ArchivedLogs:Broken Flowers

Broken Flowers
Warning: Mildly adorable sadness.
Dramatis Personae Ivan, Kai	2013-05-24 Kai makes a promise, but it comes with a sting he's not expecting.
Location <XS> Gardens
From indoor gardens to outdoor, though without the protective greenhouse glass the back gardens do not last all year round. Still, the gardens out here are well-tended and well-worth spending time in, as well. The paths wending through the beds of flowers and herbs and vegetables spread out through the school's back grounds, tended by students as a credit class. Benches offer seating and a small pond is home to koi and turtles, as well as a few frogs. At the far back edges of the garden, a droning buzzing marks a few stacked white boxes as beehives. Classes are out, for the day, and most of the students are either getting ready for the upcoming weekend or in the process of leaving for it. As a result, the resident hallways are a bit noisy with excitement. It's bad enough that it's driven Kai down here to the gardens, despite the cool, grey weather. Dressed in jeans and a grey zip-up hoodie over a blue t-shirt, he's also wearing shoes as requested by faculty. He's currently sitting in a flat-footed squat by the edge of the pond, poking a stick into the water experimentally. In his non-stick-wielding hand, he has a handful of flowers that have most likely been liberated from the nearby beds, some of them by the roots, it appears. A noise betrays another student's presence before he even steps within view. From around some luscious green plants, a BZZing can be heard. A basketball-sized cloud of maybe 50 bees at most zooms around it before Ivan follows, dressed in jeans, a black peacoat, and sneakers. He's always been one for getting ready /early/, and so he's got plenty of time to-- find Kai, apparently. Calculated and quiet steps bring him closer to the other boy in question, hands clamped behind his back and his expression level and unassuming until - a smile. Not exactly exuberant, but genuine, as per usual. The noise is enough to still the stick dipping into the water, and Kai waits until Ivan is closer before he tilts his head to one side, catching his friend in his peripheral vision. "Ivan," he says warmly, and pushes to his feet to turn and face the other boy with a smile. "Ivan, Peter is home! This is good!" He says this as if he's reasserting that fact. The flowers get held up. "I gave him his millipede, but I thought I would bring him flowers today. That is what you are supposed to do for sick people." He waggles the flowers. "They are very pretty. I think he will like them." . The closer Ivan gets to Kai, the farther back the bees retreat, until the cloud of buzzing passes over his head and ends up just behind his shoulders. ome of the bees even take to sitting on the black fabric of his coat. Maybe to rest! If they are affecting his state of mind, it is not showing. Ivan nods! Yes, Peter is home. This is a very good thing indeed. The flowers are looked at, with a slight angling of his head, but he shows no sign that the bouquet is not, in fact, absolutely stunning. His smile twitches wider, and quietly, he offers, "It is very thoughtful." Kai watches the bees settle before he lifts his gaze to Ivan's, and he nods with a small lift of his eyebrows. "I do not understand much of what happened to him, but I would like him to feel better," he says earnestly. "And flowers make people smile, according to the television." He eyes the flowers critically. "They did not have any of the white lacy flowers that are in the flowers on television, but they are still pretty." He smiles, then, and tosses the stick off into the bushes carefully. "When he is better, we will all go into the town, and have Slurpees," he pronounces. As if it were a given /fact/. "I have never had one before. It will be a good way to honor his return." Kai seem almost chatty, the way he bubbles on happily. "And we will get a pizza, and see the War of the Stars." As if Ivan hadn't been in the /room/ when this was decided. Ivan is not bubbling on, but at least he looks /better/ than he has for the past few weeks. Still tired, but the way he stands straight and at attention at least denotes Peter's return has done him /good/. Another nod, this one curter. Then... "I have not had- Slurpees either. It will be /new/." And from the tone of his voice, this is good! His smile fades a little, then, as his eyebrows squish together slightly. His fingers weaver together a little tighter around his back, as his eyes scan Kai's face. "... I have a question." Kai's own smile fades in a mirror of Ivan's, and his own brow furrows as he shifts his weight self-consciously. "Ivan, you may ask me anything," he says in a careful tone. "You are my very good friend." He tries to relax his eyebrows to raise them, but the result