un: jonas. cw: blood chatter.

[coherer]

ik this is going to sound like an episode of 60 Minutes that never got aired, but I have smelled worryingly like blood for the past week or so.

Please pre-emptively cool it on the wild guesses, though. God forbid any of this winds up vaguely sexual like Keith's thing (F, buddy). No, I haven't even been injured lately. No, it's not my time of the month. No, I'm not actually a murderer. I woke up one day, sniffed foul air, and have been increasingly ill since.

Does anyone have any idea what I can even do about this? bc I feel like I've tried literally everything but bathing in bleach.

Oh, actually, for ppl who don't want to interact with my TMI, what are your favourite movies? I work at the theatre in Mirth now and I'll get a 2% raise if I bring in more traffic, so I kinda have a vested interest in knowing what kinds of things you'd wanna see screened. Set can't pay for everything yk lol.

Thanks.

Comments

[craters]

（ did you have to phrase it like... that. sakura lifts her eyes to the ceiling and just... she chose this path. she is a doctor. a medical professional. she can handle being asked to smell her friends.

it isn't weird.

... it's a little weird. ）

Okay.

Where are you?

[coherer]

(stares out the window like javert, humiliated)

ty Sakura.

I'm hiding out at my place bc I'm treating myself like the community leper. Do you remember where it is?

[craters]

（ it's not over until you're played by russel crowe, jonvert. ）

Sure do.

I'll be there in a few minutes, okay?

[coherer]

(that's valid, we're not at that level yet.)

Okay.

Forgive the mess.

(and so jonas waits for sakura. it was true what he told bruno: he is far more worried than he lets on, which leads to him pacing the shack on a hostile tidying streak, occasionally peering out the front window with paper towels and hard-surface cleaner.

when she arrives, he'll already be pulling the door open a crack.)

Uh, hey, Doc. Look, I'm... sorry in advance for the—I'm not feeling well, like, just in general. I haven't been out in a bit.

[craters]

（ things she could not care less about when a friend (does she see him as a friend? huh. guess so.) is in distress: a mess.

honestly, jonas.

she shakes her head as she comes into his little residence, casting a discerning eye around, trying to determine whether or not he's actually been eating.

the smell is. um. considerable? but she's so accustomed to blood that it doesn't even get a wrinkle of her nose. instead, she just starts rolling up her (literal and metaphoric!) sleeves. ）

You don't have to apologize for anything. No one is at their best when they're under the weather, and there's a psychological aspect to having... unusual body odor that's demoralizing and can cause situational depression.

（ don't you make her Doctor at you, boy. but she does clasp him gently on the shoulder. look, see? not scaring her away. ）

Okay, so we can rule out phantosmia. That's actually a good thing.

（ you know, it means the worst case of a brain tumour is off the table for now. ）

When did you first start noticing the smell, and what has your diet been like up to and afterwards?

[coherer]

(evidence of cooking and eating is minimal as even his kitchenette looks barren, which is information offered readily to sakura by jonas who has been in the presence of many doctors.)

Situational depression? Oh, boy, (he comments wryly, and it's becoming obvious that this is his first line of defence against alarming situations. sakura is examined in turn—her hand, mostly, which he aims an anxious look at, worried the stench might rub off on her.) It was exactly ten days ago. I thought I smelled something off, which was, like, a day or two before the whole blood thing, but I wasn't clear on what it was till later.

(walking out from beneath her hand, jonas decides he'd prefer to sit and swaddle himself with a blanket. he doesn't escape the genetic "men are pathetic when ill" trait, eyes wide and rueful.)

I wasn't eating very well up to when it happened. I haven't gotten into a "health still matters when you're dead!" mindset here, so it's been junky crap like microwave dinners—literally anything pre-made and preserved. After, though, keeping anything down got rough. I ate sandwiches until I couldn't. Soups were working, too, then I'd get all psycho about it and think it smelled chemical-y and metallic. The taste got all messed up in my head.

I've been eating crackers, celery, and pumpkin seeds since.

...

Somebody said I got cursed. Several somebodies. What the hell even is that? Like, how? Why?

[craters]

Cursed?

（ she blinks. it wasn't something that was even on her radar, though she supposes given where they are... it's not something she can completely rule out.

jonas: pathetic and sad when ill, but also quite adorable. his bundled up 'only the eyes and the mop of his hair showing' look has her 'protect him' urge at max.

she takes up a seat not far from him, seemingly unbothered by the smell at all. ）

What were their reasonings for suggesting that?

years later

[coherer]

(sniffs sadly.

her tolerance to his blood stench is comforting, which is exactly what a doctor's presence is meant to signify. still, beyond her being his doctor, she is also his friend, and the fact that she isn't judging him or accusing him of doing something to warrant this affliction is, very simply, nice.

his brow creases.)

I don't even—how should I know? I screwed up again somehow, like, I must've stepped in something or crossed someone or just... existed! They're apparently all subscribed to some Curses Monthly digest that I didn't get the fucking memo about, and I—

...

Sorry. My bad, I'm—that was a little hostile. I'm not mad or anything, (he sighs, knowing it's a lie as it comes out of his mouth.) It's way easier to fake being cool with this over text, let me tell you.

[craters]

Hey. It's all right.

（ she says that gently, though her look is somewhat stern. sometimes it's okay to be mad. sometimes you have to let yourself be mad. ）

Being taken away from your home, stuck in this weird world where everything is new and different, and then being cursed on top of that would piss anyone off. You don't have to apologize for being upset.

（ and, due reassurances given, she doesn't give him space to respond to that. instead, she immediately launches into Problem Solving mode because she is used to boys being dumb and constipated about their feelings so, you know, you're welcome for not making that awkward or anything jonas. ）

If curses are a feature of this world inn a general sense, we should consider our local resources. I can speak with the physicians in Hale that I've met, and Serene. Between that and the Academy, someone's bound to have heard about this before. We'll get this sorted out.

（ this is said with the sort of firm, unshakeable confidence of someone who is used to making things happen even if she has to knock heads together and fight god. ）