and allowing for one brief flash of everything underneath.

"Hm, why~? Do you want something from me?" She pockets her phone and slides off the bed. "Besides delivering this fabric to Seiya, I'm basically free today~ They didn't even deliever the uniforms yet so he's likely not even gonna need to do anything." She walks up to Jo slowly with her hands behind her back. She stops in front of her and tilts her head.

Jo's pretty sure she's warm from more than just the shower at this point. She reaches out with one arm, pulling Saki in by her waist. "Make me forget my name," Jo says, ghosting her lips over Saki's. "Please. Just stay here with me for a while and just..."

Uhhh saki goes in tongue first and they slobbered on each other and uhh it fades to black typing

Tongue first is wild

canon saki behavior

While Saki's in the shower, Jo's still spawled on the bed, catching up on notifications and messages. She's not totally sure why she told Zero about Saki being with her. Some roundabout way of comforting him? Trying to show, hey, she can enjoy other people and what he changed in her with his stigma is not the end of the world? But usually, Zero was a lot more nosy. Well, Jo was nosy and he retaliated. He's never had... nothing to say about something like this before though. She reasons it probably seems weird since she confessed to being in love with him not that long ago. Zero can guess why Saki's showering in her room. He's probably confused. Jo doesn't really want to take the time to dissect and explain it all. Thoughts, feelings, lack of.

After showering and leaving the bathroom, Saki plops down on the bed and lays down next to Jo shamelessly, getting as close in her personal space as possible so she could read what was on her phone. "...Seiya was crying?" Saki's hair was getting the pillow wet, but it didn't seem like she cared about that. To be honest, Saki has never seen Seiya cry. With her eyes at least. She's held him but he would never let anyone see his face. She honestly doubted he was actually crying since he had already seen the damage, but was Seiya even capable of pretending to cry in front of people? She's going to keep those thoughts to herself, the less people know the better.

Jo sighs and puts her phone down. Zero hadn't responded to the last thing she sent yet anyway. She also doesn't want Saki to see too much of that conversation. "Apparently. It's the first I'm hearing about it too," Jo says. She turns her head to plant a brief kiss on Saki's shoulder. "Y'know you just showered and now you're cuddled up to me while I'm still sweaty, right? You trying to get yourself dirty again?" Saki seems lost in thought. Jo winds some of the other woman's wet hair around her finger, a soft tenderness in her eyes. "What're you thinking about, darlin'?"

"... Seiya's... not very open about crying. Not over himself anyway. One time he accidently stepped on a cat's tail and started groveling and apologizing because he felt so bad. Face was a little red, eyes were misty. But even when he talked about his sister he always wants to brush it off like it's not big deal." She throws an arm and a leg over Jo's body and clung on like a koala. Hopefully she wasn't saying too much, if people thought Seiya was pretending to cry that could be bad. "Don't tell him I said that. He's going to deny it 'cuz he's embarrassed." 'How much should I say..?' "... When Zenji died he wouldn't talk for weeks." 'Now that I think about it, Seiya mentioned writing poems with Zenji. He probably started crying because he kept those in his drawers. Why did I doubt him?'

Jo listens, patient and a little surprised. It wasn't like her and Saki never casually talked but... this felt a little different. She might be talking about Seiya, but there's also a little bit of Saki in it too. How well she knows Seiya, her memories, and maybe even some concern in recalling his reaction to Zenji's death. It's clear Saki cares about him. She makes a small, defeated sound when Saki only cuddles her further, clinging to her body. Jo's hands slip around Saki, holding her hip and coming to rest over her back. Her heartbeat had since calmed while the other woman showered, but it beat heavily again now as she tried to ignore how nice this little moment was, conversation topic aside. Wow. Jo really is a secret sap. The hand at Saki's back moves to carefully comb through her wet hair, gently untangling as she went. "I won't tell him anything you don't want me to, I promise," Jo says. "I didn't... really know Zenji. I hear about him from other students. He and Seiya must have been pretty close?" Jo's fingers continue their path through Saki's hair. "You must have been worried about Seiya when he stopped talking. Did you know him? Before he got his voice?" (edited)

"No, we met 'cuz we work at the same place. Then I found out he was homeless and made him stay with me. Sometimes talking was hard for him but I didn't know the real reason why until I got here. He taught me sign language for when words were too hard to pronounce or he had too much to say." She cuddles up to Jo closer. "But yeah, he liked Zenji a lot. I met him last year. Real eccentric guy."

"Oh!" Jo exclaims. "Is that what he was talking about? You both work at that pizza place? Seiya mentioned he didn't want to leave 'cause of friends there." It was amusing to imagine. Suave, confident, too cool for anything Miyazaki Saki worked at a pizza place. Jo's hold on her tightens just a bit. Saki seems a little more human now. "Sounds like things have been rough on Seiya." Jo sighs, thinking back to when they first met and played 20 Questions. "He's so good at hiding what he feels. Just makes me want to hug the guy. Last time I even touched him though, he flinched." Jo shifts under Saki's koala hold and buries her face in the woman's damp hair. "I probably don't smell half as nice as you do right now. You planning on letting me shower yet?"

Saki knows why Seiya flinches when he's suddenly touched. It's not that he's against physical affection but because it's a built in response. Even when it comes to Saki, Seiya found it hard to let his guard down. "He usually wears his emotions on his sleeve. Gets excited easily, yelps at haunted houses, laughs at jokes even if the room is too quiet, tugs on my sleeve when he sees a cute animal. But then when it comes to anything serious he gets so quiet. He really likes cuddling, though. He'd be fine with it if you asked first." She pouts a little and finally let's go of Jo. "Alright, you can go shower again. I hafta deliver the fabric anyway. Call me anytime~" She winks before getting off the bed and picking up the box.

Jo's going to think about that pout possibly forever. She wants to invite Saki into the shower with her, make some excuse about how she must be covered in Jo's scent now and she needs to wash it off. But they both had things to do. Jo smiles at Saki's wink and sits up, stretching out the faint ache in her muscles before she grabs a robe to cover herself. "Don't be a stranger, sweetheart," Jo says, leaning in to give Saki one last kiss with the box pressed between them. "And..." Jo seems to struggle with something for a moment before she just shrugs with a smile. "Never mind. I'll see you again soon."

Saki pouts harder. "And?? You can't just leave me hanging like that! Tell me!!"

Jo just grins as she leans in close again, teasing. "Mm. No. You can wait."

Saki sticks out her tongue. "Booo, you're mean! Whatever, you'll tell me eventually. Byebyeee~" She tucks the box under her arm and turns on her heel to leave.

Jo opens the door and watches Saki leave, leaning against the frame as she smiles after her. "Bye," she says softly, even though Saki wouldn't hear it.

Every loyal dog has their limit, and that includes an Aussie bitch. Jo Waker has always been a coward at the end of the day. She runs, she hides, and she watches things die right in front of her. Only three messages are sent after Zero blocked her before Jo turned off her phone. One to Zero. One to Seiya. And one to Saki. Bare essentials are gathered and everything else in Jo Waker's room stays the exact same. It will gather dust in the weeks to come. Her shells on her windowsill stare out at an icy wonderland she had only just gotten used to. Her surfboard stays where it leans. Her bedcovers are neatly made. Many of her clothes are left behind in her wardrobe and drawers. Her perfume. Even her jewelry. Her laptop for classes is left behind too at her desk amongst all her textbooks and research journals. The hidden freezer has had its diamond dead things removed, leaving only chocolate ice cream. Barely a word is breathed before Jo gets her permit and goes to the Galaxy Express, dressed down in a hoodie, cap, and jeans with well-worn boots that are in dire need of a polish. She has only a backpack with her. Aside from talking to specific staff and pulling some strings higher up in Frostheim, Jo says nothing else to anyone. It's as if she's disappeared. Darkwick Academy doesn't clean out her room. It stays the same. And it remains under Jo's name. It's locked for security reasons, but anyone could break in. They'll find basically everything the same. It's just missing Jo. When something goes terribly, terribly wrong, Jo runs, she hides, and she watches things die right in front of her. She waits. For what, she isn't always sure. Jo Waker has always been a coward at the end of the day. Every loyal dog has their limit, and that includes an Aussie bitch. Like a dog, Jo runs away. She doesn't come back for a long time. But her room stays the same. Darkwick expects her return. One day. (edited)

knock knock..?

There's no one there to answer Saki. The door remains locked, but the room can be broken into.

Saki decides to break into the room later, there's a maid event to attend.

On Jo's desk, her laptop sits open. The lockscreen lights up, showing a picture of two girls and a guy with their arms around each other on a beach. On the left is a much younger Jo, free of scars, and directly beside her is a taller lookalike but with more youthful puppy features. The guy stands on the right and he seems to share some visual similarities to the girls, but not many, and he looks older. The reason for the screen lighting up is down in the right hand corner: a notification. 'You missed your check-in.' A few hours later, another one comes in. 'WHERE ARE YOU?'

In the morning, another few messages come through, lighting up the laptop. 'If you don't check in today, we'll have to take action.' 'Look, I didn't want to have to do this.' 'But you made an agreement.' Not too long after, a low battery warning comes up on the screen. (edited)

The door to Jo Waker's room has been left unlocked and the laptop put on charge. Someone's been in here when no one was looking.

Saki eventually made her way over to Jo's room to snoop because she's nosy. It was weird that the door was open, maybe the detective had already got here before she did? She walked in and looked at the laptop. For some reason it was charging, this implies that Jo was planning on coming back to use it, no? The wallpaper had the detective on it alongside Jo and someone who looked to be her sister. Saki took a picture, it might be important later. She clicks the space button, hopefully there wasn't any password.

The lockscreen background of the Wakers and Hale blurs. Jo's student ID pops up with a bar to enter a password below.

Saki looked at the keyboard, hopefully Jo inputs her password often enough for there to be oil marks. Then all Saki would need to do is play scramble.

On the keyboard, the most oil marks can be found on the following bolded letters: Q W E R T Y U I O P A S D F G H J K L Z X C V B N M The screen sits ready for Saki's input.

"Hmm..." She realizes that she should get up and close the door first before she starts doing suspicious activity. E, R, T, I, A, H, C, B, M Surprisingly, Jo didn't have any numbers in her password, her shift key seemed to be ignored as well. This made things significantly easier. THE... R, I, A, C, B, M ? That doesn't seem right. CHAMBER... T, I..? IT CHAMBER? Incorrect password That was a dumb guess. BEAR... T, I, H, C, M... No... BIRTH... CAME.. The fuck does that mean? BIRTH MACE..? That's stupid. MICE... BITCH Incorrect password Saki pulls out ChatGPT BIRCH MITE BAT MICE CHEETAH BIRD HAMMERHEA... Saki was starting to regret not getting closer with Jo. She stands up and looks around the room for clues. Maybe Jo has a notebook where she keeps her passwords.

Normally, a personal journal filled with information like passwords would be lying around. It's missing. Luckily, there's a sticky note as back-up in the bedside table drawer. It's buried under headache pills, sea scented candles, an old glasses case that's empty, and a couple caramel chocolate bars. The sticky note reads: School ID Login: hermit crab

"Oh." Saki sits down at the keyboard again, typing with her nails to avoid leaving fingerprints. hermit crab

The password enters successfully and Jo's laptop unlocks. The home screen is relatively bare. The background is a collage of pictures, many featuring Jo's sister through the years. Occasionally, Hale is there too. There's one of a gap-toothed little Jo beaming excitedly at the camera while holding a hermit crab in her hands. The recycling is empty. There's a folder labelled 'Research'. There's a random virus protector installed. There's an icon with 50+ notifications in a mail inbox. An old digital sticky note is up in the right hand corner of the collage. It reads: To Do

Replace make up bottle
Book hair appointment
Pick up from buyer @ 11 pm
Make contact @ 1 am
DON'T message Saki

From here, Saki can take a peek into Jo's life. If she wants.

Considering that they had argued over text not so long ago, Saki could assume that this was recent. It had only been a few days since Jo has supposedly decided to go missing again, so the chances of her coming back now where little to none. But you could never be too sure. Jo might come back for her laptop. Saki moved a chair in front of the door just in case. She goes back to close the laptop's camera and turn off read receipts before she decides to look through text messages. Almost everyone had a million unread mail, likely unimportant things but it wouldn't hurt to scroll through them before looking at texts.

Most of the mail is miscellaneous Darkwick Academy updates from throughout the semester that Jo rarely bothered opening. Here and there are some correspondence with professors about assignments and due dates. There's one particular email thread with the Chancellor about approval for changing her course progression to start third year subjects a semester sooner. Other notable oddities include mail from a legal aid firm, some mining company that's been CCing her into their business, and some from specific people. In order from oldest to newest there is: James Waker, Margot Waker, and Richard Hale. James' email pertains to some "contract" that's been arranged and requesting Jo to book a flight home to uphold her end of the deal. Margot's email is more long-winded and talks about how she misses Jo and to "please contact her father urgently about business." Hale's email is short: "check your fucking texts for gods sake." (edited)

Saki assumes that James and Margot Waker are probably Jo's parents. Richard Hale is the weirdo detective guy. Cleary Jo hadn't taken the flight back home since she spent six weeks doing whatever the fuck and coming back, the information here wasn't exactly anything new from what Saki had gathered so far. Jo was running away from her family. Saki checks the text messages.

