Video-backdated a few hours to early afternoon

[inthejunk]

[The kid on the video doesn't look so hot. Not in an ate too much candy sort of way, either. He's pale and clammy and his lips aren't a healthy color. His eyes are dilated. He should probably be in bed. In fact, he probably is. But he's got something important to say first, judging by the serious expression on his face.]

Ah. I hope it doesn't ruin the holiday atmosphere, but I guess I should warn everyone. If someone gives you chocolates and you don't know them very well-

[He stops, curls up a bit. Ow, his freakin' insides...but before he can properly complain about those, he bumps something behind him. It turns out to be a plastic IV line, and when the cart falls over it tugs him hard enough to make him knock his head against a vacuum chamber, hanging around conveniently in case any patients in the area need their stomach pumped. Yosuke makes a frustrated, whiny sound.]

Ow! Ugh...anyway, please don't take candy from strangers. It might make you sick.

Comments

[inthejunk]

Dude, what are you doing?

[The berries are gone, as far as Yosuke can tell. And they're just berries. What's the point of digging up snow over them? He kicks some aside, just to watch the way it floats and arcs and shimmers. Cool.]

You're gonna be late and your knees will get wet.

[retraced]

Ah - that's right, we're in a hurry.

[He stands again, knees wet just as Yosuke predicted, but he doesn't seem to notice it at all. Though that also begs a new question, one that he can't believe he has to ask again. He spins in a half circle to view the rest of the garden, as though he could see the answer waiting to jump out at him.]

What were we late for again? Wasn't I supposed to cook something?

[inthejunk]

[It's a terrible idea to encourage it. Gilbert seems a little off today somehow, though Yosuke can't put his finger on it. Only, wouldn't it be great if Gilbert decided to stay home and make breakfast instead of going to work? That would be more fun for everyone, right?]

Maybe it's waffles.

[retraced]

Then what did I need from the garden?

[He not entirely convinced! He teeters slowly to one side as he glances around the other way, but he doesn't lose his balance, oddly enough.]

There's no honey in the trees, it's too cold for bees to be out.

[inthejunk]

Where do bees go in the winter?

[Because he's never really thought about it before, but they must go somewhere. And if Gilbert is the kind of guy who gets honey from the garden instead of the farmer's market, then he must know.

Yosuke attempts to steer him back towards the house, though with someone Gilbert's size it's never easy. Still, it's cold in the garden. At least it should be. Yosuke doesn't feel the cold, but he can see the snow. Unless it's not snow...]

Hey, soap doesn't get outside right? I mean unless it's a music video. That's not something that happens, right?

[retraced]

Hm...

[He's sure he knows this too. There's a lot of information in his head right now, but for some reason he just can't access it properly. Maybe he'll be able to remember later, if he waits a moment or two for his mind to catch back up to the question.]

Soap? Did you fall in the dirt?

[Stoned or not, this is exactly where his mind is going first.]

[inthejunk]

You're the one who was on the ground!

[Yosuke objects to this completely unfair accusation, dude.]

[retraced]

I didn't touch the dirt!

[Not with his hands, see! He holds them up in Yosuke's face just to make sure that he can see for sure that his hands are clean as a whistle.]

[inthejunk]

[Yosuke shoves Gilbert's hands away with an annoyed whiny sound. Stop it.

It's just enough to break his concentration, and he forgets what they were doing again. Damn it! He's pretty sure it was important. Or at least something he was looking forward to. But it's no use. He can't recall.

Sullenly, he takes a seat on the stoop and kicks at the snow, enjoying ruining the pristine loveliness of it.]

How come you didn't go to work? Are you sick?

[And then, a little uncertainly:]

Am I sick?

[retraced]

[He isn't at work because he needed to go to the garden, right? No wait, he needed to go to the garden before work. Maybe he was supposed to make strawberry cake today, there are strawberries back here, he's pretty sure. He turns in nearly a full circle, but he doesn't see strawberries anywhere.]

They must be with the bees...

[He shakes his head.]

I'm late, aren't I? At this rate I won't be able to get any work done...and Oz will probably be upset with me.

[He sounds ready to cry at that. Even goes as far as to cover his face with one of the hands that Yosuke just shoved away.]

T-this is terrible!

Hey what if we did prose instead

[inthejunk]

Yosuke glances around warily for a moment, concerned about these invisible zombie bees that might be rising from the snow. But no bees appear, not even the faintests of buzzes to be had. Do he relaxes, and tugs Gilbert's shirt to get his attention before the dude guilt spirals-those never end well.

"I'm cold."

then this log would explode

[retraced]

The tugging at his shirt knocks him out of his spiraling angst, or at least puts it on hold briefly. Because that spiral is still making his thoughts spin around in his head like a tornado, the debris clogging his ears in a way that makes him feel unsure that he's even heard Yosuke correctly.

"If you're cold then you should be somewhere warmer," he answers, as though this is a startling revelation and not just common sense. He starts up the stairs, grabbing for Yosuke's wrist to pull him along. Gently, like he would have done for Oz when they were young (if he'd ever been allowed to lead back then, at least).

"It'll be warm, even without a fire."

Sweet.

[inthejunk]

Yosuke frowns at the mention if fire. He doesn't like the idea at the moment. Fire is pretty and all, but...didn't it happen-shit. It did.

The image of Oz, dead in the library, something awful in there with him maybe? What was it? All he remembers is grabbing Ciel and...leaving? Or was he chasing Ciel and screaming? It's fuzzy, but it's enough to make him jerk his hand away from Gilbert and take a few steps back from the mansion in alarm.

"NO! No, I can't go. I-I have school!"

[retraced]

Is it a school day? If it's a school day, that means it's definitely a work day. The cakes...the poor cakes! They're in the bakery all alone, in pieces because Gilbert hasn't assembled them all yet!

"Okay, let's go. I'll walk with you, I need to get to work. The cakes are probably sad."

Forget whatever they were about to do, this is definitely what needs to happen now.

[inthejunk]

"Okay."

It's probably a bad idea, but even so Yosuke's heartbeat starts to calm down after the possibility of fire is averted. He grabs Gilbert at the elbow again, nervous and clingy.

"Okay, let's go. I'm ready."

[retraced]

Staying close is probably a good idea anyway. The ground is probably slippery, and they've both spent enough time in the soapy snow. Gilbert walks slowly towards the street, but it feels like he's walking much faster. The world blinks out and then a second later he's ten steps further than where he thought he'd be.

"Stop walking so fast," he mumbles eventually, once they've made it to the street.