All the Pieces to be Scattered
Lyla's reasoning goes something like: hey, it's only been a day or so, and the rain got your jacket anyways, so you can totally wear it again today!
Psh. She might as well have cursed it the moment she put it on.
Hmm... what to do today? Isn't that always the question. Shifting through her piles of clothing, going with some tee covered by said jacket and some skirt or another—skirts are freaking fun—she sets out then.
While this town of theirs can be quite dreary, a little sad, it looks like everyone's awake by now. A small yawn, a stuffing of her curls into their respective hair bands, and departure.
Slurch slurch slurch slurch sluch...
"Psh... well. Good thing I remembered rain boo—oh wait. I forgot shoes again... awwww! But if I put my feet in them now... like... should I really turn around? If I turn around and go all the way back even though I'm already out here in the mud... that'd be, like, counterproductive or something, yeah? Yeah. I think that makes sense." She goes on shoeless. This has come to be quite the unfortunate habit...
She glances over some, spots the smudgy brown figures of Curlos and Deli further along. Are they... hm... kinda looks like they're planting something. Oh—no. Deli just took a spill in the mud... now he's all gross and mucky...
Are they... rolling up balls of mud and tossing them at each other?
Well. Apparently.
Lyla goes on, then. Skipping a little. Aquamarine eyes burning. There's something she's been wanting to do today... something very, very important... something she'd been wanting to do...
A bright little face forms in her mind. And this time, nothing will stop her!
Past the bright turquoise house Nibbles calls home, and past she herself with her froggy boyfriend pestering the new blue home just by. Julian's... not being forgotten. Welcomed, added, in some sort.
That makes her smile a little more.
And then before she knows it she's already pounding at the door. Oh!
"Jay Jay Jay Jay Jaaaaaaaaayy!" There is a rustling—she hears some sorta rustling on the other side... wait... wait... She presses her ear against the plastic. Because that'll probably help. Wait... oh... no. No. The sounds aren't coming from in here but right by her on Jay's little porch.
Oh wow, that was sad.
The dark, quiet orbs come her way. He's just sitting there in front of his house... in some tee, some shorts. A little tired-looking, staring at the gloomy, misty atmosphere.
Whoa, wait—has Lyla ever seen the sun here? The moon, for that matter? Well maybe the moon, with those stars... at least some stars—has she seen the sun? She stares dumbfounded at the sky for a moment there, just staring. Just staring. Then shakes her head, tugs at one of Jay's shimmering blue wings.
Strangely, even with all of his working out and falling over, he's always got such clean feathers...
"Jaaaaayyy! Let's go do something fun!"
His soft-voiced objection is imminent. "E-Ehhh... I have... I have j-jogging to do, Lyla... y-you know how much that... means to me..."
He sinks a little bit more with each pause.
Lyla gives him one big frown.
"Nuh-uh! Not today! Let's go do something fuuuuuuun!" And then she pulls at him some, to prove her point.
He splutters, "Aahhh! D-Do I really have to? A-Are you sure this is a good idea? D-D-Do you really want me, of everyone living here?"
Wait. What? "Um. Yes. Of course!" She tries at a smile, and Jay tugs the other way. Okay maybe not the smile. Don't wanna scare him away, now...
Beautiful birds...
Finally, very quietly, and very quickly, like someone will kill him if they overhear—"O-O-O-Okay f-f-fine I'll go with you one day shouldn't be so bad I-I'll just tell everyone I did some cardio be-before leaving m-m-my house o-okaaaayyy!"
There are a few whimpers, but all in all... wow. She feels kinda proud of herself.
From further along, she spies Freya and Fauna making their way around, scooping up bits of dirt and burrowing in flowers—a funky net—bug net?—strapped over the wolf's back of all things—and even plucking a couple weird-looking flowers from the earth... And... oh, who is that peeking out the crack of his door?
"Oh, Luchaaaaa! Come join us! Come join us!"
There was a great mess of grief and agony and painstaking thought process on his face until she uttered those few words. Not very loud, as Lyla can't do loud, and yet loud enough to shove all the worry off his face and send a blush over his cheeks.
Slowly. Slowly, now.
Lucha does join them, the red bird clad in what she expects to be some sweater of Fauna's, and then... well. Skinny jeans. His favorite. He tries to glare at Jay and point at his current attire, but the bird blankly keeps his focus on the sky.
Lyla tries that too. Uh... what was it Freya always thought: is it safe? Is it safe? How should she know? Yes? Whatever, they're going anyway. This is a good idea.
They pass by the town hall and for a moment there, she swears she's forgetting something vital. But then they continue moving and the itchy thought passes.
Lucha hugs up by her shoulder; Jay's twitchy by her other. She feels very liked today. Huh. Next time she gets all depressing and sad...
Quiet stroll—or shove—toward the train station, quiet taking of the seats. Jay nervously hums to himself and stops, choking on the notes. Lucha stares haplessly at the girl sitting in front of him, who just smiles in turn. And then he smiles—and blushes—and whines at himself for being such a hopeless, hopeless derp.
And then silence. And then violently broken silence, not unlike tossing a vase into the tiled flooring.
"Ha-Haaave I-I-I ever told you about... about..." Nervous thumb-twiddling. "N-Never mind, the story's... well. You probably don't care..."
"Ehhhhh!" squeaks Lyla. "No no no! Jay! Go on! I totally care!"
Oh, yes, that worms a smile out of him. Yes. "Well, u-u-ummm! If you insist... S-So, when... when I was young, I remember I used to have really big birthday parties... and invite everyone in my class over.
A small, serene smile sprouts along his lips. "It was fun. I didn't like leaving anyone out... so I'd even try to get my teachers to come, and the mean kids, and the people who didn't like me... But it's funny. Nobody ever looked at me weird... I loved being around everyone, and nobody ever made fun of me, never quite... Well. I mean. I think there was teasing, because everyone get it at one point, but I never could tell. Heh. I was way too happy a kid..."