Jo doesn't often delete text conversations. There's quite a few to go through, all depending on which contact Saki wants to go through. Going down, the messages are the most recent to the oldest. Dick Dick Ma Old Man Kyoto Beauty Salon Rat Guy JP Post Scammer Legal Aid Waker Mining Pty Ltd CEO Rachel Scammer Aunty Thelma Nan Scammer Scammer Tristan Stef Saki can pick any to go through.

Scammer seemed to pop up pretty often, but the most recent one was Dick Dick. Saki has watched a few shows in English before and she did eventually pick up that some people called people named Richard, 'Dick'. Problem is, English wasn't very fun to read as someone who barely needed to use it. She decided to click on it anyway, she could just google translate it if she got fustrated.

Under the contact Dick Dick are the following messages from oldest to most recent: Don't forget your flight is at 2 pm and you need to make a check-in when you land in Tokyo. Your old man brought up the merger idea again with the Society. They really want a leg up on the Collingwood Crew, so they think if they join with Waker's Mining they'll have extra funds and support. I still think we're too high brow for that shit but thought I'd message you about it since I know you'd rather hear it from me than the old man. Then follows a series of check-ins lasting months. All it is are a message first from Richard saying "check-in" and Jo responding in some type of code. Diamond comes up a lot, but there's also amber, sapphire, jade, ruby, and onyx. From the last six weeks are the following from Richard with no reply from Jo: You missed your check-in. WHERE ARE YOU? If you don't check in today, we'll have to take action. Look, I didn't want to have to do this. But you made an agreement. I know it was over the phone, I still need to email you the meeting's minutes but you have a contract to gift stamp this guy for the Society before the wedding or it'll be anarchy. I know you know this. Answer the damn phone. Fucks sake Jo JO Jo I know you're ignoring your parents but you can't keep ignoring me too. You know they can kill us right? Jo we don't have the numbers, we really can't pass up on this deal. I know you don't want to do it but I'm sorry my hands are tied. CHECK YOUR PHONE Bitch do you remember what happened last time you didn't listen to me? Do you want that to happen again? I've booked a flight to Japan. When I find you, we are going HOME That's the end of the recent messages from Dick Dick.

Seiya did eventually tell her that Jo had the ability to turn things into diamonds, Diamond could be a code name for Jo, but then why would she mention her own name? Apparently they have check-ins or something. This definitely proves that the "detective" at DarkWick wasn't truly a detective. Looks like it's time to check in with the parents.

The messages from Ma do not reveal much. The woman texts Jo once a week to say she misses her and wonders when she'll hear from her next and, again, to PLEASE answer her father. The most recent texts are a bit different though. Jo, I know it can't be easy. If it were as simple as signing a contract and shaking hands to be done with it, I know you would do it in a heartbeat. This is different, of course I know that. You've turned targets into diamonds whenever a contract has come in like it was nothing to you. But we need you here before the wedding so you can take the bride's place. Once she's out of the picture, our family and the Society can merge more securely and everything will belong to you and your new husband. He'll be unhappy since his father has been arranging it with us, but he'll come around, as I'm sure you eventually will too. We can reach more markets with the Society's influence, and they can make more revenue selling your diamonds overseas. It's a win all around for everyone. Like I said, I know it can't be easy. You feel you don't have a choice. But sweetie, this is what you always wanted. We have helped build this for you. You could have a corporate empire right at your fingertips. What has changed in the past year that you could possibly change your mind? Please get back to your father. He's arranging for the flights and your retrieval. Think of what's best for the family.

1:21 AM

The messages from Old Man repeat information from the emails from James Waker and confirm in other more objective language what the messages from Ma say. Scattered between it all are the following messages: Home. Now. You think I'm fucking playing? Cut the bullshit. You're a spoiled little cunt, you know that? Get your fucking act together. Fine. Don't come back. But you'll have a target on you from all sides. When Hale finds you, you're going to listen to him and I'm giving you the beating of your life after Hale's done with his. I own you. You're stolen property. Get on the fucking plane before the date or you're dead. You're an asset that can't fall into anyone else's hands.

1:22 AM

That's the end of the messages from Ma and Old Man.

Saki audibly gasped. 'Arranged marriage??? Holy shit..' Okay, this was kinda fucking crazy. Honestly, if Saki were Jo, she would've gotten rid of all of this by now. Or... she might've just turned her parents into diamonds. But then things could get a little complicated, or not. But running away while still having access to your old things is complicated enough. Welp, mystery solved ig. It was kind of bad that Jo didn't log out of all her accounts before this. It was really too bad for her. Not that Saki was going to snitch, no, she was going to change Jo's passwords so she could access them on her own laptop. Unlike Jo, she wasn't going to write it down. What she did write down was the contact information of Jo's parents and Hale. Saki turned off the laptop and walked around the room. There were some expensive fragrances lying around. Might as well take one or two as payment for keeping her mouth shut. Saki left the room.

Okay, just one more mystery Saki wants to know. Who is Jo now? It was still the same day, there's no reason for the door to be locked, so Saki strolled into the room and closed the door behind her. It looked the same as she left it. She looked around and room and decides on stand on a chair to reach the top of Jo's wardrobe. There she set up a security camera. She checks on her phone if it works like its supposed to before leaving the room. If Jo has just recently switched identities, then- She returns to the room and opens Jo's laptop. There's a chance that the email from the chancellor will mention if she decided to change houses, or names, or something of that sort right? Houses. Definiately houses. Otherwise Jo would still be in room right? Jo's not in Frostheim anymore. Saki opens the email from the Chancellor.

One house stands out in the email thread with the Chancellor. Sinostra.

"..." She leans back in her chair and pulls out her phone.

8:02 PM

Saki giggles to herself for a bit before standing up and leaving the room. If this goes smoothly, the camera wouldn't even be needed at all!

Another Leo gagger.

LMFAOOOO

SLANDER RELEASE MY GIRL SHE'S DONE NOTHING (much) WRONG

its true she succed me

Only in your dreams

Jo was getting ready to storm Sinostra when she saw the post of Leo holding hands with somebody on WickHive. She had paused in the middle of lining her lips, face drawn into an unpleasantly surprised pout. They messaged back and forth while she continued doing her make-up. Leo's latest string of texts had her paused mid-stride on her way back into her bedroom, the boots she was going to put on all but forgotten.

lmaoo 
is that what this looks like
nooooooooo
yea jo ur the prettiest girl i know
would

Particular emphasis on that would. A mocking repetition of what Taiga had commented on her picture. Jo flings her phone across the room where it smacks into one of her dozens of decorative cushions on her bed before slipping away and out of sight. She pinches the bridge of her nose as a bright blush seeps into her face. What a fucking asshole. He had to know what he was doing. Surely. There was no fucking way he could be this goddamn clueless. Dear God, she was going to kill Leo Kurosagi one of these days. (edited)

It's cold here.

Jo returns to her room, leaning against the door as she closes it. She stares ahead at the frosted window glowing dimly as the sun continues to rise. She undresses as she walks through her room, just dumping her clothes here and there on the way to the bathroom. Ritz squeaks tiredly and turns away, trying to bundle up further in all her straw and blankets. Jo glances at her bathtub with a faint grimace before she just steps into the shower instead. The water's turned on scorching hot, filling the room quickly with steam. Her whole body aches. Jo's a ghoul and she was an athlete before that. But she wasn't exactly getting fucked by another ghoul with a penchant for sadism every other night as part of her workout routine. So, Jo leans against the cool tiles of the wall as water runs over her. The ghost of Leo's touch seems to follow the same paths as the rivulets of water. Jo closes her eyes. And, miraculously, she manages a very small smile. "You sure know how to make sure a woman's gonna miss you, Kurosagi," Jo murmurs under her breath, the smiling turning crooked for just a moment. Then she sighs and straightens up. She washes away all of yesterday, from finding out Lily had left without a word, to her impromptu date with Taiga, and her late night with Leo. Jo breathes around the pain. Lily was gone and Jo knows she should let her go. It wouldn't do either of them good to reach out. Leo needed to be forgotten or Jo would just break her own heart further by letting herself fall in love with a person all over again who didn't--couldn't--love her back. Taiga... Well, Jo's not sure about Taiga Hoshibami. He's an interesting one. Probably just doing whatever he can to get Jo in his bed. But outside of suspicious motivations, he was kinda nice. No Romeo Scorpius Lucci, but... nice. The water shuts off. Jo dries off and gets dressed into some pyjamas before collapsing onto her bed. Time to be a hermit for a little bit again, it seems.

Ken had been seeing a beautiful girl around campus lately. He could have swore he caught a glimpse of her before and even noticed her uniform badge, but he didn't see her lately when making deliveries to Princess Tomosei. She seems a little intimidating, but... well, it wasn't enough to stop Ken from finding out her room number. With all the recent talk on WickHive of people finding Ken creepy, he makes sure to stop by Jo's room invisible this time. It's not realistically effective considering other students would still see a floating teddy bear and a bundle of his special candies. No one else does this weird ass shit. Ken lays the gifts down at Jo's door and runs away.

Leo was supposed to be spying on the coiffed-up three eyes, but then his dumbass somehow ended up lingering in front of Jo's dorm room after passing by it. Despite her always coming to visit Vagastrom, he remembered which one it was because of the tracker he has on Zero. ... What the fuck was he doing standing here anyway? Did he plan to talk to her? What would he even say? Leo can hardly remember the words they exchanged before they actually slept together. How the hell was he supposed to retain any of that when she was straddling him on his bed? ...Ugh. Jo leaving was her way of letting things die down. And this is what they agreed on originally. Yet, here he is, tempted to talk to her again a few days later just because he strolled into Frostheim. Like a beta whipped bitch simp. He's disgusted with himself, really. … Leo was so absent in his own thoughts that he didn't notice the gifts at Jo's doorstep. At first, he grins. Because he knows it's that weird asshole in Jabberwock’s doing. The bag of candies is definitely his artifact, which Leo needed more of. But then he sees the plush bear sitting next to it, and a flash of anger sours his mood even further. Leo doesn't think twice before he's marching over to the door and stealing Jo's gifts like a natural born klepto. Attached to the sickenly cutesy pink bag is a note on how to use them, just like he found on Kamiyama’s door. Leo's face wrinkles in disgust. “This loser is seriously leaving behind calling cards to the people he beats to like he's the BTK killer. Gross.” Whatever. Leo will just throw the bear in that new anomalous incinerator that Cornelius introduced for cycling out sensitive documents. He wanted to see how fast it would cook this thing. With that, Leo leaves.

Jo leads Seiya back to her room. She goes over to a radiator and turns it on before shucking off her damp snow clothes, leaving her in thermals that she just throws one of her regular coats on top of. She sinks onto her bed and gestures that Seiya should take the desk chair. "I can get you an extra blanket or something if you're still cold," she says, further putting off the actual Talk in talking that they needed to do.

Seiya decides to take off his heavy ass jacket before sitting on the desk chair. "I'll be fine," he gives Jo a small smile. "Okay, can I start?"

Jo takes a deep breath and then nods before taking up one of her many pretty cushions and hugging to her chest. "Yeah, go on then, please." Jo's grateful that at least Seiya seems to have some idea of where to start. She had a speech she practically rehearsed originally, but, well, after all this it needed quite a bit of amending, and honestly now she's just gonna wing it.

"Saki already... Okay, so basically, when you went undercover as another student? Saki got nosy and like snooped in your room and found out that you were hiding from Hale so you don't get married off. She also figured out that you were a 3rd year in Sinostra at that time and was tracking your location. Which is how I found out that you got kidnapped." His phone buzzes. "Sorry, give me a sec." It's Saki

7:33 PM

Wow. Hahahaha. Fucking hilarious. Seiya stands up and looks for the camera based on the angled image that Saki sent. After finding it, he takes it down. "I'm really really sorry," he turns back to Jo. "Okay, so you might want to start investing in locks."

Jo's stiffened at the news of Saki and what she found out. She's still digesting this when Seiya stands and starts looking around her room. Her brow furrows in utter bewilderment. "What are you--" Then, a camera atop her wardrobe. Very clearly where Jo wouldn't ordinarily see it. ...what the fuck. Maybe Jo should blush. That's a normal reaction to being embarrassed. She'd walked through her room naked or in lingerie plenty of times after all. Well, Saki had already seen all that, but still. What about those times Jo was crying? The hours she spent slumped over her desk as she did her research? The little conversations she had with Ritz? Her sad, pathetic trumpet solos when she needed a break from everything else? How much of Jo's life did Saki see for the woman to find out about the arranged marriage? Jo has gone very, very pale. Perhaps a little green too. 'I feel sick,' she thinks miserably, hugging the cushion tighter. If that cushion had been a person, their head might well have popped off by now. She swallows, hard. "Okay. Okay." She takes a breath. "Okay." Normally, Jo would get mad. ...Jo hides her face into the cushion as her shoulders start to shake. It soon becomes clear she's crying again.

Seiya wasn't sure what he was going to do with the camera until Jo began to cry. He drops the camera on the ground and smashes it with his guitar. Okay, that was a little dramatic, but it did the job. The camera cracked and pieces of plastic and glass slid across the floor. Satisfied with it's unusable state, Seiya lightly kicks the pieces into a small pile and picks it up. "I'll go throw this away then. Sorry."

