the eyes have it

[livingdeadgirl]

WHO: Ami and you
WHERE: Recollé High School
WHEN: Jan 17 onward
WHAT: Surprise, Ami gets a brand new pair of eyes!
WARNINGS: none?

i. 1/17. girls' room

[It happens in the morning, right at the end of homeroom. The feeling comes on gradually over a few minutes, while she's packing up her things and heading into the crowded hallway. At first, a vague discomfort; she finds herself squinting, blinking excessively, rubbing her eyes. She hazards a glance up at the lights, and finds it kind of hurts to look directly at them. Did they crank up the brightness to compensate for the dark outside? But that doesn't make sense, why only do it now and not two weeks ago?

But then her locker partner makes a concerned comment - "Are you okay? Your eyes look kinda..." - and Ami takes a look in the little mirror on the inside of the door.

And, well, there's your problem. They've changed color. The whites are now yellow, just like Karkat's.]

Oh my god. I mean, um. [swallows] I'm gonna go to the restroom.

[Ten minutes later, the bell rings and she's still there. She's texted Karkat - she doesn't know what else to do. If anybody comes in here during class, they'll probably catch her leaning over the counter and examining her bright yellow eyes in the mirror, and/or talking to her "service dog" aka lusus.]

... should've seen this coming ... what am I supposed to do?

ii. 1/17. lunch bunch

[She doesn't end up skipping more than one class, at any rate. Mabel, for whatever reason, happens to have a pair of bright pink sunglasses in their locker that she's more than happy to lend her. She makes up a story about an eye exam and dilated pupils to keep her teachers from confiscating them. Yeah, lying to authority figures! There's nothing Ami loves more than that!!!!!....

But that leads us to lunch. Ami makes sure to sit with Retrospectre friends that day, because they're the only ones who might actually understand what's happened, and, well... in all honesty, what's happened to some of them reminds her that it could be a whole lot worse.]

Check it out. I'm going for a whole new style!

iii. 1/17. party city

[After school, rather than going straight home, she busses herself around to various costume shops, looking for sclera contacts (while still wearing Mabel's pink shades). But her efforts thus far have been fruitless.]

They don't even have the regular kind. Ugh! I'll have to go online...

iv. as january goes on.

[For the next couple weeks at least, Ami occasionally shows up late or gets called out of class at odd intervals for doctors' appointments. Unlike the thing with her lips, this wasn't something she could hide from her parents, and they're understandably worried! She can't hide it very well at school, either, abandoning the "just wear shades all the time" strategy within a day or two (for reasons that definitely don't rhyme with "rave"). She does try to wear contacts once or twice, but she's only got iris-sized ones, so it just draws more attention when she does it. Sclera contacts, it turns out, are a bit out of this unemployed 14-year-old's price range.

That's it, then. She's just the girl the with weird yellow eyes now.

And high school being what it is, people start to talk. Did you see Ami's eyes? Why's she at the doctor's so much all of a sudden? Why does she have a service dog? Is she sick? Is she contagious? Is she dying? Her pre-existing weirdness starts to get swept up in the rumors. I hear she keeps dead animals in her closet. My friend says she hears voices in her head. Well, I heard she thinks she's an alien. Maybe the voices told her that!

For now, though, it's just talk. Ami has her suspicions - there's always been that handful of people who look at her funny or snigger behind her back at jokes they didn't let her hear - but it's her vision that's changed, not her hearing, and she can't be sure.

(Give it a few weeks. These things take time.)]

v. wildcard

[hmu at caturday if you'd like to plot sthg; or, make up your own!]

Comments

iv-ish

[compendiem]

[ Minato has no reason to be in high school anymore, so it's the doctor's office waiting room where he first sees Ami, though rather than her herself, it's her service dog that he's busy staring at, the laptop he has balanced on his knees threatening to slip the longer he stares and can't figure out what breed of animal this is.

Maybe it's another one of those demon summons.

There's no good way to tell, since he knows he's not supposed to talk to, touch, or otherwise bother a service animal on duty, so eventually he has to try to meet Ami's eyes—-

The concern is very real.

"I can help the next person," the clerk calls out, looking between Minato and Ami. He was here first, but he nods his head towards Ami instead. ] Go ahead. [ It's just to talk to the clerk and maybe fill out some paperwork, which her parents can do if they came with her, but his problem isn't immediately life threatening and he can wait. ]

[livingdeadgirl]

[Being fourteen, Ami has very little say in her medical care, and none in the paperwork that comes with. Her mother nods gratefully to Minato and gets up to take care of that, patting Ami gently on the shoulder as she goes.

Ami sighs and fiddles with her phone a bit. This is already her third doctor's appointment in as many days, and it's been deeply frustrating for everyone involved. For her parents and the doctors, because they still don't know what's wrong with her; for her, because she does.

She sends the text she was working on and looks up, only to realize that the guy from before has been staring for a while. At her or her lusus, she's not sure, but it's rude either way.]

