The Doctor is In!

That was a fair concern to have, when Vanna was violently awoken by the destruction, the very first thing she had worried about was whether or not everyone was okay. The difference between her and Sylvester, however, was that once she was assured that everybody was safe and unhurt, the mollusc immediately abandoned the cleanup crew and made off for Solarium.

She had also thought it reasonable for the doctor to continue helping people here, but if that was the case, then what was he doing here? Right now he was in a remote part of the library with only his DreamWeaver and his sheep. Maybe he was suffering burnout from helping so many people here that he had to take a moment and recharge. It was a lot easier to handle one individual than a whole crowd of them, right?

“It’s cool, you don’t have to explain yourself to me, and it’s okay to help yourself first, too.” It was crazy how a baseless assumption could hit the nail on the head. Vanna absentmindedly scratched the top of her head with the business card as she spoke. “After all, I was looking to learn here, and yet I found you instead!”

Locket had snapped up the cardstock a second before his handler could grab it. The cephalopod blanked for a moment, and started to laugh at the audacity of the little dragon. “I-I am so sorry! He’s just really excitable, is all!” Her demeanor didn’t really seem apologetic, but could you blame her? Vanna never had a pet before, and even though the dragons were not ‘pets’ in the traditional sense, the novelty was still there.

Good thing it only took one tug to get him to release. One of the corners was shredded by his teeth, but the card itself was perfectly legible. “Oh, so you’re from Koi? That’s cool! I’m in the pairing project myself.” Idle clawed hands began scratching the top of her familiar’s head while she talked. “I came here to study magic, but it’s a lot more involved than I thought…”

Ah - before he could blink, the dragon following the underwater-looking Vanna snapped at the card. Did they assume it was a snack of some kind? DreamWeaver, his own dragon, blinked from his spot and made soft little bemused chirps of laughter at it all, but Sylvester shook his head at the apology. “Dragons are their own beings, and likely just as smart as us, so they probably shouldn’t be expected to be ‘controlled’ or anything - so you don’t need to apologise for anything your little friend did, you know?” Honestly, talking about the dragons...he was glad for DreamWeaver’s company, but - when the portals closed, would the dragons vanish as well? It felt very sad that possibility was an unavoidable inevitability - that he had to leave DreamWeaver behind like his uncle...mm. Though, he couldn’t be selfish and expect them to stay when they normally didn’t exist in this world. All he could do was enjoy the time he had with the other - but Vanna’s words next dragged his thoughts away from those serious ones of before. Ah, another Koi-dweller? So his guess that most of them came here to flee the city in it’s state was correct... “I haven’t gotten into the ‘magic’ myself, in honesty... as I said - my focus has been on trying to help those who also fled here.”

It came as a welcome relief that the doctor wasn’t offended. It was a bit of a marvel for him to have such a mellow reaction. Maybe she was reading too many thrillers, after all they were in a library. If she had ill intent she likely wouldn’t spend so much time here. Not when most of the people were still in class.

So the strange creature he was with was called a ‘sheep?’ and he had multiple ones? His house had to have been huge to take care of them! Not to mention bringing them outside to find grass and all, especially in either a crowded city or this confined campus. It must have been worth it if he was serious about using their fur-wool to make things. You could make a business out of that!

She tried leaning in to get a better look of the fiber sculpture, mindful of the chair and trying not to squish her dragon. “It’s quite cute, not like the real deal, but still.” Her hair tentacles started to wiggle as she pondered the youth in front of her. He didn’t seem like much of a magician, but he had a dragon and he was in a magical library, so it was possible. It was also possible he was a tourist like her, but he seemed to have the presence of a local, if that made sense.

“Hmm, my name’s Vanna. What should I call you?”

It really was a surprise to see someone so honestly fascinated with such a simple thing in his world as hand-knitted objects - then again, if the other lived underwater as he assumed they did, then it made sense as to why it would be a strange and exotic thing for them: and sheep as well, because both those things weren’t that helpful underwater or couldn’t live there. One or the other. “Yes, it’s not exactly the same, but it is just as soft and warm to hold because wool is that soft - at least, that’s what I’ve heard.” He wanted to be careful that he didn’t let slip such a ‘childish’ thing as sleeping with plush toys... He was a mature psychologist, after all. When given an introduction, he reached a hand in his fluffy hoodie’s pockets for his psychologist card, holding it out for the other to take if they so wished on matter of instinct as he usually did when he met someone. “Doctor Sylvester Ashling - psychologist of Koi! Nice to meet you, Vanna. Normally I stay in Koi, but with...what happened in koi likely having many people come here for safety, I decided my services and help were better suited to following those that came here: after all, I wouldn’t be much help with ‘moving rubble’ or heavy things like that, you know?” That, and knowing the explosions would have his best friend upset too alongside the many others that fled here...he really cared about her and wanted to make sure she was okay too, but he kept that part to himself. Best to remain professional here around a stranger he’d just met, after all.

Oh man. The human didn’t catch her spying, did he? Yeah. Yeah he did. Well that’s great, now the mollusc had to come up with an excuse for why she was staring without sounding like a creep. She just couldn’t help herself. That strange fluffy creature near the redhead looked so strange, and the fact that it was playing with a dragon was even stranger! There were no sheep where she came from, so seeing the one before her now was even more fantastical then his golden dragon companion.