Jo lifts her face at the sound of the smash. Her eyes are slightly puffy and pink, shining with tears as she hiccups into relative silence. The camera's in pieces on the floor. The guitar might have been a bit much, but Jo appreciates the gesture, even if she can't manage to fix her sad little pout yet. She points to a wastebasket by her desk for the camera remains to be dumped in alongside a few tissues, chocolate wrappers, and a single, empty Plan B pill sheet. ...it was for just in case. Jo's not gonna address it even if for whatever reason Seiya directly asked. After a sigh, Jo swipes at her damp face and starts to speak, "Thank you. Sorry for being a mess. There's just... been a lot going on. And I haven't been sleeping well. It's all just..." She shrugs. "Yeah. I've gotten used to being watched, but... at least I usually knew when I was." (edited)

Seiya walks over and dumps the camera in the basket, not bothering to look inside. Even if he did see what was inside, he wouldn't bother asking about it. "You don't need to apologize for anything. I'm sorry that- uh, well, everything. Especially Saki, I should've stopped her. I'll talk to her when I can." He brushed off his hands and sat back down at the desk. "That's... pretty much what I wanted to say. Your turn."

That was it? Honestly, Jo was prepared for a tirade about what a bad friend she's been. Then again, that wasn't really Seiya's style, was it? He'd always been kind to her, even when she didn't quite deserve it. "Well... this is long overdue. I'm sorry for everything that happened with Zero a few months back. I don't even know how much of it I need to explain anymore that we didn't already go over. For what it's worth, I would have done it differently if I could go back. I set you and Zero up because I thought you'd be good together, then I went and got muddled in my feelings, but I kept it private, and then Kamiyama of all people pressured me into telling Zero about... ugh, just, that and a bunch of stuff because I was trying to snoop into what he was doing coming around to Frostheim but not visiting me. God, don't I just look stupid now? Guess karma is real." Jo runs a hand through her hair, forcefully twirling some of it as she tries to gather her thoughts and settle herself internally. "And I also up and disappeared without saying goodbye to you. I already feel incredibly guilty for that, and I missed you more than you know. But someone else I care about recently also left and I had no idea until I saw she hadn't picked up my gift and I went and checked her room. She didn't say goodbye either. I'm not looking for pity, I know I'm just getting what I deserve after a long time coming. It made me really think about just how bad that might have been for you since it was before I went undercover and before you even knew about what Zero and I had done. I was your friend, and I wasn't acting like it. You lost Zero and I at the same time and I was too chicken to approach you while in disguise even. For that, I'm also sorry." Now that she's talking, finally, about everything, it's hard to stop. When was the last time Jo had a real conversation like this with a friend? ...hopefully Seiya still considers them somewhat friends.

9:28 PM

"And then, our missions together have been slightly awkward because of everything we haven't talked about. Then I got involved with Leo and for some reason you're always fucking there to witness me being absolutely dumb over a guy who did wrong by you." Jo rubs at her face. She fears for the condition of her skin come tomorrow. Her hands still and she just keeps them covering her eyes. "...Leo and I aren't talking. I told him how I feel a few nights ago. He... doesn't really feel the same about it all. I mean, he didn't really tell me anything about how he feels. That's just kinda the problem with Leo though, isn't it? You just never know where you stand with that guy, even if you've been seeing each other for a while. It's like he's allergic to being honest. And if he says anything he actually means, it's hard to tell." A long, long sigh. "There's just been so much going on. This isn't even the half of it. And every night, I still think about the kidnapping, Hale, the rest of my family. It's fucked up that the last night I spent with Leo was the first time I'd slept well in a while. I can't tell Zero any of this. He's with Kamiyama, for God's sake, who's, like, the dollar store version of Leo, way rougher around the edges. At one point, I actually thought I could be friends with Kamiyama. Then I found out he was the guy Zero had been visiting and that they'd both been lying to me about shit. Actually, Kamiyama said some true things. But would you believe anything if it came from him? And Zero was just keeping the guy's secrets and being respectful. I think we fell out of step along the way though with each other because our dynamic and priorities shifted."

9:28 PM

Jo gently smacks her palm against her forehead, only a couple times, like she's trying to hammer down her thoughts before they run away from her. "Point is... I've neglected you and our friendship. I've isolated myself. And I'm really tired of carrying all this on my own. But I know I've done a lot wrong by you and I don't expect you to forgive me for any of it. I just wanted you to know that I'm sorry anyway."

Well.. Seiya already knew the first part and he kinda got over it. He kind of has to accept that they weren't as close as he originally thought, but now... now Jo is telling him all of this. ... He nods slowly. Kind of a bad time to think this, but he was pretty confident about where he stood with Leo, not that he was gonna say anything about that to Jo. Really bad timing for sure. The corner of his mouth quirks up a bit as Jo's complaints about Kamiyama. The urge to complain about your ex and his new boyfriend was pretty strong, Taylor Swift era ig. ... So Jo did consider them friends. Just not close enough to... okay, that's enough being salty. She apologized already. "Thanks for letting me know. I'm not particularly mad at you anymore, if that makes you feel any better?"

Jo's pouting, hugging the cushion close to her chest again as she stares at Seiya. "...it does make me feel a bit better, yeah." She hides her face before peeking back up again and saying, muffled, "Are we still friends?"

Seiya found it hard to still consider Jo a friend after everything that has happened, how they haven't even really been speaking ever since she left. "It's gonna take more effort than that to regain my friendship." He leaned forward and smiled. "Pretty sure you still owe me a pizza party."

There is a beat of delay before a slow smile blooms on Jo's face. The cushion is tossed aside, and she throws herself across the rest of the distance between her and Seiya to engulf him in a fierce hug. Then she pulls back suddenly. "Sorry, I just remembered I probably should have asked before doing that," Jo says sheepishly. She recalls a conversation she had with Saki a long while ago now when they were lounging in bed together. Jo had mentioned Seiya flinched once when she touched him, and Saki suggested that Seiya did like hugs, but that Jo should ask for one since he probably won't just do it himself. ...Jo hasn't thought about that day in a while. Not in that much detail. It had been the first time she felt like Saki might actually enjoy her general company between their rounds of sex. Then again, Jo did buy Saki things as favours, from fabric to food, and she paid for their date before they returned to campus for the Ballroom Incident, and intimacy tended to produce happy chemicals in most people so... maybe it wasn't Jo that had Saki enjoying herself even that last day together, just what Jo offered. She really had the worst taste in people. And some really bad luck. ...Zero once said early on in their friendship that hanging around him tended to be bad luck for people. ... Blinking back to attention, Jo offers Seiya another smile. "I'll do better then to earn back your friendship. You'll see. Starting with pizza. You should come by here again Saturday, if you're free. I'll put together some movie choices and popcorn. You got any other snack preferences?"

For a moment, Seiya visualized the Five Nights at Freddy's jumpscare when the animatronics leap at you when Jo leapt up to hug him. He just processed and was about to hug back when Jo quickly pulled away with an apology. "It's fine, S-" Saki does it all the time, but now is not a good time to mention her. "I like hugs, just can't be surprised with them." Speaking of Saki, it got him thinking... Seiya was starting to wonder if Jo was romantically cursed at this point. I mean Saki was his ex, Zero was his ex, Leo kind of had a crush on him even if he did have some sort of situationship with Jo... was Goro next? Nah, no way right? Kinda crazy that it would happen three times... Seiya might need to think of a new insult to use against Leo now that he wasn't a virgin anymore. "I've been thinking about dried mangos recently, what movies do you like?"

Jo makes a mental note about dried mangoes. As for movies? "Hm... I like a good mix of things. Probably more American media than what most people here are used to," she says. "I can send you ahead some options if you wanna look into them before we catch up again." Seiya stays a little longer as they continue talking, and then he mentions he has somewhere to be and they're moving to the door. "--I'll see you Saturday then," Jo confirms with a smile. "Want me to walk you out to the gates?" (edited)

Seiya puts on his jacket again and begins to open the door. "Sure, if you're not bus-"

CRASHHHH

Oh no! A chandelier fell directly on Seiya's head, knocking him out and leaving him bleeding out on the fucking floor.

...holy fucking shit? "Seiya!" Jo's on her knees at his side in an instant, carefully lifting the chandelier to assess the damage. This... does not look good. She secures him in her hold and starts dragging him (only his feet are dragging, she's holding his upper body because he's Tall compared to her, okay?) out of Frostheim while calling for helping hands.

Jo's slumped tiredly in her desk chair while her brand new roommate--her son?--lays on her bed and pretends to sleep. She knows he's pretending because every time he thinks she's not paying attention, he tries to sneakily look at her with those sappy eyes like some puppy. She throws him another snowball from the bowl she made of them. He swiftly catches it and eats it happily. See? Not asleep, but he keeps trying to act like he is. And he doesn't seem to like normal, human food. Snow eating snow seems oddly cannibalistic... sort of. And yet, it also made some sense too in that you add to snow's mass by adding more snow. Indeed, Laurent seems to fill out a bit more after his dinner of packed ice. When she took hold of his elbow to guide him up here though, he felt as solid as flesh and bone. What a strange anomaly. Laurent's wearing her scarf and beanie still, only because he looked like he was about to burst into tears when Jo said to swap them for something a bit cleaner since they were on a snowman's head outside for a while that day. But now he's out of the hospital scrubs Akari gave him and is now dressed in an ironed button-up shirt, pyjama pants, fuzzy socks, and a random vest Jo had forgotten she even had but Laurent managed to find. His namesake was supposed to be Yves Saint Laurent. Jo fears her son did not inherit any style from YSL or the Wakers. At least they were a pretty similar height though, that means her clothes are more likely to fit. She wonders why he even recognises her as his mother. Laurent's mentioned nothing of Seiya, and he technically helped. How did a snowman even come to life? Why was he her son and not just simply A Random Ex-Snowman With No Relation to her? "Mother Jo, you're thinking too hard," Laurent's crisp voice finally speaks up. It cuts smoothly through the air and Jo glances over to find him no longer pretending to sleep as he meets her questioning eye. (edited)

2:17 AM

"...if I read you a bedtime story, do you think you can sleep?" Jo asks instead of directly replying. Laurent lights up like a Christmas tree. It's a little funny. Jo actually rather liked Christmas because it was summertime in Australia. She supposes snow has its own novelty too. With a small smile, Jo sorts through her books. They're mostly for research, but she does find one on fairytales and folklore. Then she brings her desk chair over to the bed as Laurent resettles himself on his side with one of her many cushions clutched to his chest as he stares, starry-eyed, up at her. "This one's called The Snow Queen, but it's actually about a young boy and girl who were best friends. Their names were Kaj and Gerda, and one day..." ... Jo's halfway through the third short story, this one called 'East of the Sun, West of the Moon', when she hears Laurent softly snoring. Guess snowmen anomalies can fall asleep after all. She even waves a hand close to his face and he doesn't so much as twitch or flinch or stop breathing. She closes the book gently and sets it aside. Jo hadn't been particularly kind earlier, she knows that. She's still wary that this is an anomaly who might fly of the hinge and try to eat her any minute. But something stopped her from just passing Laurent on to Akari, who admittedly seemed far more capable and eager. She's not sure what it is yet. But she pulls a blanket up over her lap and crosses her arms as she decides to watch over Laurent for the night. That's what a Waker is, after all. A watcher in the night to wake you when needed.

‍♂️

5:50 PM

This is a stupid idea. Maybe he should just knock and ditch the snow. He knocks and bends down to set the packaged snow on the floor. FUCK. IDIOT. You're supposed to put the thing on the floor first and then knock and run away!!

Laurent's the one to swing the door wide open and he beams at the sight of Wagi. "You're here!" He calls over his shoulder, loudly, "Mother Jo! The nice man is here! Akari, isn't it? Mother Jo said you liked my drawing!"

"Give the man some room, Laurent," Jo says, gently guiding the anomaly out of the doorway. She eyes Wagi up and down, less hostile than yesterday. Jo sighs and waves him on in. "Come on. Those snowballs will melt if you just leave them lying around. Make yourself comfortable. The bed's currently Laurent's domain so you can sit there too while I've got the desk." (edited)

He swallows. Guess he's committed now. Can't disappoint Laurent. He picks up the gathered snow. He enters the room and does his best to give Laurent a smile. He is not very good at smiling. He holds out the snow. "Here. Your mother said you liked this stuff."

Laurent seems to find no trouble with Wagi's smile, he just smiles even brighter as he takes the fresh snow from the man. "I do! She tried to feed me some of her rice yesterday. I don't think I like human food. Doesn't look right." He takes Wagi's hand as Jo sits down at her desk again. She's put on a pair of gold-rimmed glasses as she pours over an academic journal. Above the desk is a cage with Ritz the rat quietly milling about. Beside the cage is an open trumpet case. Relics of a disguise that seem to have simply merged with Jo's identity now. Laurent guides Wagi into sitting on the edge of the bed, then picks up the book of fairytales and folklore from where it sat at the top of a precarious pile by Jo's desk. He presents it to Wagi. "Mother Jo read me some of these last night. Did you know that the Snow Queen's broken mirror shard can turn your heart cold?" Jo discreetly raises a hand to hide what can of her face. "...Akari doesn't need to know I read to you, Laurent." Laurent just shrugs and starts shovelling snow into his mouth. Yesterday, he was thin and willowy. He's filled out today, looking healthier. (edited)

His breath catches a bit when Laurent takes his hand. It wasn't enough to startle him completely, but he has to physically tell himself to relax. Such a sweet gesture... He accepts the book, and sits on the edge of the bed. "How sweet of her to read to you. It sounds like you were paying good attention. " He watches as Laurent eats the snow. He does, indeed, look less emaciated than the day prior. Raku will be pleased. He continues to watch Laurent but addresses Jo.

"Cute that you thought I was hitting on you. You just get out of a bad relationship or something? Awful bold to bring that up with someone you just met."

