[PSL] meet your new neighbor

He’s been told his name is Yoki Hisakawa. He’s ten years old, he’s suffering from “severe retrograde amnesia”, and, as of a few days before he was found, he is an orphan.

According to the hospital, he’s “okay, but should be careful”. His ankle and head are almost healed, but his left eye had to be removed. He’s not supposed to be running any marathons or climbing any trees, but he’s been declared healthy enough to be released from the hospital.

In a way, he misses it already. Or… maybe he just misses when he first got there. Before they tracked down his mother’s body, buried in rain-loosened mud and stone a couple miles from where he was found, nobody could be quite sure who he was. One of the nurses was Japanese - like his mother, he’s been told, though he was born here in England - and, looking at his white hair and pale blue-green eye, took to affectionately calling him “Ginko”.

He misses that. Each time someone calls him “Yoki”, it takes him a few moments to remember who that is. Looking at pictures doesn’t help; if he looks at a picture, then a mirror, he can’t deny they look similar, but-- how can he be someone he doesn’t remember being?

The people he’s being sent to live call him Yoki, too, but he guesses they seem nice enough. He’s been told they’ll be taking him shopping tomorrow, so he’ll have more than just the one change of clothes he was given as he left the hospital, and to make himself at home, and that dinner will be ready in a few hours.

He’s not totally sure how to go about ‘making himself at home’, so, in the meantime, he’s substituted wandering into the backyard, lying down in the grass, and staring up at the summer sky above him.

Close enough.

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"Uh-huh. I just climbed." He thinks it was the 'regular way', anyway; he's not sure what would qualify as a trick in this case.

Ginko leans over some from his branch, frowning down at Joker. "...Maybe. But you might get hurt if I fell on you, right?"

"Ey now, I'm durable~!" Grinning in reassurance, he gestures down at himself. "S'how I'm kickin' even with only one arm! No need ta worry on my end. Besides, you'll be hurt more if ya try and get down on yer own."

"...Hmmm." He's not sure he believes that, Joker. Is it clear how much he's not sure he believes that.

"Maybe I wouldn't be. I got up, so..." So, theoretically, he should be able to get down. As if he hasn't been failing to do that for a bit now.

Okay, now he's not believing that, and Joker raises one eyebrow with his hand resting on his hip. He's pretty sure that shows how much he doesn't believe the words Ginko is saying right now.

"Gettin' up is easy. Fallin' down could make ya break yer head again, or bust an ankle."

Ginko's shoulders slump a little bit. "I guess."

So now he's already gone and caused Joker trouble without even thinking about it. Great.

"Now now, s'fine." Positioning himself properly beneath the tree, Joker takes a careful look before pointing to another branch that's a little lower. "Try gettin' ta that one. If ya slip, I'll be able ta reach up an' help."

"Okay." Ginko leans over to get a look at the branch, then shifts over where he's sitting and reaches out with one leg to get a food one it. It's a bit of a stretch, but he manages it, and keeps a hold of the original branch for balance while he moves more completely to the new one.

"...Okay. Got it."

At least it's good to see that he has enough skill to potentially get back down instead of being stuck up there forever. Joker stands on the tips of his toes, reaching up to pat the branch himself. Alright, good, this is what he needs.

"Okay, sit down, now, and keep a hold of the branch. I'll get yer legs, and we can lower ya down careful-like."

"Okay." He scoots forward a little, right moving his weight as far forward as he can while still staying on the branch. Maybe that'll make things easier for Joker? But he's also sort of leaning forward, a little bit, because he's impatient and doesn't make good life choices.

To be fair, this whole afternoon has been probably nothing but bad life choices, or at least mildly questionable ones. Joker doesn't let that stop him, either...

...Even though he probably should let it, considering he starts to tilt a little backwards even as he draws Ginko's legs into his one good arm. "Ah, back, back a lil-!"

"--Oh. Sorry." He scoots back again, but still sort of... leans forward. At least he's pretty solidly on the branch. "...Wouldn't that get me down faster?"

You know. By letting gravity help.

"Yeah, by takin' me down wif ya!" Despite the words, he's laughing more than scolding, and Joker tries to shift a little bit. "Hold on, lemme jus'... get the weight all settled." It takes him a minute or two, but finally he stills.

"Alright, le's try again."

Ginko nods, and, this time, he goes quiet, following Joker's direction more carefully to get safely to the ground. He guesses he should just... do that, and not try to figure things out on his own, since that doesn't seem to be working? Functioning as a person is hard.

"There we go.... There, aaaaan'...." It takes a second, Joker grunting as he helps guide Ginko's weight down, and he practically thumps down onto the grass. "Woof! Yer really heavy." Leaning back on his good hand, he grins up at Ginko.

"What got yer attention so much anyway, huh?"

Ginko lands with a quiet oof, then pulls his knees up to his chest, holding them close. "...No'm not." The doctor said he's "slightly underweight", he's PRETTY sure that means he can't be heavy.

He looks up, at the surrounding trees, as if suddenly remembering why he ended up out here to begin with. "I heard something. Maybe an animal."

"Well, I'm the one carryin' ya, so." He says Ginko is heavy. Then again, maybe that was the "jumping out a tree part"... Dusting himself off, Joker follows the direction of Ginko's eyes.

"What kind?"

"Dunno. Whatever it was, it was fast."

Ginko stands up, not bothering to brush the dirt and leaves off his clothes, still looking up into the leaves for a moment before his gaze drops to the underbrush.

It's fine, it's fine. Without thinking half of it, Joker reaches over to brush Ginko down a little bit.

"Y'know we were supposed ta catch frogs, right?" he asks idly. "If yer interested in animals."

Weirdly enough, just being reached for is enough for Ginko to tense up a little, his hands clutching little fistfuls of his shirt hem. But he doesn't pull away or protest; just waits until Joker stops before letting himself move again.

"Mm-hm. But I wanted to see what it was." So there. He doesn't see why they have to be mutually exclusive!

Oh- Well, that's a reaction which is hard for him to miss. Joker draws his hands back to himself, and takes a step back for good measure. Right, he's always to handsy. It's something he's been scolded for in the past, more from other people than from the person calling himself a father.

"Alright." And because he should know for the future- "Did I bug ya when I touched ya?"

"...No." He... thinks that's not a lie? But he's not totally sure. Anyway, if he's not sure it bothered him, it seems best to say it didn't.

"Jus' checkin'." It's true, after all. If that's what he says, however, then Joker guesses there's no point in pressing or being nosy. He just leads the way back to the creek, even as he adds over his shoulder, "I thought ya got a lil' stiff, and I didn't want ta scare ya off."

Ginko sticks close by him, still holding fistfuls of his shirt. "I was just... surprised." That seems like the closest word. "I don't-- know what to do, usually..."

He trails off as if he was going to add more to that sentence, but... that's it. It's gone.

Don't know what to do, huh? Joker considers what he knows about the other kid, even as the creek and his bucket come back into sight. "Dunno, huh? Well... Do ya mean when ya were at the hospital or whatnot?"

It seems like the most likely situation that he would have had to deal with, after all. At least, one where people have touched him a lot. As someone who has a problem of his own, well, he's seen plenty of doctors for himself alone.

"Mm-hm. And after that." The latter just having been the last few hours, but... the fact is, he doesn't feel any less lost now.

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