howtheyshine | Pumpkin Hollow IC Contact Post

"I know. I know." Crichton puts his hands out in concession. "You didn't ask for this. I'm hearing that loud and clear, all right?"

This isn't like Harvey. Harvey had a mission. Harvey served his master Scorpius. Yellow seems... so innocent by comparison. Childlike, even.

"What part don't you understand?"

"I can change it?"

Look he doesn't know how names work, he had ten billion names as the King and he doesn't even remember them.

"What? Your name? Yeah. No one's stopping you. Arthur isn't your dad; you don't have to let him have the honor of naming you."

He's got his chin resting on his knees and he's staring at Crichton like the man just said Arthur is not an unconquerable monolithic force.

Because that sure sounds like what he's saying.

"...How do I pick a name?"

Oh, God, he understands that look so much more than he'd like to. How did they get here? Why does anything connected to Arthur always end up going the strangest way possible?

"I don't know... Maybe the library has a book of baby names you can choose from. Are there any names you remember liking when you heard them?"

His expression goes squinched at the idea of using a book of names for babies. He isn't a baby. It's a meaninglessly human measure of age.

Names he remembers liking, though--

He shakes his head slowly. "I haven't heard that many. Arthur, John, Lily, Jack, Carmichael, Irvine, Larson, Wallace, Andrew, Bartholomew."

He counts them off on his fingers as he says them.

He frowns, and it deepens into a scowl. "And Addison. And Faust. Those were the only names I heard before this place."

Crichton feels like he should be taking notes and writing some of those names down. Some, he's sure he's heard before.

"Hm. Not a lot in that sample size. Can't say any of those really seem to fit. Andrew, maybe, but I don't know. Hey, uh... how long have you even been on a human plane of existence at all?"

"I don't know exactly. Arthur kept getting knocked out." He frowns. "At least one day, maybe two or three. Unless this place counts as human plane of existence."

"Three days... tops?" Crichton just looks at Yellow, like he's seeing him for the first time all over again. He's not a lost child, he's an infant. Practically a newborn.

Frell. It's been too long. He has to say something.

"No wonder you have no idea what's going on." Well. That's...something.

He's about to demand that Crichton tell him what the fuck that look is about, but then the man finally speaks.

"I fucking know things!" DEEP OFFENSE.

"I didn't say you were stupid, man. But you are very new to all of this. You obviously need a crash-course in living like a human. Don't try to say you don't."

His face pinches into a scowl again.

"Why the fuck would I want to live like a human. The only good thing about humans is fingers."

And art, and food, and gentleness, and-- shut up.

Crichton rolls his eyes.

"At least two reasons: one, you seem to be mostly inhabiting a human body; two, you have at least one human friend and you are now stuck on an island with a whole lot of us. You don't have to be a human, but if you don't want to end up confused every second of your waking day you might want to learn a little more about how the natives do things."

S C O W L.

"...Two," he mutters. "Two human friends."

Sally and Gwen both count. But now there's also farm-John. Some of the others from the feast were nice, but-- ugh fuck. Humans are confusing, that's true.

"Motherfucker. Fine. But what about the book? The thing in the water?"

"Two is even better."

He can keep scowling all he wants, but Crichton is right and unfortunately he's very smug about it.

"The book is something I'm hoping you can translate for us. I have no idea what's going on with that thing in the water, but if you want me to go check it out with you, I will."

He can hear the murmur of an elastically cheerful voice, a memory, maybe, but he can't hear what it's saying. Can't tell. Yellow shivers.

"I'll... I'll look at the book. I don't want to go in the water."

Whatever, whoever that was, it scared him.

"Great. I'll give Neil a call on the sending stone and let him know you're volunteering to take a look at it. He's the one who has the pages." Though, he thinks he will go ahead and wait to have that call until he gets home so he doesn't accidentally say the wrong thing and risk Yellow backing out.

"I think staying away from that water is the smartest thing you can do. Whatever it is, it's bad news."

That's a wise choice, its wisdom further illustrated by the way Yellow scowls and blushes at the same time.

"I meant that if I want to go looking in the water, I don't need anyone else."

Apparently, the stubbornness was a shared trait.

"Sure. If that's what you want to do, knock yourself out. Not like dying will keep you down longer than a day. That said, has anyone ever explained the buddy system to you?"

Curiosity wars with the desire to snap that he doesn't need a buddy so he doesn't need to know the buddy system.

Curiosity wins.

"No." A pause. "It sounds like some stupid human thing."

Hm. They shared that too.

"It's a smart human thing," he corrects, holding up one finger. "When doing something risky, always take a 'buddy' with you as backup because you never know what could go wrong. If something happens and you're the only one there, you won't have any backup. You won't have anyone to corroborate your story, either."

Yellow tilts his head and frowns.

"Isn't it good not to have someone else there, if they won't tell the story you want them to?"

"..." How long did he say he was with Arthur?

"That's why they call it a buddy system. Make sure you trust your buddy to have your back." That sounds plausible, right?

This face says: Doubt.

He doesn't trust anyone that much. Which is why rather than answering he's going to pick up his plate and eat more hotdog, doubtfully.

Of course it couldn't be that easy.

"Yellow... okay if I call you that for now? I'm an enforcer here. It's my job to keep people out of trouble and safe. I use the buddy system every time I'm on duty. It's a real thing. I'm not bullshitting you." Not entirely.

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