Jo's eye give a slight twitch at Wakure's words. She pushes her glasses higher up her nose as she takes a deep, calming breath. "Now you're calling me cute for it? Awful bold to flirt with me in front of my son," she replies, not looking up from the pages she was trying to read. "I'm not... in a relationship. Nor was I ever in one, good or bad. Not that it's any of your business." Laurent looks between Jo and Wakure with his cheeks stuffed full of snow. He leans in close to Wakure to stage-whisper. "Mother Jo got her heart broken and now she's sad." "Laurent!" Jo exclaims, snapping the journal shut as she finally looks over at the pair. Her face is drawn in a scowl, but there's a notable blush on her cheeks. She glances at Wakure. Opens her mouth to say something. Decides against it. Turns away and slumps in her chair again, reopening the journal to continue reading while staring daggers into the paper.

"Ahhh, you caught me there. How shameless of me! Buuuuut.... You're right! It's literally none of my business!" He laughs amiably until Laurent stage-whisper-exposes his Mother. "Oh keep your chin up! A lovely face like that will certainly turn heads. Heartbreak though, oof! Yikes. Thaaaaat's a rough one. Laurent here sure seems to fill in some of my cracks though, maybe he can heal some of yours!" He grins and points to the snow, looking Laurent in the eyes. "Have you learned how to share yet? D'you think I could have a bite?"

Laurent decides this is a pleasing development. Mother and his new friend were at odds with each other yesterday but today seems more promising. He doesn't question the complete change in attitude from Wakure (who he thinks is just Akari) regarding Jo. At least the look Jo sends Wakure's way is only a curious raised brow. Laurent agreed. Jo did have a lovely face. And he really would do his best to heal some of that heartbreak however he can. Her sadness called to him like a guiding star. There was a grief in it. And grief begged to be fixed. Laurent's distracted by Wakure pointing at the snow in his hands. He lights up at the direct, friendly eye contact. He immediately thrusts the packaging of snow out to Wakure with a smile. "Go on, I'm happy to share. You look like you could eat some snow too." From off to the side, Jo gives the faintest snort and a hand half-covers a smile as she keeps her eyes glued on the pages in front of her.

"Aw look at you, so generous." He scoops up a small ball and bites at it. It tastes like nothing. Truly shocking. But refreshing nonetheless. "Ohhh Laurent... do you know about snowcones? Might have to pick up some syrups to bring with when I come by tomorrow... ehe..." He finishes off his little snowball and brushes off the melted snow-water from his hands. "Be good to your mother, ok? Give her the space she needs but keep close to her all the same, got that?"

"And if anyone comes around looking like this..." He draws a stick figure in the packaged snow. It's normal except instead of eyes, he draws hearts. "You tell them to go away, ok?" He's joking, mostly. The gesture is mostly for Waker's benefit. He knows Laurent won't see anyone like that, but maybe it'll give him some purpose. And maybe it'll give Waker a laugh.

He gives Laurent a forced smile as he heads for the door. "See you later, ok? Keep eating that snow. Don't want you to disappear while I'm gone."

Jo lets her gaze stray as she watches Wakure interact with Laurent. It's a little endearing the way Laurent so readily nods along to Zigi's words. She notices the stick figure has heart eyes. It produces a slight amused smile to her face. What did he mean, for Laurent to keep heart-eyed people away from himself or Jo or both? In any case, it's funny. Only a bit. Laurent chirps a goodbye to Wagi just as Jo's phone vibrates with a message. Leo's name on the screen. "Laurent, we're having some more friends come around. Um..." She eyes the anomaly up and down. "You keep eating your snow, I guess, or try reading that book again."

‍♂️

Leo approaches Jo outside of her dorm and glances over at the white-haired dude playing around in the snow. Must be the anomaly she was talking about. "Hey."

Jo sensed his approach before she even had to look. There's a delay before she finally lets herself glance over at Leo from where she was watching Laurent. "Hey." There's too much she wants to say. Jo almost wants to apologise for leaving him that morning days ago. She wishes she could give him one more kiss even though the one to his temple while he was sleeping was supposed to be the last one. Then her gaze goes to Seiya, and her attention shifts. "Oh, here, I've got your phone." Jo pulls it from her pocket and holds it out to Seiya with a concerned look. "Are you okay?"

Laurent's come over to the trio in a blink. He's squinting at Leo. "...I don't like you."

"Thank you." Seiya takes his phone from her with a small bow, definitely too formal of a greeting for a... loosely considered friend? "I'm physically fine, but I can't... I can't remember anything past August.. You got me to the infirmary, right? Thank you."

Leo narrows his eyes at Laurent. Right off the bat, he's kinda child-like. He was calling Jo his mom. Leo has no idea why the kid(man?) said that, but he decides to be petty back to him. "Yeah? And I think you smell like farts."

Jo's heart is still smarting from the way Seiya bowed and looked at her. He really doesn't remember. Leo hadn't been kidding. Nothing since August? They hadn't even met that early. When Laurent makes his declaration around Leo, she quickly grabs the anomaly's elbow and guides him behind her where he's hopefully less intrusive. "Laurent, be polite, Leo's my--" There's a brief moment of panicked floundering for a word before she stutters out, "Friend." "But Mother Jo, he's said I smell like farts and he's also the one that broke y--" Jo hastily wrests Laurent into a hold where she can clamp a hand over his mouth, silencing his words. "Sorry, uh, Laurent's chatty today, we just had a friend of his visit before you guys came. He also doesn't know a fair amount of social rules yet." Jo clears her throat. "Anyway, I guess you two will want to be going now." She looks to Seiya again, expression pained. "I hope you recover soon, Seiya." (edited)

"He broke something of yours?" Oh, this poor dumbfuck. Seiya has no idea what this is about.

Leo scowls. Who broke what now exactly? He doesn't interject though, instead waits for Jo to explain whatever that was.

Jo closes her eyes and counts until she can open them again without wanting to commit property damage. "Uh, it's nothing. Leo broke my..." Heart. Back? No, that isn't a good substitute, idiot. "...my record! I was getting straight A's in anomalous biology, six in a row, but I got a B on the last test and Leo got his seventh A. Such a clever bastard, right? Come on, Laurent, we've both got studying to do." She actually has no idea what Leo got on their last test. Laurent's protests are muffled by her hand as she hauls him back into her dorm room.

"....I'm not sure how that's his fault..?" Seiya was starting to think about how Jo hesitated to tell the... white- Laurent? How she hesitated to tell him that she was friends with Leo. Also that was the most obvious fucking lie ever. Seiya looked over to Leo, trying to read his expression. He looks mad. .................................. Hm...

Leo barely spares a glance at Jo before she leaves into her dorm. Obviously, he doesn't pay attention to her grades and he's not even going to entertain her shoddy acting. No wonder she was impressed with his fake ass crying because what the fuck was that? "..." The vice-captain huffs out an irritable sigh, his breath coming out in clouds from the cold temperature. "Whatever. Let's go." Leo turns around and heads in the direction they came from.

.......................................... "....is she.....?" your ex? Okay, should probably find a better way to word this. "Did you two used to..?" That is not any better. ....................

Leo's gut reaction is to snap. Then he remembers he is lying to him. This was supposed to be fun for Leo, but now he's just kind of pissed. Some part of him wants to just come clean, but then he realizes Seiya will probably impulsively run off on his own when he has a pretty severe injury. He's kinda backed in a corner here. So, even though Leo planned to not tell anyone this, he answers honestly. "It was just once." And Leo's pretty sure Seiya already knows because what the fuck else would they be discussing? He thought they didn't hang out anymore. They were probably just talking shit about him, who the fuck knows. Leo doesn't care. Seiya isn't cognizant of that right now, so being angry at him or Jo or anyone is just asinine.

Leo looks really mad. Didn't he say he was friends with her? Lack of a better word... Like exes but they're still talking? ...Better not to push it. "......" Seiya slips his hand into Leo's, intertwining their fingers. He brings his hand to his mouth and places a small kiss on Leo's fingers. "...Sorry for asking."

”...?!” … ...What the fuck? Why is he?! Leo hears his heart hammer in his ears as all the blood in his body rushes to his face. He anticipated Seiya getting upset, or an interrogation at the very least. His fingers unconsciously curl tighter around Seiya's, while his lips part and he fails to say anything. Why does this idiot manage to stir the most unnerving and inexplicable emotions out of him? There is literally no sensible reason Leo should feel this way. And Seiya's gonna remember this too when he was supposed to be fucking with him. Now he's going to see Leo short-circuiting over Seiya comforting him because of a one night stand. The joke is over with, this is fucking stupid. … Leo pulls him along as he starts walking back to the dorms. “... I probably have painkillers in my room if you want them.”

Oh yeah, Seiya's 10000% gonna remember this. He's also gonna remember thinking that Leo was insanely cute for blushing the way he is and he's gonna remember wanting to kiss him before he turned away. This is gonna be an embarrassing thing to remember for both of them. RIP Seiya's headache was mild enough to forget about, but it was mainly coming in waves. Sometimes it gets bad and sometimes it dies down on its own. But he's curious about seeing Leo's room, so he nods and follows behind him.

Jo was leaning against the door to eavesdrop as best as she could before she heard their footsteps retreating. Her hand is cupped over her own mouth as she stares widely off into the space. She's distantly aware of Laurent's hand on her shoulder trying to coax her away, but Jo feels frozen. ...what the hell had just happened out there? Why did Seiya sound so... soft when talking to Leo? Was that a kiss or her paranoia? 'It was just once.' Her vision blurs. What a stupid lie she'd told. What a stupid thing she had done even sleeping with Leo. Why the fuck had she decided to stay that night when she knew it wasn't going to mean anything? Why did she ever talk to Leo at all? Why had she felt guilty even being nice to Leo when Seiya was now... Seiya had amnesia. Couldn't remember anything since August. Leo probably hadn't told Seiya the things he'd done. Did Seiya actually like Leo as a person before all that? ...would he like him again since things have had time to cool off? Seiya. Why is it always fucking Seiya? As soon as Jo thinks she's come to someone on her own, Seiya's there as a glaring reminder he's been everywhere she's only just discovering. Sweet, kind Seiya, who she was more open with than anybody else at this academy right off the bat. Is this karma for everything she's done? Were her apologies and the execution of her efforts to make amends not enough for the universe? ...fuck Seiya Masamoto. Fuck that stupidly friendly idiot for being so goddamn good and perfect and fuck Leo Kurosagi too. "Mother Jo, I think you should sit down," Laurent says quietly. Jo slowly comes back to herself and she shuffles over to her desk where she sits heavily in her chair. Laurent's gently petting her hair. "I can take care of you, Mother Jo. I can take care of everything for you. You don't need to be sad anymore," Laurent says. While Jo stares at nothing, he looks icily at the door.

Laurent would take care of things.

‍♂️

4:44 PM

Knock knock....

Jo opens the door, dark shadows under her eyes and curls a mess. But at least she's not in her pyjamas. There's a reproachful, wary pout on her face as she widens the door. It soon becomes clear Laurent's not in. Jo sent him elsewhere for a reason. "You first," Jo says, and this time, she sits in the desk chair and crosses her arms as she looks up at Seiya.

.....So.. should he just sit on the bed? He awkwardly walks over to the bed and sits down. He closes his eyes and sighs, trying to will away the frustration of yesterday, unfortunately, there was a very obvious tone of voice that made it clear he was upset. "Jo." Oh. Right. He forgot he was using Leo's voice. "Okay, before you ask, I confiscated Leo's voice as a punishment. I'm here to ask why the FUCK did you leave me with Leo Kurosagi out of all people?? (edited)

If anything, Jo's expression darkens by several degrees after her initial surprise. The pout's gone. Now she looks downright thunderous. And yet, she speaks calmly. "I don't have a whole lot of friends lined up that I can call and expect to do things for me. I needed Leo--" For myself-- "to take care of you as your vice-captain. Without a doubt, Alan wouldn't have answered his phone and been there as fast." Jo rolls her shoulders and tightens the cross of her arms as she continues staring hard at Seiya. "I trusted Leo. Clearly, that was my mistake."

Seiya puts his head in his hands. There's no way he can tell her all the shit that went down because she decided to call Leo after the crying that happened beforehand. He took a deep breath before continuing. "Mido responds to direct messages. So does Sho. The hospital staff were there to take care of me. Waiting a little bit longer would have been no problem. I understand the sentiment, but unfortunately I'm under the impression that you chose the worst possible person for the job." He looks up to look at Jo's face, noticing how how pissed she looked, which, in turn, pissed him off as well. What the fuck is she so mad about? She wasn't the one that got hit on the head with a chandelier and given amnesia and got played like a fucking fool. But honestly, he supposes she is a fucking fool for messing around with Leo in the first place. There's no way that Zero hasn't told her about all the shit Leo has done but she still decided to sleep with him. .... There's no way she called Leo because she was worried about Seiya. She wanted to see Leo. Who in their right fucking mind would call Leo for Seiya? Hell, he would preferred if Jo called Zero. At least Zero would actually care to some capacity. And why the fuck does it matter if they're her friends or not? It's not about you. ....... .......... Those fucking diamond trinkets on display in Leo's room. Huh. Now wasn't Seiya the one that told her that she could use her stigma for plants? And the person she used it for a Leo fucking Kurosagi. Wow, hilarious. Even Saki didn't get anything from her back when Jo was trying to hard to woo her. His fingers trembled a little and he took another breath. He doesn't have the energy to argue, right now. Especially not with Jo. Honestly this could've just been a text, his fault I guess. "...Sorry. I shouldn't get mad at you. It's Leo's fault." No, fuck you, it is (partially) your fault. *Seiya stands up. He needs to leave before he says something he

5:57 PM

regrets.* ..... "What did you want to talk to me about?"