What? [It's a demand - quiet, but defensive.]

[compendiem]

Nothing.

[ Obviously something, and that's a terrible knee-jerk response. He sighs a little, pulling his laptop more securely over his lap and nodding his head over at the lusus beside Ami. ]

...I work at the vet's. Sometimes people bring in uncommon animals, but I've never seen one like that before. Was just curious. Sorry.

[ Dying people are allowed to be rude and he can't do anything for her, except maybe distract her from the fact that she's dying. ]

[livingdeadgirl]

Oh.

[Some of the wind goes out of her indignance there. He was just curious about her lusus. That means he doesn't just see it as a dog, though, doesn't it? Which in turn suggests... Ami glances up at her mom, who's still getting paperwork sorted for now, and then back to Minato, apologetic.]

... She's my lusus. You're on Retrospec, right? Everybody else thinks she's a dog.

[compendiem]

[ He has never seen a dog with horns on its head, so that was definitely not where his train of thought was going. A "service goat" isn't a thing, though, so this is probably the closest alternative. ]

Yeah, Retrospec. Shows up on my laptop every time I open it. [ It's annoying? Like malware with its popups that he can't get rid of, but at least that keeps him in touch with people, seeing as unread messages get thrown in his face every time he powers on his computer. ] So, what sort of animal is a lusus?

[livingdeadgirl]

I mean, it's not really a "sort"? She's not the only species a lusus can be. But they're caretakers for young trolls.

... Trolls being a kind of alien.

..... Specifically, the kind of alien that past me was.

What I mean is, she's my past self's mom.

[Wow, there has got to be a more succinct way to explain all that at once. One day, Ami's life will just be one long "let me tell you about Homestuck" after another.

Also her mom hears "mom" and she's all like] What?

Oh, uh, nothing, Mom!

[compendiem]

[ Every time Minato meets a Homestuck, he regrets asking questions that will only beget more questions. Alien is a nice, general, blanket term for things he does't understand, so— he looks over at Ami's real(?) mom when she speaks up, offers a small smile, and then turns back to Ami. ]

A mother... So you grow up to look like her?

[ He tilts his head at the lusus. That would be a much more concerning change than just eyes. ]

II

[redarm]

[Noah, per usual, is gorging himself on several trays worth of lunch food. It wasn't GOOD food per say,but hey its food.

He'll look up when Ami addresses him though, noticing the pink sunglasses]

What...?

[Pink?? Sunglasses in eternal darkness?? What??]

[livingdeadgirl]

[Isn't it great? Doesn't she look rad as hell? She sets down her lunchbox and plops into her seat across from him, and she laughs. Noah will have heard her happy laugh before, and this is not it.]

Do you like it? I get to wear shades forever now. I'll be the coolest goth on the block. Ha ha ha!

[Her lusus puts its front paws on the table and nuzzles her with its nose, then looks almost plaintively at Noah and makes a little whine. She is worried about her daughter!]

[redarm]

[Yeah that is...not a happy laugh in the slightest.]

Forever? Did something happen to your eyes?

[livingdeadgirl]

Heh... [Ami sighs, but calms down a bit.] Yeah. I dunno, I'm probably overreacting. Do you wanna see? It's a little gross.

[redarm]

Uh, yes?

[Since when has "gross" been a detriment for Noah honestly...]

[livingdeadgirl]

Haha, okay. [That was closer to a genuine laugh, at least. Boys, amirite?]

[Alright! Okay. Let's do this. She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, pulls the shades off, and... opens her eyes again! This was probably meant to be a dramatic reveal, but it's cheapened somewhat by her having to blink and let her eyes adjust within like one second, because she forgot that oh yeah normal lighting is uncomfortably bright now.

Despite the anticlimactic reveal, though, they are indisputably bright yellow now.]

iv

[frostythehitman]

[ Even though they're in different grades, the gossip about Ami does not go unnoticed. There's only so many places for students to whisper, after all, and his sister is telling him all about these strange rumors on their walks home from school. He doesn't know what's going on, but he's sure whatever it is, the last thing Ami needs is this.

So whenever he hears something about her, he tries to stare the gossipers down menacingly. He doesn't say anything, but he doesn't need to--his reputation and now arrest record precedes him. But he's sure that as soon as he's out of the picture, they start right back up again.

Finally, one day right after the final bell rings, he manages to spot Ami from behind as he's making his way through the hall out of the building. He pushes and shoves his way until he can get closer to her. ]

Ami! Ami, what the hell is going on?

[livingdeadgirl]

[It's not that Ami's been avoiding James, they just... haven't exactly talked since the change happened. She's missed lunch the past couple days for doctor's appointments, and she's been heading home quickly after school. But it's not like she's avoiding him in particular - she's avoiding practically everyone.

It's not like her, she knows that. But she wasn't ready for this. Not yet.

She almost makes it out of the building. She's almost at the door, but then she hears James calling her name and because it's him of course she can't just keep walking.

