gameofmana | [log] Off to adult again, with a proper adult

Sam's making sure for a second time he's got what he needs with him: that pouch of coins in his jeans pocket, the knife that Avandrel had loaned him in its sheath, a sketch of Dean that he'd worked probably way too hard on and he could practically hear his brother teasing him about it in the back of his head. Like Dean wouldn't do something similar to look for him.

He glances over at his younger companion when he speaks, and gives him a nod in reply, shoving his hands in his pockets. By now anyone who had been paying any attention to him over the last five days would recognize it as a pretty familiar gesture from Sam. "Sure. Shoot."

“Would you mind teaching me some first aid?” Honestly, he doesn’t really want to explain himself there. It shouldn’t be that unusual a request anyway, considering their situation. The more people who have some basic survival knowledge, the better.

Initially Sam's eyebrows are raised in a bit of surprise. But Tsukishima doesn't need to explain himself. Reasons why he'd want to learn are easy to guess. He's in a strange place with possible unknown dangers.

"Yeah. I can do that." He stops and turns toward Tsukishima, placing a hand on the teen's shoulder, his tone suddenly serious, but still gentle. It's fueled by concern. "But first I want you to promise that if something bad happens, you're going to go to the Doctor or come to me, or another adult. Whoever's around. Don't just take care of things yourself unless it's an emergency and there's no one else to help. I'd like it if you made me aware even of minor injuries, just in case, but..."

He drops his hand. "I can't exactly police that. And you're old enough to make the call between something minor and something dangerous, once you know what to look for and how to look for it."

He hopes, anyway. He'll feel guilty as hell if he ever has to regret making that assumption, though.

Honestly, he wasn’t expecting too much of a reaction. It was a simple yes or no answer, right? Of course, he’d accounted for a “be responsible” kind of talk, but that was it.

He’s not expecting Sam to suddenly turn to him, or that hand lighting up on his shoulder, and subconsciously the teenager straightens up. Listening to the older man speak makes all of this seem so much more serious. Sure, Tsukishima hasn’t been taking things lightly- it’s why even with his loner tendencies he went with Yamaguchi to kickstart everyone getting fed even if it helped that feeding Bokuto meant shutting him up. But this is… different.

When Sam is done, he nods. “I understand. If possible, I’d rather avoid anything dangerous enough to need to use first aid or trouble you or the doctor… But I know there are more than a few troublesome people around.” He won’t even dignify any of them with ‘adventurous’, nah.

“I promise I’ll be responsible.”

It wouldn't surprise Sam if, from Tsukishima's point of view, Sam's response had seemed like an overreaction. The whole situation just reminded him too much of his childhood, having to learn these things at too young of an age while fearing for his own life and those of the people he cared about on a daily basis. He was determined not to repeat the same mistakes John had made. Which wasn't to say he wasn't glad, nowadays, to have been taught all that he'd been taught. It meant helping people, saving people, he understood that and he was proud to carry on John Winchester's legacy of doing that for people. It meant shouldering the responsibility of knowing and letting everyone else live their normal, less stressful lives. That's what he wanted for Tsukishima, for all of them. As normal and stress-free as it could get, given their current situation.

A soft smile, and he looks visibly relieved at Tsukishima's reply. "Good. I'd like it if everyone could avoid anything dangerous enough to need it, to be honest. But sometimes it happens, and it will be safer for everyone for more people to know this stuff. So. Yeah, I'll teach you."

He laughs suddenly, a brief breath of one, and looks apologetic at the teen as he continues walking. "Sorry if I scared you there. I've-- I've had to know this stuff from a pretty young age. Younger than you probably; setting bones and practicing stitches at thirteen. It's not exactly fun, and not something I'd wish on any kid in normal circumstances. Too bad these aren't normal circumstances."

Let no one say he doesn’t have manners. Tsukishima gives a slight bow. “Thank you.” If nothing else, it seems like he’s chosen a knowledgeable person in this area. He’s not expecting- or wanting- a whole medical course, but it seems like he’ll have a good teacher for first aid.

Yet simple acceptance gives way for some bit of curiosity. The things Sam is talking about… It sounds intense. More intense than he would have ever guessed on his own before this conversation. He’d assumed, in his head, that Sam had those kind of skills because he’d been in the army or something like that. Taught wilderness survival classes. Those kinds of things. But thirteen is young. Tsukishima can’t really imagine what life would lead to needing skills like that.