Jo has to wonder what exactly went down with Leo and Seiya yesterday for him to be so thoroughly upset today. And he had spoken so softly too, the memory haunts her. Had Leo screwed him over too? Was this the vice-captain's way of getting back at them both, first to make Jo jealous and then to simply hurt Seiya since they weren't typically on good terms. It really had been unwise to leave Seiya in Leo's care. She recalls now all the things Leo's done. Instead of her knee-jerk reaction to Leo's behaviour leading her to being sorrowful, Jo should have listened to the faint alarm bells of how much he had been dodging explaining exactly what he'd told Seiya when he woke up with amnesia. ...Kurosagi better count his fucking days. Jo's pretty sure that guy is overdue the beating of his life. Even if the thought of hurting him hurts her too. That doesn't remove the fact that she's still mad at Seiya. Is it Seiya? Or just how Leo acted around Seiya? Could she really blame Seiya for that? ...did Jo have a leg to stand on for any of this? Last night, she might have been too exhausted to be angry anymore, and she'd even met a charming guy who seemed like he was a figment of her imagination more than anything. And yet... "Stop using Leo's fucking voice to talk to me." Jo stands, taking the couple of steps between them until she's toe to toe with Seiya. It's annoying that she has to tilt her head back to meet his eyes. "The hell was that yesterday? I know you had amnesia, but no one's that nice to Leo without a reason. And two looked pretty damn cosy. 'Fess up."

6:53 PM

Her eyes are as hard as diamond. "You know how I feel about him. You were the one I called for when I cried over that bastard. Why--" She seizes the front of Seiya's shirt suddenly, pulling him down to her height-- "the fuck is everyone always so obsessed with you? Leo's not that nice to anyone without a reason either. But nooo, you're Seiya fucking Masamoto, the guy everybody's somehow drooling over. What makes you so special, huh? What've you got that I don't?" And from there, it's clear that Jo and Seiya have a lot more in common with their feelings than they might have realised. The narrators get to bask in the irony.

'Height, dick, and awareness that trying to get romantically involved with Leo is a fucking death wish?' Seiya didn't say, resisting the petty urge to roll his eyes at her. He has a bad feeling that if he says anything without thinking, the situation is going to escalate quickly. Jo might even try to fight him. So instead, he stares at her, going on multiple rants in his head about fucking stupid this situation is and how her anger is directed at the wrong person, how it was her fault for trying to get involved with the worst fucking person, how she should sit down and self reflect on why this was happening instead of blaming him just because one of her crushes is gay and her other one is a massive fucking dick. He blinks slowly to think of his next course of action. It's too bad that he never got to teach Jo sign language. Seiya tries to remove Jo's grip from his shirt so he can stand up straight and takes out his phone to type a message, purposefully leaving out information to hopefully dilute the situation. ..... He backspaces. He's getting too wrapped up in his fustration. A notification pops up on Jo's phone.

Jo's grip on his shirt does loosen and she calms down a bit when she sees he's typing. At least he's no longer using Leo's voice. It had been making her feel worse. At the ping on her phone, Jo looks skeptically between where it sits on her desk and where Seiya stands before she reaches for it to read the notification. Then her expression softens significantly before she's slowly lowering the phone and blinking up at Seiya. She opens her mouth to say something. Stops. Reconsiders. Then, finally, Jo says, "I'm sorry, Seiya." Her phones gets tossed onto her bed as she releases a harsh exhale, running a hand through her hair as she takes a step back out of Seiya's space. Then she decides to sink down on the edge of her bed, a hand covering her mouth as she just stares at the carpet for a long moment, thinking. Seiya admired Leo once, long before he properly knew him. The amnesia removed nearly a whole year of his memory. And Jo knew Seiya tended to be sweet. Of course, it made sense if he was soft on Leo after forgetting everything else while the slimeball thought it was hilarious to pull a prank. Why did Leo do it though? Revenge? Pettiness? Well, actually, Leo never seemed to need a reason for any of the things he did. Jo had learned that. He flirted for no reason. Entertained her for no reason. Just his own twisted enjoyment, she guesses. "...I like Leo because he's a piece of shit, if you'll believe that. I actually like how sharp and ridiculous and petty he is. And I like that he could be... quiet, too. Gentle sometimes. Focused. There's so much calculation behind the chaos he brings everywhere." Her lips actually manage to quirk into the ghost of a smile. "He can be funny too. Charming, in his own weird way. And he's really not bad company when you get used to him."

9:16 PM

Jo sighs, lacing her hands together as she hangs her head. "Guess I thought... maybe he wasn't as bad as you and Zero think he is. He went with you to save me even though he didn't seem like he had a reason to. I look like an idiot now though. He slept with me just 'cause. I went along with it because I wanted something to remember him by. Something I could secretly pretend might have meant more than it did. But then I call him, and he comes running, and I had an anomaly to deal with so I trusted him to watch over you for me. Then he decides pretending you two are dating is the greatest idea ever." A dry, humourless laugh. "He doesn't care. He really never cared about me. Leo just gets to say he fucked me one time and brag that I was a fucking fool over him." She rubs tiredly at her face. "I didn't even know you were seeing someone and here I was getting jealous. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, Seiya."

Seiya takes a deep breath and plops back down on the bed beside Jo, flopping backwards with an arm over his eyes. Good, he made the right decision. Okay. ...... He kind of just sits there in silence for a moment, forcing any coherent thoughts out of his head. Now he feels bad. The hostile thoughts still floated around in his mind despite how much he tried to wave them away. Why the fuck did he feel so bitter? .... Jo was never a victim of Leo's behavior until recently, it seems. Despite that, Leo gave his first time to her. Considering what kind of person Leo was, that would take a lot of trust and connection for him to- ..... Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Stop fucking thinking. Why the hell was Jo jealous of Seiya when it seemed that Leo actually liked her back? Did Leo like Jo more than Seiya? He can't recall a time when it seemed like Leo actually gave a shit about him. Maybe it was seriously just some dumb crush Leo had that he didn't want to take further. ... Well they almost did. Seiya was starting to regret- ..... .................... ....to prove... ................................. Oh my fucking god. Seiya imagines himself jumping out the window to hopefully his death after thinking what he was thinking. He doesn't want to relay his thoughts to Jo about how Leo probably does care about her. The thought of that and even his own actions keeping him quiet makes him sick. It's not fair (in Seiya's opinion) that Jo was the only one who got to see Leo being a normal person that didn't harass you or make you do shit for him or bully you for no fucking reason. .... Leo seemed somewhat normal once to him, too. Things seemed to get bad after Seiya started dating Zero. ..... .............. .............................. Seiya opened his mouth to say something because this silence was making his head hurt. He closes his mouth again after remembering that he still had Leo's voice. .... *He types in google translate s

10:01 PM

o he can have some sort of voice to break the silence.* "Yeah fuck Leo amiright parentheses figuratively not literally parentheses"his phone's speaker said.

Something in Jo calms further when Seiya flops down beside her on the bed, inadvertently making her jump briefly before settling down again. Reminded her almost of sitting on the trampoline with her sister when they were kids. She kicks her feet absently over the side of the bed as Seiya types. When she hears the automated voice read out the text, Jo snorts and throws a short grin Seiya's way. "Yeah, you're right." Shifting, she sits a bit closer to Seiya, looking down at him seriously. "I really am sorry. I should have been the one looking after you, I took you to the infirmary after all. And right after I promised I was going to be a better friend." Jo sighs. Then she perks up again with some interest. "...you said you were seeing someone?"

T. Lee Masamoto started a thread. 3/17/2025 9:43 AM

...

‍♂️... Leo does not stop.

Reply to: @Jo Waker (@T. Lee Masamoto) *Something in Jo calms further when Seiya flops down beside her on the bed, inadvertently making her jump briefly before settlin...

....... He starts to blush before sitting up and typing again. "You remember the Shinjuku Face mission?"

"Yeah...?" Jo says warily, conscious of the fact that she already shared her first kiss with Leo in the storage closet on that mission. "'Course I remember. What about it?"

............... "Goro Takahashi."

... Jo_Waker.exe is restarting... Loading... Loading screen tip that if you die then you're dead! Also if you are turned to diamond, that may be a permanent co- Back to game play. "...I'm sorry. Goro Takahashi? You mean you're... you're seeing Goro Takahashi? The boxing champion you faced in the ring?" Jo decides it's wise to leave out her tiny admiration for Goro from years ago. Wasn't relevant now and considering, well, everything, it didn't seem productive.

Seiya looks away and nods, scratching his cheek and looking shy.

Jo's eyes sparkle with mischief. She covers her mouth for a second before she leans closer to peer at Seiya. "...you're kinda smitten with the guy, aren't you?"

"We went on a date already" 'Eughhh being told how you feel out loud to your face is like the most embarrassing thing ever' Seiya decided, pressing his cold hand to his warm face.

Jo is merciless and cruel, and she takes Seiya's hand away from his face as she grins. "So?" The excitement is barely contained in her voice. Jo can be a simple woman sometimes. "Well? How did it go?"

............ Seiya shook his head and turns away. Jo doesn't need to know about how he- you know- when- yeah. ............................. Okay but there was that other thing that happened too. He frowns at the memory and decides to type it out. "Saw zero and kamiyama there colon unamused emoji colon."

Jo's excitable grin quickly forms a pout. She sighs deeply, tracing the seam of her lips in thought. "That's... not the greatest thing to see on your date. Guess you're both moving on...?" She winces at her own words. "Scratch that, there's no good positive spin to put on it. That must have been super awkward. Still can't believe he's with Kamiyama of all people."

"God I fucking hate that guy" .... "Kamiyama I mean"

"Me too," Jo grumbles. "Like, it's not even like he's that pretty. I wouldn't even call him handsome. He's kinda scruffy and gross-looking." Sometimes you just need to drag a guy through the mud with a friend.

"Yeah, I saw him at the restaurant. He didn't even bother dressing up. Bro wore a sweater and the most miserable expression, didn't even bother combing his hair. Mid *and* bitchy? Pick a struggle."

"Oh my god, he didn't. Wooow." Jo shakes her head, disappointed. "To think he's a member of Frostheim. Not to be a snob, but that guy has, like, no class or taste. You'd think if you looked like a dog's chew toy, you'd have a better personality." Okay, wow. She's been keeping that one in for a while.

Seiya tries not to laugh at that. Not because it's mean but because he sounds like Leo. "ell em eff aye oh literally. like going on a date to a fancy restaurant looking like that? embarrassing."

Jo, on the other hand, does laugh. The automated voice reading out what Seiya types just makes things ten times funnier while she watches him struggle not to make a sound. "Oh Lord... I mean, who are we to judge, at the end of the day?" she says, dabbing at mirthful tears in the corners of her eyes. "Y'know, everybody has their quirks. Some are just..." Her lips twitch and she fights a snort. "...a little worse than others."

"eye dee kay what you're talking about I'm literally perfect slash jay"

"okay eff ar eff ar though I don't insult people for fun or tell them to kay why ess so kamiyama kinda deserves the shit we're saying eye em oh."

Jo nods. Enthusiastically. "No, no, you're absolutely right. About all of the above."

...... Including the joke about being perfect? .... "I'm always right slash jay"

Including the joke about being perfect. She's not going to say that though. Jo just smiles and tilts her head to the side. "Y'know, we really should hang out more often." She pokes him, gently. "Still have that pizza party we need to do soon."

Seiya returns her smile. .... There's something nagging him about this situation. ....... "Yeah we should"

Jo's brow twitches. She watches Seiya carefully. "...is something the matter?"

..... Seiya was being so selfish for not wanting Jo and Leo to get together. ...but he also felt hurt that Jo didn't want to hear him speak. Which makes sense since he was currently using Leo's voice. .... "I keep wanting to talk but I keep forgetting that I'm holding Leo's voice hostage ar en ell oh ell"

Jo swallows down the conflicted bubble of feelings. She knows Seiya likes to talk and that he'd been mute, so this must have been particularly horrible for him. But he also has Leo's voice. She sighs. "All right. Enough automated voice. Just talk to me." Jo playfully wrinkles her nose at Seiya. "Fair warning, I may want to punch you or kiss you," she jokes. It's not serious at all, she just wants to tease. Even with Leo's voice, Jo knows it's just Seiya in front of her. He's basically a voice impressionist. An eerily good one.

...... Okay, let's try to sound as much as not-like-Leo as possible. Seiya decides to speak in a low voice, even deciding on putting on a fake accent to sound less like Leo. He takes a breath. ....

"Okay actually tee bee aitch it might be better to just be better to just use this so I can prolong his punishment as long as possible. If I talk to much while using my stigma my throat gets sore and no amount of water helps"

Jo gives a snort and amused roll of her eyes. "But you looked so sad, Seiya," she says, making a pout and poking at his cheek.

Seiya sighs. .... "...Just, not over what happened yesterday, I guess."

Jo blinks "...fair enough. I really can't believe Leo sometimes. The nerve of him."

........ "Hope you get over him, soon." 'I hope I get over him soon.'

"Thanks. I hope I do too," Jo says on a sigh. Then she shifts and lays her head on Seiya's belly, staring up at the ceiling. She lightly swats his shoulder, though the angle is a bit awkward, and she more just waves her arm back than anything. "Don't move. You make a warm pillow and I'm tired."