ends up somewhere around worried-looking. "It is not about what Shelby told us, is it?" Aaand gone is the rest of Ivan's smile. His hands finally leave his back so he can lift one to /rub/ at his face (or maybe HIDE IT), giving a /shakeshake/ of his head as he does so. "No-- it is not-- /No/." He breathes out a sigh, before dropping his hand again to give Kai a thoughtful stare. "It is about bugs. I need someone I am able to trust. Kai. I need your help." His eyebrows lower still, to indicate that this is serious business. "I need you to do a /thing/." Kai visibly relaxes when Ivan confirms the question isn't about.../that/, and his eyebrows lower as he exhales. "Oh. That is good, because she was not telling the correct things." He doesn't offer what the /right/ things are, instead tilting his head to regard the other boy as he speaks. There's a small, brief knit of his brow, and he nods. "I will help you with your bugs," he says with a sincere lift of his eyebrows. "You are my good friend, and we are in the Bug Club together. This is a thing I can do for you." Then his head tilts the other way thoughtfully. "What is it that you need me to do?" "I am going to be gone. Not long. With others." Ivan continues, his tone neutral. Perhaps even moreso than usual, as if it is no big deal. The next sentence is spoken with more gusto, and the bees collectively seem to looower, more of them landing on the shoulers of Ivans coat as his expression of /seriousness/ deepens. "But I need someone to look after my friends. In the dorm. To feed them." His tone of voice doesn't quite suggest he's done speaking, but he slips back into silence either way, taking one step closer to Kai, peering toward him somewhat questioningly. The still-airborne bees follow in a /bouncy/ sort of flight path forward. Kai frowns as Ivan explains, and his brow knits again. "I do not understand," he says. "You will be going somewhere?" His bottom lip juts out as he considers this. Clearly, Ivan isn't talking about going into the city for the weekend. "Where are you going?" "A farm." Ivan does not sound quite sure about this either, like he's not /entirely/ certain why it is even a thing that is happening. "Peter is going and I must /watch/ him. To make sure he does not get into more danger." Still, he does not sound quite /done/. And yet he pauses. /Now/ Kai looks even more confused, and the crease between his eyebrows is deep enough to cast shadows. "But Peter just got home," he says, his voice flattening out. "Everyone is happy he is here. Why is he leaving?" His hand tightens around the flowers, the stalks cracking slightly. "I do not understand." ... Now, Ivan doesn't have an answer. It is entirely possible he doesn't quite agree with this turn of events, but he hasn't been left to have much say in it. "He will be back. And I will, too. It is for... rest?" Doubt rings through clearly- but he continues after nary a heartbeat and a straightening of his back- "I will also go to Russia. For the summer." He looks almost a little /sad/ about this, jaw tightening as his eyes once more flit over his friend's face. Kai's expression turns...lost. Almost betrayed, as this new information comes to light. Now the flowers snap under his fingers, and he looks as if he might actually /cry/. "But." It's all he can manage, and his brow twitches as he tries to find the words to express himself. Yellow zigs around the edges of his eyes, and his fingers flex, grinding the stems of the flowers into his palm. "We were going to...." Then he's turning that hurt look on /Ivan/, as if pushing a question at the boy telepathically. Finally, Ivan cracks - his posture suffers for it first, shoulders pulling forward and hands clenching to fists. His eyebrows don't quite seem to know what to do with themselves, making his expression go from stern to sad to confused, and back to stern. With a piiinch of sad. "Kai. We will do things. Before. And after. It is only two months." The bees start to lift off again, off of his shoulders and slightly more /chaotically/ around his head - and he steps closer again. "I am sorry." "Two /months/?" Kai's voice rises and cracks, and he twitches some more. The flowers are now removed from their stems as Kai's fingernails finish cutting through them. "You are going for two /months/?" He blinks, a couple of times, and then reaches up to scrub the back of his hand across his eyes. A lot. They're dry when he drops it again, but they're definitely squeezing up. "I do not understand any of this." Ivan winces, visibly, freezing where he stands. "I have family." This answer comes /blurted/ out, as if it'll protect him like a shield. "They miss me. I--" He stops, looks to the ground for a moment, then back up to Kai. Sternness now gone, just... likewise, sad. His tone of voice more clearly /pleading/, now, when he finishes