"Ohhhh! Awwwwww! That's such a fun story!" He sends Lyla into gushing hysterics; Lucha stares at him, more than slightly disgruntled. He... didn't expect that from someone so twitchy. Uh. Weird. Instead of looking at the bluejay his gaze goes right back to Lyla, all springing up and down in her chair like a little kid. Big, breezy smile, begging Jay for more stories about his life and his birthday parties, about the bouncy houses they rented and the amusement parks and little things like that.
Funny...
The three exit on the station that leads out to Butterfly. Lyla's very concise in her leadership, does her very best to take everyone to the big, warm, happy town square in the middle where they take a short stroll. The flowers make Lucha smile, but unlike old Jay the sappy sap sap face he doesn't go mumbling about it. Hugs by Lyla's shoulder again. Feels like a big derp, very big derp.
Jay and Lyla are talking softly together, giggling about stupid childhood memories. Lucha is such a derp... oh gosh. Another small garden of roses floats by, a basket full of pansies, and he quickly plucks one from the batch and holds it to himself. Just holds it.
"...uuuuchaa? Luucha..? Heeey... Heheheh. Do you have any embarrassing stories about your childhood?"
Oh? Uh? UH? WHAT? HI? LYLA? UM?
"Well y-yeah..." Angry angry blush coats his face like a fuzzy jacket hood. "Um duh. Um... uh..." Oh no. "When I was six, my mom accidentally bought my sister and I the same costume. She thought she'd gotten a pirate one for me and a... fairy one for her. Turns out she had two fairy ones..." Angry angry blush. "Deli won't let me live it down. Everyone thought I was a girl the entire night. It's... where Luchie came from." Oh no. Oh dear.
Instead he receives a giggle. A soft one. A Lyla one. Jay's kinda loud and squeaky; she's way soft. "Well, I won't call you anything you don't want. Ahahaha. But that's silly..."
Ohhh, he tries so hard to make everyone be scared of him, to try and be clingy and cool and make people not hurt poor stupid Lyla and not be mean to her or walk all over her o-or or any of that but he's not scary and he doesn't invoke fear and he just can't even! Ahhhhh!
Jay's probably the wrong person to test it out on.
A-A-A-Anyways.
Oh Luchie, you derp.
They enter the museum near the back of the town, traverse through the chambers and talk with the funny owl guy who owns it. Lyla's very interested when someone mentions this word, "special," or something, but he completely misses it. So apparently there's an observatory up top where the owl's little sister chills, and down below lies their cafe. Lyla, excited and her face all flushed, pulls the two bird boys over and into the latter, where they find the raddest pigeon ever—and he's turquoise—and his glasses are awesome—and he's got the coolest outfit.
She loves birds. It's a little overwhelming. Lucha glances at his bracelets, the ones around his ankles, and burns Lyla's face into his gaze.
And they order drinks. Just coffees.
Jay manages to mumble something that sounds... Lucha doesn't know. Not listening.
Lyla just stares at everything with her eyes so wide they nearly pop out of her head. "Ummmm... umm... Can I... can I have a blend with, like, no sugar and... no milk? Just black?"
Okay he didn't expect that.
Does he order the same... should he... should—oh. Oh no. No that's creepy. Be yourself.
Just a blend... oh wow they both like blends. A blend and... lots of sugar, lots of milk... he can't stand black coffee, makes him gag... he's gonna gag just looking at that pale girl with her big, black drink... it totally... it just... ulhhhhhg.
They sit as the pigeon hums to himself, settles everything out.
He kinda shoves himself in the middle of their seating up by the booth, tries to stare menacingly at everyone and everything that looks at him—earns a chortle from the pigeon, a very worried look from Jay.
Sh-Shut up... he can't help it. Lyla, like... she thought he was cool before she even met him, because she loves birds... and that meant... more to him than he'd like to admit. S-So if she's gonna for some reason have the heart to care about the derp with the really bad anime addiction, then, then he... wants to... return the favor and... be her friend.
Because then she has to be cool too, doesn't she? Y-Yeah... she's cool... he thinks she's cool...really cool...
Sh-Shut up. Shut up. Midge is more than enough. Midge and freaking Deli, that horrible excuse of a best friend.
Lyla and Jay start up another conversation through him. He likes hearing the soft gentleness the cafe gives to everything, their idle murmuring... it's warm. It really is.
And Jay has some really messed up stories.
He laughs beside himself. Ulh.
And then he nearly gags watching Lyla get her coffee served. Ulh, ulh, ulhhhhh.
And then, quietly, Lyla tugs on his sleeve. She's got those big wide eyes on her face again, her lips pursed and nibbled at like she's about to tell him something very important to her. Something she might've been holding in for some time now, by the looks of it... something she's been trying very, very hard at.
"Hey, um... this is... kinda random, but I've been starting to... y-y'know, figure out how... everyone is so messed up and sad and... that. Like Jay, and Fauna, and Camofrog and stuff... and I think he's... I think Jay's got a really cool sense of humor. And I wish he didn't lie to us like that. And I wonder what's going on inside of him..."
Then she's shy. Oh. Oh no. What does he say... uhhhhh...
"That's... that's, um. That's good. Th-That's good, Lyla."
She giggles very softly. Nods to him. Pulls back on him a little excitedly.
And completely sends her drink spilling all over her jacket.
It makes everyone start laughing way too loudly and Lucha feel so, so guilty, but then she's laughing too...
and she's right. He turns over some, glancing at the bluejay beside him... and even if he is a little twitchy and strange, all that laxity in his face, the looseness...
it's a nice thing... isn't it?