..... Seiya resists the urge to flex his abs because he thinks it would be funny. Instead, he nods and closes his eyes, absentmindedly running his fingers through her hair.

There's something almost familiar about it. A distant memory from childhood... a drunken night Zero came to take care of her... and something else. Jo's never napped with Seiya before but gets the sense that she had a dream about it once. Maybe in another universe it happened before now. In this moment though, Jo lets her thoughts drift away as she just focuses on Seiya's fingers combing through her hair. If she was a cat, she might have purred. She's just a ghoul though, and instead, Jo falls asleep with a very small smile.

The next day, a package is dropped off at Jo's door. Inside was the half used bottle of perfume Saki stole from Jo that one time, a half-assed set of marble patterned nails (likely ones that Saki ended up not liking and was planning to throw away), and a raggedy ass snowman plush likely bought from a thrift store. There was a letter inside that read: sorry 4 putting a camera in ur room or whatevs i didn't think ud come back LMAO :P - Saki

Jo opens the package while sitting on her bed. Laurent is in a tub of ice at the moment in the bathroom. Which is good because he doesn't see the conflict in Jo's eyes this way. She puts the perfume back with the collection on her vanity, the nail set are stuffed away where she'll likely forget about them and never use them, and she sets the snowman plush aside just in case Laurent wanted it, though Jo plans to buy him something better. The letter? It's ripped into pieces and thrown in the waste basket. Jo's done with Saki.

Campus cat drops the unmarked Godiva boxes off at Jo's door step and saunters off.

Two deliveries in one day? Jo almost feels special, except one of them had been from Miyazaki Saki, which felt significantly not special considering all the surrounding circumstances. But Jo opens the door and crouches down to pick up the Godiva boxes. She turns them over carefully in her hands, looking for a name or something, but there's only her room number for delivery. Jo leans further out the doorway to peer down the hallway, but there's only the campus courier cat and two Frostheim second years chatting by the windows further away. They didn't seem to have anything to do with this. Jo brings the gifts inside and closes the door. Her fingers are light as they glide over the boxes, treating them with a lot more care than she did Saki's gifts as she tentatively opens them. Dark and milk chocolate truffles. Belgian. Confectionery like this was typically associated with France, but Jo always believed the best chocolate anywhere was to be found in Belgium instead. Although Swiss chocolate was rather good too. Who the hell was this from? Zero had shared with her sweet treats before from mysterious suppliers of international items like lamingtons and TimTams when she was homesick. Seiya couldn't have received her gift with enough time to have done this, and though he knew she loved chocolate, she doubts he would have gone for Godiva. Honestly, the boxes of elaborate chocolate truffles, especially with how pretty they looked too, seemed more like a thoughtful gift for special occasions... Wait, wasn't it White Day not too long ago? There's no way this is someone returning the gesture of a gift, right? Jo hadn't done anything for Valentine's Day with anybody. Unless someone thought this was as good an opportunity as any to give her a gift in return for something she gave them some other time?

8:39 PM

It didn't seem like it could be Zero or Seiya. Definitely not Saki. Lily had a sweet tooth, but she was MIA and likely gone for good. Leo—? No. While it would fit his tastes, there's no way he'd be sending Jo chocolates for White Day, or any other day for that matter. He looked annoyed the last time they spoke face to face. And he'd been acting weird on WickHive. She still can't believe he pretended he and Seiya were dating. What the fuck was that supposed to accomplish? Was he making sure Jo knew that he wasn't interested and didn't care beyond that night together? Who else had she sent gifts to? Chi, but that wouldn't make sense. Akari...? She sent that diamond branch to him as a gesture to start over. There's no way Laurent's words the other day suggesting she and Akari were flirting could actually have struck a serious chord, surely. Was the awkward Mortkranken student with another personality in his head really the kind of person to send Jo Godiva chocolates? He would have sent something for Laurent too like with the syrups. ...Sterling?? He knew she liked chocolate, and she made them both hot chocolate not too long ago. From the way he talked sometimes it sounded like he had a bit of money to consider buying luxury branded things. And he was a gentleman. And really rather sweet in general. Was it possible he was trying to woo her? ...but there's no name. Had whoever sent it been too shy? If Sterling was truly trying he would probably be bold enough to at least put his name to it so that she'd know. ...Akari???

8:39 PM

Jo sighs, frustrated. Maybe it was a pity gift from Jin Kamurai. Or maybe from President Kamurai himself for the special mission she completed. Chocolates would be trivial to a Kamurai. These might as well be the rich man's version of a box of Favourites or Roses chocolate from the supermarket. Still... This was nice. Maybe in a dream it could have been Leo sending them to her. Jo's not going to prod anyone about this. It'd be embarrassing if it turned out to be someone with an unexpected crush or even a prank to laugh at her expense in hoping it was a genuine gesture.

Jo wakes up from a nap, sitting bolt upright in bed, as she feels a disturbance in the Force. "...a cowboy's naked somewhere." /j

Her gaze flicks from her phone screen where she has her chat with Sterling open to where Laurent is building a replica of Frostheim out of cards she managed to unearth from her belongings. Jo kind of wanted to spend more time alone with Sterling without Laurent potentially getting defensive... She remembered that she asked Zero at some point if he could babysit, but he hasn't met Laurent yet and she doesn't exactly want their first meeting to be with her dumping them with each other. Which meant... Akari.

He knocks on Jo's door, a surly expression fixed on his face.

Jo opens the door, dressed surprisingly down considering her usual splendour. She's got worn boots on, her leather racing jacket she once wore as Maver, and pants and shirt to suit. There's still the sparkle of her jewellery though here and there. "Hi, Akari. I'm sorry this is such short notice, but you were also the only one I thought Laurent would be comfortable with. Here." She quite literally presses a thick stack of yen notes into his hands. Likely a lot more than you would normally pay any babysitter. Laurent himself peers over Jo's shoulder. He's on the cusp of adulthood again. Laurent beams at the sight of Wagi.

He holds the stack like they're wet and gross. They're not. But to him they might as well be. He pulls a face. "Yeah yeah. Anyone else would probably get him melted so it's good you called us." He sidesteps Jo and his face twists into a half-smile. "Hey Laurent, you've been eating good I see."

'Us.' Not like the royal We, this sounded different. Jo recalls that odd appearance of Zikure, who specifically said he was not Akari, only to later stress that she just address him by Akari. Two different people, one body? Granted, Akari behaved strangely in general. Sometimes Jo could swear she was talking to five different people at least. She doesn't comment on it, just smiles despite Wagi's less than enthusiastic greeting to her. Jo's not very used to being... ignored? Overlooked? It reminded her of her childhood. Things had been different when she became a ghoul but now Wagi reminds her of why she's so frequently bothered by him. Deep breaths, Waker. Just hold it together. Laurent likes him and he's an okay guy. You're just insecure. ...ew. She's never calling herself insecure again.

Laurent nods in response to Wagi's assessment. "I have! Lots of snow. And I've been hunting rabbits! Can't find any yet though, but I will." His gaze flits between Jo and Wagi with a little pout. Things had seemed to be going so well last time. Did they argue over messages or something again? "All right, I'll be going now. You two behave and take care. I'll be back in a few hours, but Akari's also got my contact if anything happens on either end," Jo explains. Then she reaches out to ruffle Laurent's hair and press a chaste kiss to his forehead. Laurent watches as she glances to Wagi and just smiles at him before stepping out and closing the door behind her. "...do you not like Mother Jo?"

As soon as the door shuts, he pulls open the nearest drawer in Jo's room and shoves the stack of bills inside. It was fucking insulting. Laurent was his friend. You don't pay a guy to hang out with his friend. He makes a mental note to remove Jo from the friends.txt file on his computer. "I will tolerate her for your sake, but you're the one I prefer Laurent. You said you've been hunting rabbits?"

Laurent shuffles in place for a moment before he goes to sit in the chair at the desk. When Wagi opens the nearest draw, there's seashells, boxes of chocolate, and a ball cap that Laurent had figured out belonged to the mean Heart Eyed man. He likes sitting in the desk chair when Jo's gone. It reminds him of her. "...yes, I've been hunting rabbits. I heard someone say there's some around Frostheim, but they're the same colour as the snow, so it's a bit hard finding them." There's a pout on his face. "So... you tolerate Mother Jo, but you do not like her? Even though you got..." Laurent searches for the word. "Shy? When she smiled at you last time you came over?" He scooches to the edge of his seat, curious. "Why is it that you do not like her? I love her."

He sticks out his tongue petulantly . "I don't know her! And yet she assumes so much about me. It's irritating. But you can love her all you want. There's nothing wrong with that I guess. Whatever. Where's she going anyways?"

He draws his knees up on the chair to hug them to his chest. Laurent wonders what it means to poke your tongue out like that. Wagi had done it to Jo too once, right? Was it whenever it was about Jo? If so, was it perhaps something rude? It's difficult out here trying to decipher human and ghoul behaviour as a snowman. "Mother Jo's gone to Jabberwock to see the nice Heart Eyes man. There was a mean one, but this one is nice." Hurriedly, he adds, "I still don't trust him, of course. Mother Jo already likes him too much. If something went wrong, she'd be so sad."

He frowns. He's somewhat glad to have Jo gone but he also doesn't like the idea of someone Laurent cares about getting hurt. He pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs. "Well then, what's the plan? Cuz it's only a matter of time before he breaks her heart. I'm certain."

Laurent straightens up with interest, staring wide-eyed at Wagi. "We need to get them apart somehow. I don't know a lot about this sort of thing or natural human behaviours. You could help though, right? What would you suggest?" Laurent suddenly stands from his chair. "Wait! What if we tried to make them hate each other? Like you and Jo! But with her and Heart Eyes."

*He looks genuinely puzzled. He's thinking HARD* "I don't know a lot about human behaviors either.... but I think getting them to hate each other sounds like a good plan, yes yes."

6:48 PM

........ "How do we do that though.....?"

Laurent tents his hands together and brings them close to his lips. He'd seen characters in movies do this when they were deep in scheming thoughts. "...we forge hate mail for each of them? No, that would just make Mother Jo sad. We need to make her hate him in a way where she's less likely to be sad. What if... we made him really, really gross? Mother Jo said the water was turned off in Jabberwock at one point. We could take a different approach and dump something gross-smelling on him?"

He mirrors Laurent's hand position. Laurent looks like he knows what he's doing. Wagi wants to look like he knows what he's doing too. "Hmm.... the infirmary always has plenty of awful stuff we could toss on him.... smelling salts are particularly gross... ammonia and all that....."

Smiling, Laurent says, "I have no idea what those are, but yes. We should totally try that. But when? Now? While they're in Jabberwock together?"

.................. "I've never been to Jabberwock, I think I might die there....."

He deflates, sitting back down in the desk chair. "I've never been either... what do we do? Do you think maybe Heart Eyes will walk with Mother Jo back here afterward?"

He grins. "I sure hope so.... if not though, I can get a map for next time." He thinks for a bit and then something unfortunate occurs to him. "What if your mom doesn't let me come see you anymore if we do that?"

Laurent pouts. He needs to think carefully about this. "She might be mad. Mother Jo's surprisingly good at figuring most things out. Maybe we need a different plan." He glances over at Jo's laptop, thinking back on all the movies he'd been watching since he came to life. "...could we find someone who doesn't have Heart Eyes but can pretend to and hire them to get in between Mother Jo and the Jabberwock man? That usually works in movies."

"Oh!! that's a brilliant idea!!!" He jumps up and pulls open the drawer he shoved the money from Jo into. He fans it out and holds it over to Laurent. "Do you think this is enough? I could get on Wickhive and ask someone if they're interested?"

Laurent nods. "Definitely." He has no idea the value of money. "But Mother Jo's on WickHive sometimes. How will you do it without her seeing you're trying to hire somebody to get in between her and Heart Eyes?"

Wagi says some choice words that Jo definitely wouldn't want Laurent to hear. "Maybe.... we could look on there for someone who already dislikes the heart eyes guy and message them directly?"

Laurent frowns, deep in thought. "Who even dislikes Heart Eyes guy, except the other Heart Eyes? That would probably only make Mother Jo even more upset."

He frowns, matching Laurent. "Uurrrrhhhgghhh.... I don't know!!!!! Can't I just ask everyone who hates him? What's his name anyways?"

Laurent pinches his brow. He sees Jo do this when she's thinking very hard about things sometimes. "Hm... Sterling Atlas? Sounds kind of like a character out of a book though."

His frown deepens. It doesn't seem possible. And yet it deepens. "Is that even a real name? Sounds like a self-indulgent OC name if you ask me...."

"I don't know what that is." Laurent huffs. "Well, what do we do? You have more of a brain than I do--mine's made out of snow!"

He huffs too. "Alright alright. I'm just gonna see what we're working with here." He opens his phone to Wickhive.

Blah blah blah Wagi commissions random student to do the dirty work.

Laurent can't help feeling this is suddenly a bad idea. He keeps quiet though.

He sits looking pleased with himself. "There. No more heart eyes!"

Laurent folds his arms, anxiously watching Wagi on his phone. "Who are you texting? Is Mother Jo okay?"

He jumps a little. He had been plotting so furiously he forgot for a moment that he existed outside of the phone. "The heart eyes has been taken care of! No need to worry. Ummm your mother might be a little upset when she returns though...."

He looks up from his phone. "Also she says she misses you."

