schoolingfish | Inbox (Kaisou)

From:

[ Alberto stayed home on his own rather than exploring the city with Luca today, but that doesn't mean Alberto doesn't want to hang out still — even if it's just a text. Aaand now that Luca's here, he's naturally the new primary target for Random Alberto Texts... oh, goodie. Apropos of nothing, he sends a short video that he's already watched probably like a dozen times on his own. Cracks him up every time. And he'll still crack up at it and watch it again after sending it to Luca, until there's no dopamine left in it... ]

💯% ACCURATE! 😂😂🤣🤑

From:

prontissimo

[ Today was a bad day. A very bad, very Not Good day.

All because of a goose. One goose. That goose.

It's been terrorizing the town but it's not like Alberto is very tuned into the grapevine; the only reason he's heard about this goose at all is because it also tried to attack Luca two days ago. And while that certainly is not a reason to go seeking the goose out, when the same goose (he assumes) tried to attack Alberto at the park today, it seemed a good reason to justify fighting back.

Noble and brave as that is, this proved wildly unwise. Luca was smart enough to run away from the start; Alberto only tried that approach after getting his ass absolutely handed to him by a vicious waterfowl. And he's coming home with the bruises, blood, and bad attitude to prove it. He closes the door with a loud slam, looking quite disheveled and disgruntled, twigs in his hair, dirt on his face, and wheels on Luca immediately. ]

Luca. Ho-ly stin-kin' sharks...!

[ Oh, man, biting on the syllables as he cusses and everything, this must be bad. He crosses the room with long, fast strides, then theatrically collapses face-down beside Luca in their giant mound of pillows, voice muffled but understandable as he speaks into it, sounding both furious and exasperated. Even as he seems to deflate, though, spreading himself akimbo, obviously exhausted, his tone doesn't betray his humiliating defeat, but, uh... yeah, no, wait, yes, it does. And if it doesn't? There are red scrapes and scratches down both his arms and one arm is even bloody, cgiuhersfjkn?! ]

You are never going to believe what the shell just happened to me...!

From:

prontissimo

[ Wherever Luca was out and about in town on his own this afternoon... he sure did miss a lot at home. The past couple hours have left Alberto both better and worse for wear.

Positive: All his wounds from the goosefight have been magically healed, which was pretty cool...

Negative: Heeeee got exposed as a sea monster and almost got into a physical altercation with a clever man who has mind-explode-y powers and a bad temper, who now knows their secret and may well be mad at Alberto for acting like a crazy jerk...

...Toss-up. Hm.

The bottom line, though, is that the altercation with Katsuki culminated in Alberto's many hanging jars full of trinkets were shattered to bits inexplicably, sending broken glass and all the jars' contents flying all over the room. Now, while these regularly fall and break and do the same, it's usually not all at once, and usually not projected across the room by invisible superpowers... Alberto did his best to clean it up after Katsuki left, but still managed to cut his foot on a stray piece of glass shortly after. Thankfully, August was already coming over to heal him... and in the process, August found out that not only does this feral child have a reputation, but also a roommate that few adults have even heard of, which was disconcerting on his end. Alberto, though, is none the wiser that this adult left their home thinking it's a dangerous death trap that children shouldn't be living in alone. Why would anyone think that...

Meantime, Luca will come home to find their home in mild disarray — which is "moderate-to-severe" disarray by normal people's standards. Alberto's pulled furniture away from the walls in attempts to get a totally thorough sweep of the place, diligently set on finding every piece of shattered glass, as if to prove a point to himself. Luca getting his foot cut, too, would symbolize everything that Alberto's just spent the afternoon fighting over, and he's feeling extra determined to feel like they're okay on their own... But it's been now some weeks since Luca's arrived, and slowly, inevitably, the threads of their disguise have started to fray. They've talked about wanting to find humans to trust and adults to have involved in their life, but Alberto talking about it and Alberto pursuing it are two different things.