his thought. "I miss them." Kai just stares, his mouth hanging open slightly. Then he's dropping the flowers, and looking at his shoes. "Oh," he says, and all the emotion has drained from his suddenly tiny voice. "Then it is right you should go and see them." He doesn't sound very convinced, though, and his soft voice is deeper than usual, and hoarse-sounding. "There are many going to see their families," he offers, although he can't make eye contact. "I just thought..." his jaw tightens, and he shakes his head. "It does not matter what I thought. You should go h-home." He can't quite stop the catch in his voice, and he tries to hide it by shoving his chin at his chest and turning away slightly. The sound of bees buzzing around... slowly increases. Around Kai. In fact, Ivan doesn't seem to be doing it on /purpose/ so much as it just sort of /happens/ -- they gravitate slowly toward Kai to cling to his front. Ivan himself stays where he is, though restlessly. He unfurls his hands, but somewhat anxiously presses thumbnails into middle fingers. "Kai. You are my friend. If I could invite you to Russia, I would do so. But I cannot." The bees. They. Might be trying to HUG KAI. The bees clinging to his shirt get a half-hearted sort of look from Kai. As if their hugs do not reach the parts that need them. "No, that is true," he says. "I could not go back to Russia; Foom would not like it at all." He frowns, and closes his eyes, briefly. "I could not go without a teacher, even if he did not mind," he says after a moment, and there's a...pulling-in, as he straightens. The smallest shift in his muscles, and his back stiffens as emotion drains from his features and renders his face a neutral mask. "It is a long time to be gone." The bees are not satisfied. They stay on Kai. Unmoving save for the occasiona swipe of antennae or a twitch of a wing, six legs latching. Ivan watches the other boy ever so closely, but dis demeanor changes very little. Matter-of-factly, he states, "Ten months being /here/ is longer." Kai nods, a sharp sort of motion. "Yes, it is." He glances down at the bees again, and the corners of his mouth pull down thoughtfully. "I hope that you will have fun with your family," he says, staring out over the pond. "And I hope that you will not forget me." This is said matter-of-factly, although he doesn't match Ivan's cool manner of it. Then he turns to look at the other boy. "When are you going to the farm?" "Soon." Ivan says this as though he should be holding suitcases, standing in front of some tracks already. /That/ kind of soon. The bees, one by one, start detaching once more. Released from whatever it is they were told to do before, flying off in every which direction. "I would have trouble forgetting you." If it was a CHALLENGE, maybe, he could try. But he does not sound like he intends to. Kai winces at the notion that Ivan is leaving soon, and his shoulders jerk a bit. "I will feed your bugs," he says after a moment. "So they will be healthy when you return." He says this as if it is a promise that's easily made. Like he was agreeing to check Ivan's /mail/ for him, or something similarly mundane. But his expression is slowly melting back into sad. "I will never forget you," he says, brushing flower stains against his jeans fast enough that he might start a fire. "You are the first friend I have ever had." Then he's scrubbing at his face, and frowning deeply. "I do not like the way I am feeling right now," he says. "I feel like I will empty my stomach." It is these words that finally urge Ivan forward /properly/, a look of determination on his face, arms lifting to do what the bees had attempted before, but failed to do. Social etiquette once more eludes him, and he remains quiet as he goes in for a /hug/. TIGHT HUG. They fix everything. Kai stiffens a bit when Ivan's arm loop around his slender frame, and for a moment, it's like Ivan is hugging a tree. An uncertain tree. Like a waffly birch sapling. Then, slowly, Kai's arms come up around his friend, and his hugs are equally tight. He literally clings to the other boy, and buries his forehead in Ivan's shoulder with a ragged exhale. There's a muttering, but it's in Korean, and offered into Ivan's coat, so most of it's lost. But the clinging continues, and will until Ivan extricates himself. Which will not be easily achieved, from the looks of things. That's okay. Ivan may not be strong, but what he lacks in muscle, he makes up for in WILLPOWER. Which-- admittedly, may not do much, but still drives him SQUEEZE and DRAG Kai sideways a little, when the muttering stops. "Come." He doesn't let /go/ so much as waits for Kai to stop needing this hug to exist, so they can wander back inside. Or he will CARRY the boy, if he has to. "Your stomach will feel better soon." Not the warmest of words. But such is his nature.