Pushing the book cart she was hiding behind away, Vanna approached the table the small psychologist was settled at, and chose a chair two seats down. She had turned the chair backwards, so the backrest was resting against her front. Presently, her dragon ally was latched to the back of her sweater like a furry backpack, so the octoling had to leave her back uncovered. “Uh, sorry about spying on you and all, it’s just… I have never seen one of those before,” she said, pointing at the sheep. Her own dragon, interested by the kid’s ability, started nipping at Vanna’s hair, hoping to get her attention. “Wha- no, Locket. We don’t do that. C’mere.” She reached over and placed the familiar so his hind legs rested in her lap while his front legs were placed on the chair’s back.

Ah - Sylvester blinked at seeing the stranger properly for the first time. Tentacles for hair...? Back home, Epithets could sometimes manifest in inscribed physically, though usually that only happened with higher-rank ones, so it wasn’t all that strange to see someone like this: if he was back home, he would have assumed them to have an ocean-related Epithet of some kind. Though it was unlikely they had come from New Jazz or anything. Waving off the apology for ‘spying’ on him, he mused: “A lot of folk who live in Koi or otherwise tend to be very surprised and curious about my sheep when I have them around, so you’re not the first to be inquisitive of them - nor do I think you’ll be the last, so it’s okay.” A pause, he guessing from the choice of wording which the other didn’t even say what a ‘sheep’ was, that they must indeed come from someplace quite isolated or exceedingly different from home - he then explaining: “My sheep are my friends. They’re fluffy animals that eat grass and you can make things out of their wool if you’re good at knitting. Giovanni’s more skilled at that than me...” For shoe of reference, he dug out the ‘gift’ the loud oaf had given him on tackling him and talking to him earlier: a small yarn sheep made from pink wool. “Of course, someone else made this for me, as my sheep have golden-yellow wool, not pink, but this is something made out of wool too!”

I assure you, it is no problem, after all I was the one to open the portal and allow everyone to come here. Such a thing is only proper when something that caused me problems has started to be a thorn in another side, but I distress. Such things aren’t important, Please do enjoy the school and town.

[Clapping her hands, a rose gold dragon appears, with a white snout. Soft stars twinkle all over its body and it’s tail as Pluto orbiting it]

“Whoa!” Haruka let out a yelp in surprise as the sheep quite evidently backed away upon his attempts to pet it. Okay, so no touching. He could deal with that no matter how much he wanted to give in to his urges to feel that soft wool against his fingers. Somehow he could swear it seemed almost impatient but sheep weren’t capable of such emotions, were they? Honestly Haruka didn’t know the first thing about the animal in general – he was a city boy who had lived most of his life in the hospital after all. The farm life laid very far away from his knowledge.

This wasn’t how he had anticipated his day was going to turn out when he woke up this morning. Standing in the middle of the street trying to communicate with a sheep. Standing straight from his crouching position, Haruka’s glance shot around the vicinity looking for someone who might seem as though they were searching for a lost sheep. “Is your owner somewhere nearby? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?”  

      Having the ability to just go to vendors is still somewhat novel to Lio. That he can do so whenever he pleases and purchase something to snack on is something he’s very much enjoying. Even if how much he likes going grocery shopping is a bit strange. It also gives him an opportunity to observe people in this place with a plausible excuse. If he can just figure out what they all have in common that makes them suitable for being in this place, then…           Maybe he can figure out how to get out.           He’s jostled from the thought, quite literally, by a line of fluffy shapes- not too badly, but enough that his attention snaps to them. The sheep mill around behind each other, though occasionally one turns toward him and makes a noise and Lio… Lio isn’t sure what to make of them. They’re strange but interesting, and part of him wants to inspect them more closely. His hand reaches out, intent on seeing what they feel like, when the voice interjects, making him turn to stare, blinking wide eyes as if he’s been caught doing something he shouldn’t. 

          “No, not at all I…” The hand that had been reaching out retracts with whiplike speed, curling against his hip instead as he stares at the apparent owner of the sheep. “Haven’t ever really seen them this close, actually.” 

Honestly he had come to accept his fate in this new city and that certain things in life were just not something one could prepare for before they happened, but even so some things were still a full on surprise no matter how much you thought yourself prepared. Having his sleeve apparently gobbled up by a sheep was one such thing Haruka wasn’t sure he could have anticipated before hand. “Uwah!” he let out a loud yelp feeling the tug and looking down at the creature nomming away on his clothes.

“No, stop, you can’t do that!” he scolded it, tugging back and trying to salvage his clothes without any harm done to them. Somehow he succeeded and the now soaked sleeve felt gross against his skin. How troublesome. He had to change clothes when he got home. Crouching down, Haruka took in the creature’s appearance with a frown of his brow. “What am I supposed to do with you~?” he hummed with a worried singsong. Was this a sheep from some nearby farmland he didn’t know about or something? Trying to locate its owner seemed like something that was going to be very troublesome.

Somehow it seemed the sheep wanted something from him, but surely that was just his imagination. As far as Haruka knew, sheep weren’t like dogs and cats or something like that who could want you to play with them or pet them. Still… Now that he looked closer… “Waah, you’re so cute…!” A single pat on the sheep’s head couldn’t hurt, right? Right. He attempted it at least!