Oh, but wait… “You’re American, right? Did your family do a lot of hunting or something like that?”

Sam's surprised by the bow, looks just slightly embarrassed. The politeness and formality is something he'll have to get used to, and he will. It's still just very new, especially when the person he'd spent the majority of his time around the past two years was often crude and full of teasing remarks, always trying to make him embarrassed or uncomfortable. Or just smile and laugh, which he'd done plenty of that too.

Wow, it had only been, what, five days? And he was already missing Dean this much? Six days, actually. The last day before waking up here had also been spent without him. The last time he'd seen him he'd been a wreck, just those couple of minutes before Sam had-- Stop.

He glances over at Tsukishima again, forcing himself to focus on him and his question as they walk and talk.

"Yeah. I'm American. And my family's been hunting... pretty much my whole life. Maybe not the kind of hunting you're thinking of, though." At this point he feels like their entire situation is bizarre enough, and he's met enough non-human people who weren't hostile here, that he can tell more people this much about himself at least. Why not? It's sort of hinted at in the book of visitors, and he'd already told Avandrel. "It might sound a little crazy... We hunt down supernatural things. Evil things that are hurting or killing people. Monsters and ghosts. Even demons, a few times."

Sam’s silence doesn’t go unnoticed, but it does go uncommented on. Tsukishima is content as they start up their walk to let him have his moment of silence. As far as he can tell, everyone was just… yanked from the middle of what they were doing. That’s disorienting enough without the strange circumstances. While he’ll never ask, not one to pry or really talk things out, he has more than enough common sense to understand that he can’t be the only one reeling from everything. When Sam speaks up again, he glances back over to him… and nearly misses a step in his stride.

“Ah.” It’s not the most intelligent thing to ever come out of his mouth, but what can you do? He pulls himself together a second after, altough he still looks a bit off-put. “I… see.” No, that’s not quite right. He shakes his head.
“Sorry… I know the whole situation we’re in is strange, but I’m still not used to something like that. It sounds like it belongs in a comic instead of real life.”

Sam tilts his head a bit in thought, eyes focused on the trail they're on as he considers Tsukishima's response with a somewhat amused look, lips pulled together in a thin line. He gives a slow nod. "Well. You're not wrong. It's definitely way out of the realm of normal. If you ever want ridiculous out-there stories, I've got 'em." He's also got plenty that fall into the total nightmare category, but he doesn't say that.

He turns his head again to give the younger male a smile. "You don't have to worry about trying to understand what my life was like back home, though. All of us are here now. Basically just know that I'm pretty good at survival and protecting people is kind of my job." Minus the part where he actually gets paid. "And my dad was in the military, if that's something that's easier to relate to."

“I’ll keep that in mind, then.” He supposes it’ll be easy enough to try and ignore this little fact, especially in comparison to everything else. They have a mysterious tree house, a weird incomplete world, and various plant and animal people to deal with. And that’s not counting everyone and everything living in the same space.

It’s around this time that Domina starts coming into view proper, and he points up to it. “The shop I was talking about isn’t from where you come into town. The first things you see are a tavern and an inn, and it’s just down the street from them both.”

An inn. Sam seems to straighten up a little more when that gets mentioned, a look of determination settling over his features.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to give those places a quick check while we're here." The Inn, mostly, because such a place is where he and his brother always plan to meet up if they get unexpectedly separated. But if there's a tavern and Dean's here, that's definitely one of the places he'd hang out.

As the buildings start to come into view, Sam's not surprised to see the landscape as well as the architecture seems to fit with what they'd found at Home. Still idyllic, faintly reminiscent of something Tolkien to Sam. Fantasy-like, anyway. So basically he shouldn't expect to find much in the way of technology here, either.

“Sure.” His shoulders rise up minutely in a slight shrug. “We’re already in town anyway.” A few extra minutes isn’t going to do any harm, probably, and Tsukishima has done worse sitting around. As they start to get close, however, something occurs to him.

“Right… By the way, there’s even more inhuman people around here. Just so you aren’t surprised.”