When he walks in, Luca will find Alberto comically bent over on the floor on all hands and knees, cheek pressed to the ground peering under the cabinet where they keep their record player and vinyls, indelicately flinging a broom underneath it, trying to knock a piece of glass stuck in the corner out into easy reach. It'd be funny if there weren't something really... off... in the air somehow. First of all, there's no music playing in the apartment, which is a rarity; all the lights are on, even though it's not quite dusk yet, making the room exceedingly bright; and, uh, more noticeably...? There's about a half a dozen dead, cut up potted plants, a balled up piece of bloodied gauze, and a pile of weirdly withered black leaves, all littering the coffee table, not to mention an open first aid kit left out on their nest of cushions. What happened in here...?!

When Alberto hears the door open, he clumsily sits up and rolls over on the floor to face Luca better. But despite a sort of wildness in his eyes, something frenetic barely tugging his tone of voice, and the even-more-chaotic-than-usual state of the room, he acts as if... everything's normal... because of course he'll play this off nonchalantly to start. ]

Oh. Ciao, Luca. How goes it?

From:

prontissimo

That is a photograph of The Deep in outer space… ✨🪐💫🌌
Thrre’s a telescope that can see backwards in time 🌀🔭👀 i saw it in the newspaperless newspaper
Amazza eh???!🤩🤔😳

From:

prontissimo

[ Moment of truth. Alberto's been nearly ready to explode for days now, having decided to surprise Luca with his big news... Why? Because it's dramatic. And he especially loves making these grand stands to Luca, from the very moment they met, because he really gets an incomparable kick out of Luca's reactions. And somehow another "Guess Who's Going to Human School~!" surprise between them feels fitting... Bottom line, of course, is Alberto's a ham — but though he's overwhelmed with excitement all day, he waits to break the news until a while after dinner... Not quite bedtime, because he knows if he tells Luca too late, they'll get too riled up to sleep enough. He's thought this through, man.

He's already showered (in outer space!!) and changed into pajamas, and is now putting away laundry, trying to hide how he's goofily smiling to himself while folding clothes. There's music playing as always, though the volume is much softer than usual — but still pretty energetic, since it happens to be ABBA o'clock. The apartment is quietly lively tonight, tidy, all their colorful string lights on — a nice vibe for getting ready for their first day of school, starting off on the right fin. Alberto's low-key setting out his outfit options for tomorrow while putting away their laundry. He's managed not to drop too many hints, and any probing questions he's asked Luca were probably easily taken as being just out of pure interest for the occasion. But as the night's gone on, he's biting at the bit; he keeps glancing over at Luca more than usual (which is— a lot, then) then swallowing his smile, and grinning to himself while going about their chores, when he thinks Luca's not looking. He's dismissed any questions all day about his extra smitten energy as just being in a good mood, excusing his weird secret smiles by claiming he "thought of something funny." And then every time, he promptly changed the subject, often to off-hand questions about how school works. Otherwise, he feels he's been more or less playing it cool — but as the night's gone on, he can't stop smiling, and he can't hide it. He openly shoots Luca a grin, bopping along to the music, trying to fold their T-shirts to the beat. ]

Sooo, on a scale of one to ten, how excited are you for tomorrow? Like, eleven?

From:

prontissimo

[ It's just about bedtime, the boys getting into their wind-down mode. All the lamps are off, all the fairy lights and star projectors are on; Alberto's popped one of their Cosmos: A Personal Voyage VHS tapes in the little TV (because, no offense Luca and no offense Carl Sagan, but it's so good for putting him to sleep), keeping it paused until Luca's ready for bed and joins him. He's already nestled in with just the right mess of pillows arranged around him and his small collection of midnight snacks. A normal night, really; their usual "lavishness" is hardly any different than ever, but now that they're in school together the past three weeks, Saturday nights hit totally different. No school all day, no school the next day, it's the peak "do-whatever-you-want" time in his life now.