Laurent looks torn between guilt and joy at being missed. There's no way Jo would figure out they were the ones who arranged the whole derailing of her plans, right? And yet... "I feel... kind of bad," he says. "It's important to get rid of heart eyes but I don't want Mother Jo upset."

Now he's confused. "But wouldn't she be more upset by heart eyes?"

"If heart eyes did something bad, yes. It's not the heart eyes she hates, but the way they can make her feel because she likes them so much." Laurent presses a hand to his chest, looking earnestly at Wagi, as if trying to get him to understand. "In here, I feel it. The memories of how Mother Jo felt when I came to life. She was hurting because of what Mean Heart Eyes did... Leo... something. Whatever his name is. Mother Jo felt sad, alone, and so I went after her so she wouldn't be sad and alone anymore." He scoots the desk chair closer, imploring as he stares up at Wagi. "When you feel... all these strong feelings for someone, it makes the things they do that hurt you stronger too, it seems. I don't have all of Mother Jo's memories. If I did, I'd probably know more about humans. But I remember that she felt she loved Mean— Leo, that she loved Leo, or something very close to it, and when she tried sharing it, she felt that he was rejecting her, or her feelings, at least. And that he did not share the feelings she had. But not only that, he hardly seemed to believe her when she told him. And that... hurt." Laurent's hand flexes and claws lightly at his chest as he frowns. "Yeah, it hurts, even thinking about the memory of it. Mother Jo's feelings weren't serious to Leo, and so she felt Leo couldn't be serious about her. And Mother Jo left him. Now she hurts whenever he's around. But when you told me about heart eyes, I was able to see it in his eyes. Leo's no good for Mother Jo though. He would only toy with her feelings more, and make her more upset." With a deep sigh, he adds, "I do not know this new Heart Eyes as well as the other though. He makes Mother Jo happy. But that means he could also make her sad. But then... I think, so could we. Mother Jo likes us. We might upset her too if she ever found out what we did. And she might also be upset if the new Heart Eyes was driven away."

His listens in silence as Laurent details everything. His thoughts. His worries. Listens carefully. And then Wagi does what Wagi does best. He's the world's finest pessimist. "Laurent. Our plan is probably going to fail miserably. I paid someone to throw some stinky Mortkranken chemicals at the heart eyes man. But I have no idea who the student is. They probably have terrible aim or they're probably going to do something stupid like close their eyes and throw the chemicals. It's probably going to go horribly wrong and get on both the heart eyes man and your mother. So then they're both going to have to get un-chemical-ed together and given the chemicals that will be thrown on them they're probably going to have to do it together. For reasons of efficiency. And if heart eyes already has heart eyes for your mother? And he also makes her happy? It's all probably going to go terribly wrong and they're going to end up getting together. Instead of being apart. Our whole plan is probably going to fail." He means it as comfort. In his own negative roundabout way.

Laurent looks entirely aghast. "Our whole plan is probably going to fail? Why did we do it then? What was the point?" He's on his feet in an instant. "If what you say is true, then we'll have only made matters worse. The heart eyes will get worse!" Looking worriedly at Wagi, he takes hold of the other man's shoulders. "We should go retrieve Mother Jo ourselves."

Now it's his turn to look aghast. "We definitely should Not do that. If our plan fails, and it probably will. We definitely do not want to go get your mother." He squints at Laurent. "Maybe... We should take a break. When's the last time you ate?"

Looking puzzled, Laurent says, "Why do we definitely not want to go get Mother Jo?" His brow wrinkles a bit when Wagi squints at him. "...I don't know. Right before Mother Jo left? How much time has passed since then?"

"Uhhh...." He ignores the first question. "Let's go eat some snow!!!! ....."

"Waaaiiit," Laurent whines, even as he adjusts his scarf and follows Wagi out the door to go get snow. "Why do we not want to get Mother Jo? She's coming back tonight, right?" for the sake of convenience we might just continue this as a thread in jo's room rather than going through all the other channels to go outside

"Hrmm... I think we are going to have a sleepover tonight! Isn't that so exciting! I've only read about them actually. But that's what friends do!" He shuffles outside, poorly dressed for the cold. He likes it though. Brisk. Helps him clear his mind a bit..... lol sounds good (edited)

"I think your mother is probably going to be making heart eyes back at Mr. Atlas. Though, I cannot fully confirm that conjecture at this time."

T. Lee Masamoto started a thread. 3/29/2025 12:31 AM

Jo (Sky)Waker feels a disturbance in the Force. Somewhere, someone's talking shit about her.

Luckily for everyone, but most especially Alli, it turns out that Jo doesn't mind honeybees and Laurent's a lot more curious than anything, which means he doesn't panic and cause a stir. Instead, he's sitting calmly on the floor when Jo discovers the scene. Bees hover daintily around him. "Can we keep them? They make funny noises," he says with bright eyes. Jo could try turning them all into diamonds... but if she couldn't reverse it, that seemed rather mean to the bees. And it's not like there were very many around to begin with these days. "They won't survive in here. Come on we have to let them outside and they'll find their way." After getting the ice broken off on the outside of her window, Jo opens it and then she goes into her bathroom to find eucalyptus oil. She sits by Laurent on the plush carpet of the floor as they simply wait the time each bee takes to fly out of their own accord. It's said that the Snow Queen is the ruler of snow bees. Technically, those were just another term for snowflakes. But the thought produces a tiny smile from Jo. Maybe she never really hated when Zero would call her that.

Seiya shows up at Jo's door, rolling a cooler behind him and some books under his arm. He feels a little bit nervous but knocks on the door after letting go of the cooler for a moment. He probably brought too much, what if frozen food like hurts Laurent's teeth? He did pack snow as well just in case. Frozen strawberries, frozen pizza, popsicles, strawberry syrup, sorbet ice cream, kool aid, caprisun, plain water... well, if Laurent doesn't like it, he can probably eat it himself. He decides on not introducing himself as Laurent's dad, it might feel awkward. Mother's friend? Not sure if he should use his name. Why the fuck was he a dad when he still had classes?

As soon as Jo opens the door, a little Dalmatian puppy bounds out and pounces on Seiya's feet. She hurriedly leans down and scoops the puppy up. "Sorry, I bought him after the honeybees incident since Laurent wanted a pet and Ritz tends to roam as a free agent more these days." Jo holds the wriggling puppy in her arms with an affectionate smile before turning to call over her shoulder. "Laurent, Seiya's here." She's dressed quite similarly to how she was when Jo and Seiya had gone on that day trip to Enoshima Beach, this time with the same bikini but under a jacket and denim shorts rather than a wetsuit. Her hair's done up extra nice too, even if it's likely to be ruined. Jo gently pets the puppy's head as Laurent shuffles near.

Laurent recognises the voice. And when he sees the man, he looks just like the hazy memory of that day he was made. "...father?" he asks, hesitantly, stopping just behind Jo as his icy eyes look wide up at Seiya.

"Aw, cute. What's his name?" Seiya smiled at the puppy, he'd try to pet the little guy but his hands are full. He blinked a little in surprise at being called 'father.' Back when he first saw Laurent, he was pretty sure that the guy didn't recognize him. He supposes that Jo told him that he had a dad and the dad was Seiya, so he gave him a smile and waved, clamping his book under his elbow. "Hey, there L-Laurent!" Seiya had searched up how to pronounce Laurent's name beforehand. He practiced a few times but his accent was still there. "Sorry I haven't been around, lately... Uh, I got you some snacks and a few books to read so..."

Laurent's eyes get marginally wider and then fill with tears--he still thinks it's just his eyes melting--and he steps around Jo to dive at Seiya. And hug him. Apparently, sudden displays of affection are a Waker trait. The last time Jo did that to Seiya, he got a jumpscare, though Laurent doesn't know that. All he knows is that now he has two creators and that feels extra special. Where Jo had created him from grief, Seiya was there to bring warmth when she called him. Laurent can feel an echo of that warmth now in himself. It feels... comforting. Happy. Like what a home might be.

Seiya's eyes widen in surprise and he quickly drops his books. They fall to the ground (Seiya quickly apologizes to Chihiro to his head just in case they got damaged) and he returns the hug. ...... He's worried about hugging him too tight and Laurent would end up melting or something. He gently runs a hand through Laurent's white hair as he tries to think of something to say. "...Nice to meet you too." He looks at Jo for a moment since she mentioned that Laurent had never asked about having a father figure, maybe something has changed?

Jo reflects Seiya's smile as she also looks down to the puppy in her arms again as it continued its valiant struggle while licking the sleeves of her jacket. "His name's still being workshopped, actually. I'm taking suggestions. Laurent just wants to name him Rabbit." She lifts the puppy up to her face, scrunching her nose and speaking in a sweet albeit funny voice as she adds, "But you don't look like a rabbit to me. No, you don't." When the puppy promptly tries to lick her face, Jo lowers him again, holding him securely in her arms where he finally seems to happily rest. That's when Laurent moves for a hug, and Jo blinks, almost as surprised as Seiya at the sight. She stares wonderingly at the pair before her gaze flicks up to meet Seiya's from over Laurent's head of snow-white hair. "He, um... Laurent didn't really know what a father was before Akari--that's the guy who found him in the first place--explained. And he says he only just remembered seeing you when we made him after he had that talk with Akari." ...it still feels weird saying she made a living thing with Seiya. Different to group projects for anomalous history studies. "Laurent, are you going to let S... let your father in?" she eventually prompts. Jo's not sure how much more of this she can watch before even she gets misty-eyed. It's not like she had a particularly tender relationship with her own father.

His father hugged him. Laurent nuzzles further into the warm embrace of Seiya while the hand brushed through his hair. '...Nice to meet you too.' Yes, Laurent thinks, it's very nice to finally meet you. What Jo hadn't mentioned to Seiya, but only because Laurent hadn't told her, was that something about Akari had been different that night he remembered the day he was made. Akari had seemed... not like Akari. Not as warm. Not even quite like a friend. And he had said he was not Laurent's father. But blurred in his memories was Seiya. Forgotten, until recently, when he was forced to dig in his mind for when he was created. Reluctantly, Laurent pulls away. Then he helps Seiya pick up the books he had dropped. "Mother Jo says she has a date, and that you'll be hanging out with me while she's out," Laurent says as he and Jo make room for Seiya to properly come into the room. While Jo shuts the door and sets the puppy down in a cordoned off corner of the room--a veritable puppy pen, full of blankets, cozy cushions, and stuffed toys with bowls of food and water too--Laurent eyes her carefully then shyly shuffles closer to Seiya. "Akari told me to keep Heart Eyes people away from Mother Jo," he whispers, because it seemed important to inform his other creator about his mission. "But Mother Jo came home the other day with hearts in her eyes. I'm lost. I don't know what to--" But Jo wanders over again, glancing between the two with probably the closest thing to anxiousness either has ever seen from her. "Will you two be all right for a few hours?" Laurent nods confidently. Despite the nagging thought that he should probably be trying to ruin Mother Jo's date.

"Rabbit?" That's kinda silly. "That's a cute name." He lets Laurent pull away and crouches on the ground to pick up the books he dropped. Luckily they seemed unharmed, a few moments of bended pages are easily smoothed out. He tucks them under his arms and pulls the cooler into the room, setting it next to the fridge and leaving the books on top. He blinks and tilts his head at the mission he's suddenly being informed of. Who was Akari? He didn't get to ask this question when Jo wanders over. "Don't worry about us! Go have fun!" He waves at her as she leaves before turning to Laurent. "Who's Akari and why does he want to keep people with heart eyes away from Jo?" Well, going off assumptions as someone who didn't know this person, it kind of sounds like Akari might be into Jo? Then telling this innocent kid to help him keep people that were into Jo away from her? That sounds kinda douchey. Speaking of which, this kid pointed at Leo and said he didn't like him back when Seiya had amnesia. Oh ew, he does not like where this train of thought was going. Seiya stops himself from thinking about Leo's possible lingering feelings for Jo and decides its more important to worry about the people Laurent is associating with since it seems that Jo is unaware of this development. "...You trust Mother Jo, right? Sometimes, having hearts in your eyes when you see someone means you love them and that person makes you happy. The important thing to worry about is whether that person will treat her well." Seiya lowers himself to be eye level with Laurent. "I don't think Akari means that you need to keep people with heart eyes away from Mother Jo, he means that you should be careful of them. They can be good or bad, but its up to Mother Jo to decide that. I think she would be sad if you didn't let her see someone she likes." He reaches out and gently ruffles his hair. "Its good that you're worried about her safety, but you can't keep her away from other peo

12:32 PM

ple. In this type of situation, it's better to get to know the person she likes to make sure they're not a bad person. Jo would be happy if you got along with her friends!"

Laurent mimics Seiya's wave as Jo leaves with one last look over her shoulder. She'd been up early this morning, showering and fretting over what she wore and doing her hair--and then muttering about how the state of her hair hardly mattered if it was going in the saltwater at any point--and she'd been contemplating her usual make-up in her hands like she was considering battle strategy. He had watched this all alongside their new puppy with a strange kind of fascination. This side of Jo was new to him. Laurent wasn't born yesterday, but he was born notably after most of Jo's romantic history. He could have told her she didn't need to worry about all this fuss, people seemed to have heart eyes anyway no matter what she wore. Jo looked pretty anyway, like the sparkling snowflakes outside. Laurent might be biased though. He thought his mother always looked pretty. And he gives her an extra encouraging smile before she closes the door, a bag in tow. At Seiya's question, Laurent is all too eager to answer. "Akari is my friend who said I shouldn't love him, but he gives me snow, and syrups, and he found me when I was looking for Mother Jo the day I woke up, and he gave me clothes, and he likes to visit me and ask after me," he explains. "He doesn't get along with Mother Jo though, and I don't know why. But he says he tolerates her for my sake." Laurent frowns. "But sometimes he almost seems to like Mother Jo. I don't really get it. He changes his mind a lot." Laurent perks up much like the puppy in the corner when Seiya leans down to his height. If he had a tail, it's probably be wagging furiously with the strength of his feelings. He listens intently to Seiya's words, nodding along, and when his hair is ruffled, he gives a short laugh. Jo and even Akari weren't much for playing with his hair like that. Jo sometimes would gently run her fingers through to settle him down for sleep, but it was different when Seiya did it.