Inhuman people such as the floppy eared dog person that they’ll happen to pass by just now.

Inhuman people. Well, he's certainly run into a few of those already, back at Home. Made.. friends, even? Maybe? With at least one. Avandrel had given him a knife to use until he'd acquired his own weapon, at least, so he's grateful to her, friendship or not.

"Right." He's trying to make himself expect the unexpected here, and yet he still goes a little wide-eyed and rudely staring for a second as the creature-- person, passes them by.

He clears his throat and tries to school his features back into a normal expression. "You weren't kidding," he says quietly, almost to himself.

What did he tell you, Sam?

...Well. It’s not like Tsukishima is judging, for once. Staring at the strange inhabitants of wherever they are had constituted his whole afternoon when he’d first walked into the town. Instead, he just watches Sam from out of the corner of his eye, and nods when he finally snaps out of it.

“There are humans too, at least… So we aren’t out of place. I’m not sure anyone that’s shown up at the tree house are, besides the robots.” At least, he hasn’t seen anything nearly as advanced in the short amount of time he’s been here. He guesses it wouldn’t fit anyway, fantasy versus science fiction. As the road becomes a bit more paved and sturdy under their feet, he nods his head to the side.

“I’ll go wait outside the inn and tavern if you want to look inside them for a bit.”

Look, at least he mostly got over it fairly quickly. It's just. Sam didn't think his life could get any weirder and this place is proving him wrong at every turn.

The robots. Yeah, that's a new one for Sam, too. The technology here is obviously limited. He's wondered a bit about what they would do if any of the robots got damaged. Fix them with other materials? What if they need something that can't be found here? Beyond that, the robots kind of contradict the "we're all dead" theory he's got going. He's pretty sure robots can't die, though he's certainly no expert on the matter.

He gives a nod, taking a piece of paper out of his pocket. "Thanks. Should just take a second, there's just a question I need to ask."

The only answer is an obedient quiet nod before Tsukishima drifts off. That’s something Sam is going to have to get used to. Unlike some of the others, he’s not going to be bursting with energy over here. Whatever is going on, whatever adventures that are out there- he doesn’t really want any of it. He just wants to get him and Yamaguchi (and the others, although he’d never say it) back home to Japan. If this is a dream, it’s sure lasting an awfully long time.

Besides…. As far as he’s concerned, whatever Sam is interested in doing in the inn and tavern is his business. Tsukishima isn’t going to pry there. Instead, he’s going to keep his nose to himself and set himself in one of the tables that are outside. There’s still a lot he has to get used to in this place. The people, the currency, the culture, all of it. They’re going to have to do research… but for the time being, watching everything helps. It’s what he’s good at: observing the things around him and figuring out how to approach things from there. Most of the time, it’s been mostly useful on the court, but he doesn’t doubt it will be just as useful here for other situations too.

It doesn't really bother Sam all that much. Tsukishima may be different than some of the other teenagers but then Sam had been different, too. Distantly, he hopes that there's something here that the guy will find joy in, though. Something that inspires excitement, happiness. He wants the same for everyone that's wound up here. Except himself. He doesn't really bother wishing for that for himself.

He gives an almost mirror image of Tsukishima's nod, then heads into the tavern. There are a handful of people drinking and socializing, there would probably be more at night time. Sam may have to come back then at some point. Among the people is a girl with beautiful wings that Sam was certainly not expecting. She appears to be quiet and a little shy, but happy nonetheless. Her name is Rachel, and she hasn't seen Dean. Sam thanks her for her time and moves on.

He sees his younger companion outside and gives Tsukishima another nod before heading into the Inn... Where a giant yellow bird greets him. A canary, maybe? Life-size canary. Her name is Miss Yuka, and she hasn't seen Dean either. Sam asks if she'll keep an eye out for him and that he'll check by again another time. She promises to do so, they say goodbye, and Sam's out the door once again to find Tsukishima.

"That was kind of a bust," he admits, tucking the paper back inside his pocket with a sad smile. "Ready for the weapons shop?"

