Welcome

[Professor Oster]

For a long time, Hugo'd had good days and fun days. On good days, he was lucid, clear, a fully functional person with his sharp mind fully intact. On fun days, he was hardly aware of what he was doing, going about with the mental faculties of a child and all the gusto of one, too.

It was a funday.

He couldn't remember why he'd wanted to talk to Ona, but he was definitely in her room. He had to have wanted her for something, right? Maybe. Was it important? Maybe! If he waited in her room long enough, it would come to him. Maybe.

But waiting was boring. Why was he in here again? Oh god, one of the things in one of her jars was looking at him. Oh god. Why did it have to have eyes? Why were there so many eyes?

He whined a little and edged toward her bed, where the creepy jars full of formaldehyde and dead things were quickly forgotten. He grinned and pulled his shoes off, falling sideways onto the bed in the process, then climbed up and started jumping, cackling wildly. He hadn't even remembered to close the door. Then again, he really didn't care.

[Nurse Rinn]

The school seemed to have a ridiculously high concentration of odd people. Anita was walking back to her room after class when she heard a rhythmic creaking of bed springs. She narrowed her eyes at her neighbor's open door. One should at LEAST shut their door before engaging in mattress-squeaking activities.

However, as she passed, Ana glanced over to see not a happy pair drunk off primitive instincts. She scoffed and watched a man jumping on a bed not his own. Ana recognized him as the one who had summoned her to break up a fight a few weeks back. Silly.

Ana leaned against the frame of Ona's door, watching the man with mild interest and curiosity. A man his age should certainly know better than to act like some bored child. She cleared her throat to get his attention. "Having fun?" she asked, her tones lightly mocking.

[Professor Oster]

Things were clear as a bright spring day for just a second.

He spun mid-jump to look at her, and his world was once more filled with fog. He grinned broadly at her, still jumping.

"Yeah! A lot of fun! You should join me!" He laughed and held out his hands, wobbling a little, completely oblivious to the nurse's disdain.

[Nurse Rinn]

Ana replied with a high 'HEH,' as though such things were beneath her. "No, I uh, hehe, I think I'm good right here. You know. Not messing with other people's furniture. ...why are you doing that, anyway?"

Ana took a couple steps into the room, raising an eyebrow at the odd man, before glancing about at the various and arguably terrifying things suspended in jars on the many shelves.

[Professor Oster]

Hugo laughed stopped jumping, slowly settling himself on Ona's bed. When he was sufficiently still, he looked at Ana again, smiling happily.

"I dunno. Because it's fun? And Ona's my friend, she won't be too mad at me. She never is. She's really nice. I'd bet she wouldn't care if someone else happened to join in on the having fun!" He was a good-natured guy, always very concerned with how much fun everyone else was having, and that it be at least equal to how much he was having. Fun was a very serious subject.

[Nurse Rinn]

With a dry laugh, Ana uncrossed her arms and stepped out of her boots. "Good, 'cause if she does get mad I'm blamin' it on you."

Some thought reminded her that all she had to do was grade papers, which she desperately needed an excuse to procrastinate. And, well, she may as well humor this fool. Passing said fool, Ana threw herself onto the bed, bounced up, and stood on the bed on wobbly legs.

[Professor Oster]

Hugo giggled with delight, holding out his hands to help steady her. "There you go!" he said happily, beaming at her. "Much better than whatever else you were doing. Unless that was more fun, in which case we should both go do that instead."

Without waiting for an answer, though, he started jumping, playfully landing near Ana's feet to hopefully spur her on.

"I'm Hugo, by the way!" he yelled unnecessarily. "Just in case you forgot!"

[Nurse Rinn]

Being none-too-inclined to touching, Ana steadied herself and quite ignored the offered assistance. With a yelp, she hopped away a bit as Hugo jumped by her feet. From there, the whole game started, bouncing from one end of the bed to the other, occasionally dropping to her rear before bouncing back up onto her feet.

She managed to partially mute Hugo's loud introduction with a pointer finger in her ear. "I don't think you ever told me! We haven't really talked much before now, aside from that one time! And I'm Anita, if you want to know!" She found herself replying in a voice almost as loud as Hugo's own. "Why're you yelling? You're acting like a nut!"

[Professor Oster]

Hugo laughed gleefully as they hopped across Ona's bed, successfully disheveling her sheets and kicking her pillows around. "I dunno why I'm yelling!" he shouted as one of the stray pillows caught his eye. He grinned and picked it up, tossing it playfully at her head.

[Nurse Rinn]

Ana let out a small scream when a pillow connected with her cheek. In that moment, she forgot feeling helpless for not having her pelt. She forgot the monotony of existence, she forgot abuse and pain and her own coldness. And, as she took the pillow and whomped Hugo in the chest with it, she laughed. It was the laugh she reserved for when she was purely amused by something. It was loud and terribly obnoxious, and broken up by great and awful little snorts.

[Professor Oster]

Some sort of magic had to be involved in the fact that Hugo's smile managed to widen. He positively beamed at her, utterly delighted.

"Ohhh my gosh! Your laugh!" He giggled a little himself, pausing in his jumping and pillow-fighting. It wasn't hard to see that Ana was a little uptight, so watching her let go and let down her walls brought him the purest joy.

[Nurse Rinn]

Ana also paused, and looked to her companion. "Huh? Oh!" She stopped laughing and clapped a hand over her nose and lower face. "Yeeeah, sorry, it's uh, heh, bit annoying..."

She had, of course, been told this before, that it was an ear-wrenching and obnoxious clamor, her laugh. She simply looked sheepishly at Hugo.

[Professor Oster]

Hugo frowned. "Huh? No, it's really great! Why'd you stop?" He clutched at the pillow in his hand, suddenly worried it was something he'd done. Everything had been so nice a minute ago.

[Nurse Rinn]

Ana blinked in surprise at her colleague, and snorted. "Oh, now yer just making fun of me. It's all...yanno, obnoxious and loud...and snorty, I don't even know why that happens, I honestly don't, people got the weirdest anatomical stuff goin' on in their noses...."

Looking off, Ana trailed off and mused a little, trying to ignore the fact that she'd just been gifted a compliment.

[Professor Oster]

Hugo shook his head earnestly. "No, I wouldn't make fun of you! I mean it, it's a great laugh! You can tell you're actually enjoying yourself!" He offered up a smile, hoping it would make her feel more at ease. She made it easier for him to see, somehow. He liked that. He didn't want her to go.