She turns. She's not wearing sunglasses or contacts. Her eyes, bright yellow, look right into his.

And she doesn't know what to say, exactly, but maybe it doesn't matter? After all, the answer's literally staring him in the face.]

[frostythehitman]

[ Oh.

The second she turns around, James understands. Well, not entirely, but this certainly explains most of the strangeness one way or another.

He tries not to stare. He hates it when people stare at his arm, and he's sure, with the way she's been behaving lately, that Ami hates people staring at her like this, too. And it's not like this is even the first time he's seen these yellow eyes before, either, he just didn't expect to see them on Ami.

Once he gets over the shock of it, though, he slings an arm over her shoulder and starts marching them back out the school's front doors. She was booking it out of the building before he interfered and brought unwanted attention, and he's not about to make it worse. ]

So. When did this happen?

[ He's trying to keep his tone smooth and even. He may not be the most levelheaded person, and her eyes may be shocking, but bullshit like this is almost routine now. Same shit, different day. ]

[livingdeadgirl]

[She's grateful he opted to take the discussion outside, at least. Still, with the covert exit and hushed voices, it almost feels like they're spies discussing state secrets.]

Wednesday. Last Wednesday.

[Out in the parking lot, the orange sodium lamps make it a little harder to see the difference. She can still see his face plain as day, though.]

[frostythehitman]

[ For all his confrontational tendencies, James does, in fact, know how to be lowkey sometimes when it matters. It helps that he does actually know a few things about spying and sneaking in and out of places now too though, #thanksregains ]

Damn. A full week already?

[ How did he miss this? ]

What does your family think?

[livingdeadgirl]

[She shrugs.] That I have eye cancer or something. That's why I keep missing lunch and all that. They've taken me to like five different doctors already.

[She glances over her shoulder to make sure her lusus is tagging along, which of course it is. Meanwhile, also, what is this extended human contact, it's kind of strange???]

I-I didn't mean to not tell you or anything. I just... things have been crazy, you know?

iv

[invocate]

[Though Li-Na has had her green hair since Christmas, everyone at school has only seen it since they came back on the 8th. Suffice to say, Li-Na has been getting some weird looks herself... though not nearly as many as Ami. Dying your hair green is one thing. The whites of your eyes suddenly changing color is something else entirely.

When the rumors and gossip start swirling around the school, Li-Na notices. And it brings back memories of when she was eight and trying to understand why her new friend at her new school suddenly stopped speaking to her. Why everyone in her class suddenly stopped speaking to her. Not that they stopped talking about her though.

Each time she hears someone whispering one of those rumors in the hall, she shoots the person a withering look. But it doesn't take long for the limits of her patience to be reached.]

And maybe the voices in your head should be silent. Because they have nothing useful to say.

[livingdeadgirl]

[It's a girl who made the comment, and the friends she's "joking around" with raise a collective "OOOOOO~" at that clapback. Unable to come up with a good retort, the girl just slams her locker and storms off, red-faced.

The brief commotion draws Ami's attention from her own locker across the hall; the remaining girls notice her looking and quickly scurry off, but not quite nonchalantly enough. Ami grimaces a little, uncomfortable. They... they weren't talking about me, were they? I'm not just being paranoid...

Oh, but there's - how's her name pronounced? Lina? Ami smiles uncertainly and gives her a little wave.]

[invocate]

[Li-Na watches the girl and her friends scurry away, an annoyed expression on her face. She lets out a huff, closes her locker, and turns to head to class... only to spot Ami. Oh, oh she'd been right there. Had she heard everything?

Li-Na blushes slightly, hoping Ami doesn't mind her butting in. She returns the wave, then wraps her arms around her books and walks across the hall to the other girl.]

Are you okay?

[livingdeadgirl]

[For a second Ami's not sure what she means, since she didn't make out what the girls were saying, but - oh, right. She must mean the eyes.]

Yeah, I'm fine. This... [she vaguely indicates her eyes with a wave of her hand.] It's genetic, I guess? It's a Retrospec thing. They're not contagious or anything.

[but hey, little subject change, how's that sound?] You're Noah's friend, Lina, right? [it's probably not quite the right pronunciation, because what even is Chinese, but.] From the subway. What's up?

[Her lusus seems to recognize Li-Na, anyway, after sniffing at her a little bit. She's here, too, in the background.]

[invocate]

[That wasn't quite what Li-Na meant... but she understands. Sometimes you just don't want to talk about something.]

Yes, that is me.

[She smiles at Ami's attempt. The pronunciation is a little off, but it's close enough she doesn't mind. But what's up? Li-Na tires to think of something, but then remembers her plans for after school. Since she doesn't have dance class this afternoon...]

Oh, well, after school I am going to a cafe. To have coffee and study. Do you want to come?

[livingdeadgirl]

[Ami brightens immediately. Yay, making new friends!]

Sure, I'd love to!