Edited (I... can't remember if Rachel was actually waitressing there or not, so) 2016-09-22 09:44 (UTC)

“Bust?” He quirks up an eyebrow, even as he gets up to his feet again. So he supposes he’s looking for something in particular… If Tsukishima had to guess, he’d put it at just asking questions around town for the people who’d probably know the most. Inns and taverns probably get all sorts of weird people asking weird questions. Video game logic- get lore from chatting with random strangers. He never thought it’d really work in real life, but…. Real life has taken a strange turn.

Either way, he gives a nod and starts to head towards a certain little shop set up at the end of the street. Like so many of the buildings in Domina, it’s a pretty modest little place. Sturdy wood, a soft roof, and a sign that’s been hung in front of it that declares in big bold engraved letters that it’s a good all general store with weaponry for sale. True to its word, a few are even on display behind (barred) windows. Mark, in all his beetle armor glory, gives a cheery wave as Tsukishima and Sam step through the front door but doesn’t go over to them. It probably has something to do with how Tsukishima makes a beeline straight for where the weapons are. Teen on a mission, and all. All the weapons on display are fairly simple: swords of similar style although some lighter and others heavier, axes fitting for any barbarian while a few look small enough to throw, and even bows. Tsukishima gestures at them.

“They’re much more expensive than the food here… Think in the hundreds instead of two digits.”

Edited 2016-09-24 02:25 (UTC)

"Yeah." That sad smile remains and Sam glances over his shoulder back at the Inn. "Nobody had seen what I was looking for."

He follows after Tsukishima, still examining their surroundings and taking it all in. There's so much sunshine and greenery, everything so quaint and frankly charming. It still feels very surreal. Sam wonders how long it will take for him to get used to it. If he'll be here that long. If he ever gets used to it. He'd gone two years without so much as speaking to Dean while at Stanford. Surely he can get used to this.

It occurs to him then he'd just basically implied to himself that being without Dean was the weirdest thing about this place. Huh. Admittedly, Dean being here with him would make it less weird. He can already imagine all of the things Dean would say, his commentary on absolutely everything. His brain can do it on automatic, actually. And he wishes it wouldn't because it just makes him miss his brother more.

Once inside the shop, Sam offers Mark a slightly awkward wave in return, his smile a little confused but friendly nonetheless. He goes ahead and continues following after the teen straight over to the weapons.

From what he can tell, they look well-made, if simple. Not too ornate, but Sam hadn't been expecting ornate anyway. Simple worked. Simple got the job done. He leans in to examine some of them more closely, his expression thoughtful. "Makes sense. Even back in our world--" and he's assuming they're from the same one, not just because they're both human but because Tsukishima had made a remark about him being American. "--that's sort of standard. Making weapons takes both materials and labor, so you're paying for both."

Swords, axes, bows. Some assorted other weapons too, but Sam's sort of gravitating to the bows here. He's already got something he can use for close-range, what he really needs is a long-range weapon. And it doesn't take much of a glance around the place to know there aren't any firearms. So, bow it would have to be. He gives a nod to his younger friend before turning toward Mark and heading over to him with another friendly smile.

"Hey, hi. Uh, can I ask how much for a bow and maybe a quiver with some arrows too?"

He's not actually expecting to have enough right now, he'll likely have to come back later once he's found a way to make more money. But it will be good to know what amount exactly he needs to be working toward.

Mark has clearly been watching the pair of them hopefully, and he positively beams when Sam steps up.

"350 for one of the bows we have right now, and I usually throw in half a quiver of arrows for the first time of things. After that, I usually charge 40 lucre for every ten."

Edited 2016-10-02 04:45 (UTC)

Woah, hey, Sam actually has that. He pulls the little pouch of coins he'd found on his bedspread when he'd first arrived out of his pocket. There's still 500 in there because it wasn't like there had been anything to buy at Home, and this is his first visit to Domina.

"That sounds reasonable. I'll take a bow and ten extra of the arrows." He counts out the money onto the counter, 390 in total, then pauses as a thought occurs to him. He glances over his shoulder at Tsukishima, remembering his offer to teach him first aid, then looks back to Mark. "You sell any medical supplies or know where we could find them?"

“It’s good doing business with you, then!” In a good mood for having made a sale, he goes to take an empty quiver out from some shelves that are stacked behind him. Nothing fancy, basic leather that will probably have to be replaced sooner or later, but it works fine enough for holding arrows for a while. As he’s slotting the arrows inside, he looks up at Sam’s next question.

