Yotsuba!&...

[sunflowerfairy]

Characters: Yotsuba Koiwai and you!
Setting: The meadow, the mailroom, and most of anywhere else.
Format: I'm starting in prose, but I'll match you.
Summary: A catch-all post for the Individuation event.
Warnings: Other than a crying Yotsuba, I can't think of anything right now.

At first, the shadows following her had been a little scary, mostly because Yotsuba didn't know where they came from or why they were following her. But it was kind of fun to have them follow her around, like they were all playing one huge game of follow the leader! So, she didn't mind them following her into the mailroom and laughed a little as she looked inside her mailbox..and pulled out a photo of her Daddy hugging her, Jumbo next to them, and the family next door-Ena, Fuka, Asagi, and their Mommy-surrounding them in the background. Surprised and happy, Yotsuba's eyes shined as she looked at the photograph before showing it to the shadows.

"Look! They're all here! Daddy and Jumbo and Fuka and-"

"Those aren't them. That's a lie, Yotsuba." That voiced surprised her, not because it came from one of the shadows, but because it sounded like Jumbo! "It's not! And why do you sound like Jumbo?! It's a good photo-oh.." As she spoke, Yotsuba kept looking at the photograph, just to make sure that it wasn't a lie..but slowly, it changed so that it showed her in a dying wasteland with her family and friends dead all around her.

"No..everything's gonna be fixed..and I'm not alone.."

Here, Yotsuba could be found sitting here with her sketchbook, crayons and Little Yoba, trying to draw what she thought was going to be the actual future. However, she didn't look very happy, and while she did make an honest attempt at it, it was very hard to draw when the souls of the people you loved kept belittling you. Eventually, while they were still there, Yotsuba mostly just hugged Little Yoba and weakly spoke to Daddy and Jumbo, who kept telling her that they didn't love her, that if Daddy hadn't adopted her, he might have been saved, and that Enoch, Diarmuid, and everyone else was going to break their promise and leave her too, all alone in the horrible place she saw.

This..was way too much for her to handle. Eventually, despite a few optimistic comments to the shadows and asking them why they hated her now, Yotsuba just started crying on Little Yoba and talking to her dolly. "Yotsuba doesn't even know what adopted is..do you know, Little Yoba?"

Yotsuba had a tendency to run around and explore, and this wouldn't change that..but she would be looking for Enoch, answers..and silence. She's pretty much free to bump into your characters, even though she'll be more tired than usual, and even though her collar will slowly become lighter, though Yotsuba herself won't notice until someone else points it out.

Comments

[myblueskies]

"That's really good!" He grinned, "Now you see how you got two pieces? You got to sew them together."

[sunflowerfairy]

"How? Yotsuba's never sowed anything before!"

Sure, she knew it involved a needle and some thread, but beyond that, she had no idea.

[myblueskies]

"I'll show you then!" Romeo went round to her side and grabbed the sewing kit. "First off you got to thread the needle." He did it with difficulty, concentrating hard, though he would do Yotsuba's for her as well if she couldn't manage.

[sunflowerfairy]

Yotsuba grabbed a needle and some thread, and, after several tries she managed to thread the needle. However, she was pretty frustrated by all the failed attempts, but she tried to stay calm.

"I did it! What's next?!"

[myblueskies]

"Okay well you got to put a knot in the bottom and then go like this." He demonstrated, his stitches were wide and messy.

[sunflowerfairy]

Putting a knot in the bottom was even more difficult, but she managed it before trying to stitch the two pieces together. Since she was copying Romeo, her stitches came out rather wide too, even if they might have been a little less messy. And, since she was focusing on Romeo so much, her thumb got in the way, and she pricked herself.

"Ow!!"

[myblueskies]

"Oh noe did Yostuba get hurt?" Romeo was at her side in a moment, inspecting her thumb to make sure it wasn't bleeding.

[sunflowerfairy]

Yotsuba thought she felt blood, and, sure enough, when she pulled her left hand out from the material, her thumb was bleeding a little.

"Oh..do we have any band-aids?"

[myblueskies]

Romeo blinked at her as he found some clean spare cloth to bandage her thumb with. "What's a band-aid?"

[sunflowerfairy]

Yotsuba, meanwhile, fought the urge to wipe the blood off on her pants as she thought about the answer to that question.

"It's something about thiis big-" she started, tracing out the size of the average band-aid. "-and it sticks to your skin and soaks up the blood!"

[myblueskies]

"Oh, well that's what I'm making but it's a bit bigger." He cut a strip and began bandaging her thumb, slightly messily but making sure it was tight.

[sunflowerfairy]

Yotsub let Romeo bandage her prick without moving, but she thought about the clinic as she did so. "The clinic might have some tinier ones! Would they help you?"

[myblueskies]

He finished and tied the bandage off. "This will work, but we can go and find someone who works there if you want!"

[sunflowerfairy]

Yotsuba opened and closed her hand, getting used to the makeshift bandage before smiling and shaking her head.

"It's fine! Yotsuba's okay with this!"

And with that, she would go right back to sowing and finish up her puppet.

[myblueskies]

Romeo grinned, glad she was okay and went back to sewing as well. "Then you get to decorate it, and make it really look like your daddy."

[sunflowerfairy]

"Not that it really looks like me now. It's a pretty terrible drawing."

Normally, Yotsuba would have bawled at that, but she was trying to be brave, so she just bit her lip and tried to continue working with Romeo.

"With crayons? Yotsuba..Yotsuba has a whole bunch of them in my Yotsubox!"

[myblueskies]

"It can be with crayons! Or you can sew more things onto it!" He grinned at her, letting her chose.

[sunflowerfairy]

"Let's color them then! They'll look luvley!"

And with that, Yotsuba started looking around for a box of crayons, her finished puppet in hand. Of course, her shadows followed her, but they were staying silent for the moment.

[myblueskies]

Romeo found a box and passed it over with a grin. "What colours should I use for the mermaid?"

[sunflowerfairy]

Yotsuba smiled as she took a blue crayon for Daddy's shirt and thought about the mermaid.

"Her tail should be green!"

[myblueskies]

"Okay!" He begins colouring the tail, the puppet looks very fish like.

[sunflowerfairy]

Which worked, since mermaids were half-fish. Yotsuba, meanwhile, started coloring her Daddy's shirt. As she did so, Shadow Jumbo wandered off, even though she didn't notice. Shadow Daddy stayed though.

"Well, Jumbo's left, Yotsuba. I can't say that I blame him. You always were a spoiled brat."

At that, Yotsuba looked shocked and turned to see if Jumbo was there..but he wasn't.

"Oh! Jumbo ran away! We have to go find him!"

[myblueskies]

"He was probably just hungry." Romeo said, trying to distract her, "I bet he will be back soon."

[sunflowerfairy]

Sadly, his attempts weren't working. "But they can't eat! Things just go right through them and he might have gotten lost or the bad people might get him again!"

"Leave him alone, Yotsuba. Jumbo doesn't want to be found."

[myblueskies]

"Well they eat shadow food." He told her, scooting to her side and smiling reassuringly.