He took it for granted; he didn't realize how much of his "do-whatever-you-want" lifestyle was going to be compromised by joining school, if only just by eating into his free time. But it's not just that. His mood has been taking a hit, too. He's really been giving it his best effort studying at the Library of Alexandria after school just about every day, which at least gives the illusion of keeping his chin up, but the more he learns, the more he's discouraged by how much he doesn't know. It's been an emotionally and mentally taxing few weeks trying to play "catch up" to Luca and their human classmates. He doesn't let it get him down, because he loves to learn no matter what, but he likes learning on his own terms. The stressfulness has been slowly showing more and more this week, though, now that the muses' magic has finally worn off; now it's just him, no more excuses. And that's been surprisingly disheartening all week — but, of course, he won't admit to it at all, just keeps insisting everything's fine and nothing's bothering him and school's great, he loves it...

But spending today, tonight, tomorrow, like this—? Doing whatever he wants with no structure or plans in mind, guided only by his whims and fancies? He's in his element again. Relishing the chance to not give a clam about anything, if he doesn't want to...! And that's basically tomorrow's agenda, too. Yup. Just how he likes it. Blank. ...oh, and it's his birthday tomorrow, so, you know, there's that, too. ]

From:

prontissimo

[ Alberto tried to stay patient and calm the past two days, he really did. He'd been on edge ever since Bruno's kidnapping in October, and while the rescue mission was a success, it was the scariest and most violent experience of Alberto's life, and has left him secretly shaken for the past month now. He's been paranoid about Bruno's disappearance specifically, but it's had a ripple effect in Alberto, who's finally realizing how unstable and chaotic and dangerous this place really is. Anything could happen to anyone at any time. It's been over half a year he's lived here, and despite the many dangers life in Kaisou throws their way, this is the longest stretch of time that Alberto's ever experienced some sense of stability in his life. He's gotten so comfortable, so familiar, in his new life here, to the point he can trust in expectations that certain people will just— always be there...! Luca and Bruno, namely. Long after living with Bruno in April, scarcely a day has passed that Alberto hasn't heard from him, if only just one or two texts to check in and say hi. Bruno was still always there for him, interested in him, wanted to talk with him every day... every day for half a year.

Until now. Until two days ago. Granted, when Luca showed up, Alberto went dark on Bruno for two days, too, so Alberto wants to give the man the benefit of the doubt. Maybe more of his family showed up, or he's just been busy, or he broke his phone, or— well, really, anything but "kidnapped or magicked away somehow," or so Alberto's trying to convince himself. But he's trying to convince himself that his entirely too reasonable fears are unreasonable. He's shouldered these worries on his own, not remarking on it but once or twice off the cuff to Luca, but even then it was a simple "huh, still haven't heard back from Bruno yet," without hinting at his truer fears. But when Bruno doesn't respond to a text inviting him to Luca's birthday party, that raises suspicions enough to call him. And when Alberto's call goes unanswered... that raises alarm. When Alberto's next string of several calls in a row go unanswered repeatedly? It's like a siren going off inside. He was supposed to be finishing up the dishes after dinner, but these thoughts were too gripping, so he paused to panic. He'd been hoping to prove himself wrong by texting Luisa, but even as he was texting her, "Wheres Bruno?" he had a terrible gut feeling he'd already guessed the answer. So that leads him to frantically calling Luisa, too — who thankfully did pick up. But after a short talk, Alberto got the confirmation he sorely did not want. Learning to trust your gut is a good life lesson — but not like this. Not like this.

He leaves the dirty dishes abandoned, half-done, and stands in the kitchen doorway staring at Luca for a moment, looking rather dazed and confused. He saunters over toward where Luca is, making a point to sit nearest to him. But Alberto doesn't gymnastically plunge himself into the pile of cushions like he does when he's in a good mood, which he'd seemed to be when he'd left to do the dishes; he doesn't even limply flop down dramatically, like he does in a bad mood. No, he just— sits. Normally. Like he might sit in class, back straight with his legs bent, though he is rubbing one hand nervously against his knee. In the other, he holds his cell phone, but instead of turning on music like usual, he keeps it off, simply staring at the dark screen blankly. The silence he's brought into the room is loud enough. He stays still next to Luca without saying a word, feeling thoroughly lucky to be beside him right now. ]

From:

kaisoumods

Happy Holiday from Zodiac!