“Hm? Oh, well, I keep a few things in stock- bandages, pins to keep them in place, things like that. But for anything else… There should be a stall or two in the marketplace that sells salves and herbal remedies for illness.

Maybe none of it's really fancy, and yet it is to Sam just because it's nothing he's had before. Bow and arrows, quiver. He's going to have to practice with it a lot, he already knows. It could be fun though, and prove to be a good distraction from everything else on his mind.

Sam nods as Mark gives his answer, turns to look at Tsukishima again. "Stocking up on those things eventually might be a good idea for all of us, everyone in the house. But for now I mostly just wanted to show you how to wrap, what to do with burns, basic first aid things. It's not hard at all, I could probably show you once or twice and you'll have that stuff down."

Having Sam turn back to speak with him again has Tsukishima shift into attention. Wraps, burns, basic first aid… He nods. It all sounds easy enough, relatively speaking. With what they’ve been able to see so far, no one in the house will probably run into anything worse than that. You never know, of course… but Tsukishima doesn’t want to think about that right now.

Really, he wants to be hopeful that he’ll never actually have to use any skills like this. Maybe this world will stay the same, sleepy and domestic and strange as ever, and eventually they’ll just manage to find a way back to where they should be. But then… That’s never how it is in all the cartoons and video games. Realistically, Tsukishima knows that something will probably happen, and, when it does, who knows who in their ridiculous tree house will go running straight into danger.

So…. Better safe than sorry.

“Do different wounds require different kind of wraps?” It seems like the kind of thing to ask, especially because Tsukishima isn’t sure himself. What’s the difference between a laceration and a puncture wound when it comes to that, if anything? Well, at least Sam seems to know what he’s doing...

Even if the place does stay sleepy and domestic and... surreal, like a little piece of Eden or with really strange creatures in it, there's still the everyday household accidents that could happen. Especially with people occasionally cooking who have never spent much time cooking before... Sam himself included in that list. And there were a lot of stairs at Home to possibly trip on, too.

Sam gives a nod in response to the question.

"Different parts of the body have to be wrapped differently," (just for anatomy reasons, really) "and there are splints and things if you've got sprains or fractures. And for different wounds, different things you should do before wrapping it, even."

Though it would be hard for him to specify what the different kind of wounds look like and how Tsukishima would be able to tell what's what without a textbook. In Sam's education, it had often just been whatever injury Dean or Dad came back with was the one Sam got to learn about. John had occasionally done little sketches too, showed them stuff in his journal. Thinking of, that would be a nice resource to have. It probably would have been with Dean when Sam had died, though.

He turns back to Mark with the same friendly smile. "Could you add in a few standard bandages and pins to my purchase then, please?"

As the shopkeeper goes to add more to the counter along with bandages, Tsukishima huffs out a breath. “It’d be nice if there was even a single book in that whole library about first aid, but I guess that’s asking a little much from a magic study.” The whole thing is strange. Of course, everything about their situation is strange, but that room especially. The part of him that wants to find out how they’re here, how they can get back feels like that has to be some sort of hint.

He just…. Can’t figure out what it means.

Well, that’s a long term problem. For now, he needs to focus on the short term, and that means first aid lessons. “Since it seems like it’d be hard to get first hand practice right away…. Are you any good at drawing?”

Sam crosses his arms and leans against the counter, giving a nod since Tsukishima was coming to the same conclusion he was about their first aid lessons, that it would be easier with a book to work from. Sam himself has been particularly interested in the study, too. He still planned on giving it another look through, medical textbooks or no.

Is he any good at drawing? Well. Yes and no. He wasn't bad at replicating things if he really put his mind to it, working off of an image or a memory... He'd never been that great at pulling things from his own imagination or someone else's and putting it down on paper, though. "I think I know where you're going with that. I might be able to draw some things from memory that could help. Honestly? I wouldn't call myself an artist though," he admits with a laugh.

“Even drawing from memory is better than nothing, right?” With everything gathered together on the counter, he starts to pull out the coin pouch from his pocket. “It can’t be helped. Even a little bit of preparation is better than being thrown straight in the deep end.”

[log] Off to adult again, with a proper adult

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/throws some NPCs in here for a brief cameo if that's okay?

fine with me~

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