8:52 PM

"So... my new mission is to... check that the people Mother Jo has heart eyes for... are worthy of heart eyes?"

........ This Akari guy sounds like a weirdo. Seiya might need to ask Jo if he can meet this guy. Based on Laurent's description, he doesn't sound like the most trustworthy person, but maybe he's just... eccentric? Seiya gives Laurent a wide smile and nods when he comes to a new conclusion. "That's right! You might not notice it, but Mother Jo has heart eyes for you, too! They're just a different kind, love comes in many different forms." He pats his head a few more times before standing up and picking up the books he left on top of the cooler. "Are you hungry? I got you some new snacks to try! Or we can read some books," Seiya looks over at the puppy in the corner of the room. Rabbit? Jo didn't give him any instructions on how to take care of this puppy specifically, texting her while she's on her date wouldn't be the best move, but he doesn't want the puppy to get neglected either. "Unless you wanna play with Rabbit? Whatever you wanna do, just tell me!"

Laurent beams at Seiya's description of love. He really is more like a child in all his wonderment. When Seiya pats his head a few more times, Laurent's almost convinced he could burst into a flurry of snowflakes with such explosive joy. If all fathers were like Seiya, they must be really, really nice to have. "Mother Jo said it's important to eat before we do other things because it gives us energy," Laurent supplies in lieu of an answer. He tilts his head, eyeing the cooler Seiya brought in with curiosity. "I don't really know how similar humans and anomalies are, but I get smaller if I don't eat or if I leave Frostheim and melt. I don't melt here, usually. Sometimes my eyes do lately. Like when I remembered you." Laurent moves to grab what appears to be his favoured cushion off the veritable mountain of them on Jo's bed before sitting on the furred rug on the floor and patting the space by him. "I know Mother Jo was sad, but you made her not-sad. Kinda... warm." He stares up at Seiya, a little starry-eyed as he leans in slightly. Clearly, what he's about to say is of utmost interest to him. "Do you feel any love for Mother Jo? You don't have heart eyes the way others do, but you also look happier than Akari does to see her. Do you more-than-tolerate her?"

Seiya puts the books to the side and digs through the cooler. "Alright, is there anything you want to try specifically? I have some frozen food, ice cream, snow, juice... Humans doesn't really shrink if we don't eat, but we might get thinner." He wonders what would happen if Laurent was overfed, would he get older or bigger? He takes out a few of the options and holds it out to Laurent so he can pick and chose what he wants to consume. "Human's sometimes leak water from their eyes, too! It's called crying, it happens when our eyes are irritated or we feel extreme emotions. You can cry if you're really happy, really sad, or really angry, it's like a stress reliever basically." Seiya picks a caprisun and a popsicle for himself when he moves to sit next to Laurent on the floor. He cringes a little bit at the question, knowing that his honest answer would likely disappoint this kid. Love was certainly too strong of a word for her. He loved his sister, he loved Saki, he loved her mom, he loved... Was it too soon to say that he loved Goro? Or was it too late? ...... That wasn't really relevent. "She's my friend, I like her." Hopefully Laurent never asks about how other kids are made or the usual relationships between parents. That would be an awkward conversation.

Laurent picks out the ice cream container as Seiya sorts through what he brought in the cooler. He inspects it closely, tilting his head to the side. "You can make... creamy ice?" he asks skeptically. When Seiya gets out a caprisun and a popsicle, Laurent looks at those curiously too. This is endlessly fascinating to him. Jo had brought him other foods to try before, but not any of these kinds of things. "Oh, you and Mother Jo are friends? I like friends. Mother Jo likes you too, by the way. I know most things she feels. In here." Laurent presses a hand to his chest with a smile. "There's something I don't get though. Don't mothers and fathers usually live together? Are we a broken home?"

"Ice cream is basically cream that's been frozen, it's a dessert. It's not exactly ice, but it wouldn't be ice cream if it was melted." Seiya hands Laurent a bowl and opens the ice cream container for him. He takes a spoon from the cooler and begins to scoop the ice cream into the bowl. "Let me know when it's enough, okay?" He hands the ice cream and spoon back to Laurent, closing the container and placing it back int he cooler. He opens his popsicle and caprisun and begins drinking, only to choke when Laurent asks if they're a broken home. "Who taught you that phrase..?? No, we're just students. We're not... a... n- average family," Okay, let's chose words carefully here... "Since we're still in school we live in dorms and didn't..." prepare to have a kid. "...we can't really live together because of our circumstances.."

Laurent innocently tries a spoonful of the sorbet ice cream. It's soft in his mouth, but... creamier than snow. Very cold though. And the flavour is like a bright explosion of strawberry, more intense than snow cone syrups even. It's delicious. Laurent decides he likes it and eats another spoonful. He's completely oblivious to the effect his questions had on Seiya. Sorbet's more important. "Heard it in a movie," Laurent replies, eyes fixed on his sorbet as he happily eats. "Does it make you sad that you and Mother Jo can't live together?" This poor, sweet spring child doesn't understand literally anything.

"A broken home refers to a family where the parents are divorced. Jo and I have never been married, we're not attracted to each other in that way." Fingers crossed that he doesn't disappoint Laurent with what he says next. "Even if we don't live together, we still attend the same academy and I can see her almost everyday if I wanted to. So, I guess I don't really mind living separately since we both have our own thing to do." He puts down his caprisun and begins to consume his popsicle.

"Not married? Doesn't that make me... a bastard?" Laurent asks, lowering his bowl of sorbet to stare wide-eyed at Seiya. "I heard that's what kids are when, when their parents aren't married." He waves his spoon around. "I don't really get it though. Why's that a bad thing? It sounds bad when people say it. It seems silly to be married just to make someone from snow. Anyone could make someone from snow, if they wanted to. Marriage doesn't seem to have much to do with it at all." Frowning, Laurent says, "What's attraction?"

................. Jo needs to monitor what movies Laurent is watching... Okay, wait that might be kind of silly since he doesn't age like a regular human, but he does still feel like a kid. Personally, Seiya would probably monitor what movies he would let Laurent watch "Yeah, it's used as an insult, usually. People usually think that kids that don't have both parents are unhappy which is why... bastard is used as an insult. You shouldn't call anyone that or let anyone call you that, okay?" *He pats Laurent's head with his free hand. "If someone does, Mother Jo will probably beat them up." Wow. These are a lot of questions. "Attraction is like having heart eyes for someone, usually in a shallow way like how a person looks. Ah, but thinking someone is pretty doesn't always mean you're attracted to them. If you see someone you think is pretty and you want to kiss them then that would be considered attraction!"

"Okay, father!" Laurent chirps. He grins when Seiya pats his head. Laurent finishes he sorbet and sets the bowl down. His skin and hair has taken on a rosy hue, but otherwise he looks fine. He steeples his fingers together, squinting much like Jo does when she's deep in thought. "Kiss them..." Laurent murmurs. What on earth was kissing? He was asking too many question, and he didn't want to look too stupid. Maybe he'd save that one for another day. "When you have heart eyes, think they're pretty, and want to kiss them. That's attraction?" How interesting. "So, you don't have heart eyes and don't want to kiss Mother Jo. But she's pretty, isn't she? I think so. Akari doesn't."

He watches in fascination as Laurent seems to change color after eating the sorbet. They should go get slushies together sometime. "Yes, she is pretty, I just don't have a romantic connection with her." This Akari guy was probably lying out his ass, is he a tsundere or something? ...... Does Laurent know what romance is? Ough, oh, how would you explain that to a kid? "Romance is like a special kind of love where you're attracted to each other and want to make sure the other person is happy and safe."

Laurent sits there, thinking very deeply. Very, very deeply. "So... you're not attracted to Mother Jo romantically because you don't want to kiss her. But you like her and think she's pretty. And you are friends. And you both made me, but you're not married. I know she wants you happy and safe, so... you probably want Mother Jo also to be happy and safe, right, father?" He massages his temple. "...people are so complicated. This means... wait, why do people marry each other? Is it for romantic love? It's so confusing that romantic love and other love doesn't have many differences." Continuing to grumble under his breath, Laurent lays down on the floor for a moment before sitting back up, looking gravely serious. "So you can love your friends, yes? There's a friend-love that's not romantic love? But you're friends with Mother Jo and you don't love her, you like her. But you can still love your friends sometimes?"

“…Yes, you can love your friends. That’s called platonic love! But, yeah, feelings can be complicated. I get them confused sometimes, too. But because they’re so hard to understand you shouldn’t try to interfere with other people’s relationships.” It seems that Laurent is trying very hard to understand. Seiya gives him a scalp massage as a reward for his hard work. “You don’t need to worry about what other people think is the ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to do things. The important part is that your friends and family love you, okay?” He picks up Laurent’s bowl. “Are you still hungry? You can have more if you want, or if you wanna try something else?”

If Laurent was a cat, he'd probably turn into a boneless loaf and purr under Seiya's scalp massage. As it was, he closed his eyes with a smile and hummed a soft lullaby Jo had taken to singing him sometimes. He should tell her to sing more, he decides. She sounded so lovely whenever she did and it made him want to dance the way she did that one time he caught her when her study music was playing aloud and she'd gotten up to stretch, only to start swaying into the rhythm of the song. For a moment, Laurent imagines both Jo and Seiya dancing, possibly with each other. The way their arms might adjust to bring him in while they all laughed and followed the music. Music was such a wonderful invention. Laurent wishes he could learn to make it. "Hm. A little hungry," he eventually replies. Then he peers at the assortment and points at the frozen pizza. "Teenage mutant ninja turtles eat that." After they finish up eating and spend some time playing with Rabbit the puppy, Seiya and Laurent settle down to read some of the books together that Seiya brought with him. The puppy is already curled up on his cushioned bed and sleeping soundly. Laurent's eyes blink sleepily as he listens to the rich sound of his father's voice. "I love my friends and family," he murmurs, "And I'm pretty sure I love you too, Dad. Like Mother Jo." He'd meant to say, 'like I love Mother Jo', but full of delicious new food as he is, warm on love, and lulled by Seiya's storytelling, Laurent falls asleep leaning against his father.

"I love you too, Laurent." Seiya almost didn't even want to move from this position because he didn't want to disturb Laurent while he was sleeping. He took out his phone to take a picture before sending it to Jo. When she gets back, he should leave. He gives Laurent a quick kiss on the top of his head before very slowlyyyy moving him into a laying position on the bed. He wasn't sure if he should tuck him in or not, what if he melts because it's too warm? He kind of tucks him in but not by much, leaving his arms out in case it got too warm. He then moves off the bed to lightly kiss the puppy's head too. He begins to pack things up in his cooler, leaving behind the tub of sorbet in Jo's fridge. He will return the books to Chihiro tomorrow.

Ta-dah! The courier cat is here! * *The cat drops of Jo's box of nail polish as well as a still cold tub of sorbet at her door and leaves. There is no note attached, but there is chocolate flavored milk candy in the nail polish box.

Laurent likes collecting packages when they arrive at Jo's room. She lets him. And so, he brings in the courier cat's delivery of the box and a cold tub of sorbet (he's finally learning how to read!). Mother Jo had been in a very strange mood ever since she came back from Vagastrom—he knew it was Vagastrom because he could still smell the scent of motor oil and iron on her. She's been sitting in the middle of the room on the thick, plush carpet, a book open that she doesn't really seem to be reading. Mother Jo says the sorbet is for him. When she opens the box, she blinks at it with a conflict flickering in her multi-coloured gemstone eyes. Laurent watched on as she picked up a singular piece of candy. He knows without her saying it that this must be from Seiya. Dad. Had they got into an argument, like Jo and Akari would? "Laurent, why don't you go play outside?" she says softly. He's hesitant to leave her. But he gets an idea on what he can do with this opportunity. And so Laurent obeys, fleeing the main building of Frostheim. He does not stay within the snowy grounds though. Laurent filled himself up with snow and then leaves. He needs to find someone who can help Mother Jo, since he's been taught that removing sources of her pain isn't quite the right thing to always do. The sun's bright today. Laurent hurries his pace. He needs to find someone. (edited)

When Laurent leaves, Jo sits in silence in the middle of her room a while longer, just staring at the box. An hour later, the room is completely trashed. In another hour, it is meticulously put back together.

Seiya cautiously knocks on the door.

Clinging to Seiya's side, Laurent waits anxiously. He's filled out a bit more since eating snow outside, though the aging up is always slowing than the melting down. When there's no answer at the door, only silence, Laurent says, "Should we... try to go in?" And yet, within his natural compass for Jo, he feels oddly like she's not even here. Nearby, but not so close as she should be.

It doesn't really feel right for Seiya to just go into her room without permission, especially not after what happened (him upsetting her as well as the Saki camera situation), but he tries to open the door. "You can go in, I'll wait outside, okay?