Congratulations! You've been specially selected to take part in our first annual Secret Santa holiday gift exchange! 🎁

This year, you'll be giving a gift to Eve! Please try to find a nice gift for them by December 25th! And remember, Secret Santa always works best when it's a surprise!

We highly recommend you participate, as no one wants to suffer on the holidays!

Thank you, and enjoy the season! ☃️

[As usual, any replies will receive no response from Zodiac]

From:

whatsamada

[Ken never really got a chance to play secret Santa back home. It wasn't something he was used to nor did he really have the time. That said, when he found out who he was giving a gift to? It seemed fairly easily to know what to get.]

Uh...this is Ken? I heard from Alberto that you liked to read a lot so I hope you don't mind books.

[Because otherwise, he's really not sure what to get!]

From:

callmekacchan

[Late at night on Christmas eve, Alberto and Luca may have heard a small explosion
outside their apartment. After which they would find several neatly wrapped, tagged and topped with a bow gifts on their balcony.

A tin of homemade cookies. Something he and Yoosung baked together for all their friends. There's enough for Alberto and Luca to share. He also picked them each up a plush nessie. Because he thought it would be funny to gift the seamonster boys the og seamonster cryptid.

Each boy got their own separate gifts too. Luca's being a solar system mobile and a space ship model kit.]

From:

prontissimo

[ To think Alberto wouldn't go all out for Luca's Christmas gift would be ridiculous. They didn't exchange birthday gifts necessarily, true, but they'd focused on the gifts of experiences, and while traditions were different on land and undersea, at least both boys knew about birthdays. Christmas, though? That's new and exciting — and confusing. He's still not totally clear on the whole "sneaking into people's houses to leave presents" thing (or the bearded man who does that, for that matter?) but that's what he did for all his friends — m-maybe missed the mark slightly, um, trespassing, but the thought was there. And the effort. He put so much effort into hand-making gifts for everyone the past few weeks. A lot of Shrinky Dink action in their kitchen this month... But the real challenge was managing to make Luca's gifts without him seeing them. He's stuck on the idea that the gifts are supposed to be surprises on Christmas morning, so his hands felt tied, both being home more often lately on Christmas break from school and hiding from the snow. What's more, Alberto of course wanted to spoil Luca more than anyone, so ended up with a nice mix of handmade and store-bought items for a fully themed gift — and still one that was experiential, an important theme for them in itself.

Christmas Eve he'd produced several parcels of various sizes from who knows where he's been hiding them, one of them in fact rather large to boot... but he did his very best job wrapping them (which still wasn't very good) in the brown paper from their sketch roll, doodling all over it to make his own wrapping paper with prints of little Vespas, sea creatures, foods, space, all their favorite stuff, tied with— well, he tried to tie a fancy bow like he's seen around town. And he's more eager than ever to hand them off, spunky and peppy even before their morning coffee, seeming very much more "himself" than he's been acting since Bruno disappeared. Coffee's ready with cupcakes for breakfast (the rejects from baking a huge batch for Luisa's gift) as they settle into their pillow nest, Alberto having put on some appropriate Christmas music for added human-y festivity. ]

Heh, here. Merry Christmas, Luca~

[ The first gift Alberto hands off to Luca is the smallest one, beaming at him as he does. It's a tiny handmade envelope, messy and crumpled for trying to make it perfect, with a Christmas card attached inside — more proof of the extra effort he put into Luca's gifts. The gift itself, though, goes with the same theme Luca's seen him playing with for weeks: more Shrinky Dinks... But after so many ideas for literally everyone on his list, Alberto's shrink film art became pretty elaborate and creative. It's been a very shrinky, dinky Christmas for all... ]

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