(no subject)

[angry_friendship_wolf]

One day, a few days ago, Yamato collapsed into bed with a headache and a blocked nose and a feeling like somebody had sprinkled tiny flakes of sandpaper into his throat.

About twelve hours later, Kazuichi Souda, Ultimate Mechanic, had woken up and wondered a) Why his hair wasn't dyed pink anymore, and b) Why there was not a single pair of overalls in his wardrobe.

For some reason, Bar refuses to provide him with pink hair dye, but as hope springs eternal, he's found himself back down in the bar, pleading with her.

"What about a nice shade of mauve? Or -- or violet? It's not technically pink, that's actually purple, which is completely different. C'mon."

Comments

[herr_bookman]

"What are you arguing with her about, Yamato?" Autor says, after hacking phlegm into a handkerchief. "What won't she give you?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"I woke up a few days ago and I was suddenly blond! Blond," Kazuichi says, with more horror and anguish that Yamato has ever imbued a sentence with in his life.

He waves a strand of hair aggressively in Autor's direction.

"But Bar won't even give me hair dye. I'm stuck with this."

[herr_bookman]

"You've always been blond," Autor says, squinting at him. "Wait, are you sick?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"You're sick!" Kazuichi says, very defensively.

Beat.

"I've got a little bit of a cold? But I'm fine! I'm just fine!"

[herr_bookman]

Autor sneezes. "Oh, yeah?" he says, skeptically. "What's your name, then? What's mine?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"My name is Kazuichi," Kazuichi says proudly, jabbing a thumb at his chest. "And your name is ..."

He pauses.

"... Steve, probably? Your name is Steve. Hi, Steve."

[herr_bookman]

Autor snorts, pressing two fingers and his thumb against his forehead. "No, my name is Autor, and yours is Yamato," he says, and then launches into a coughing fit. "You must have been hit by that identity flu that's been going around."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"I'm fine. You're the one that's coughing and spluttering. Maybe you have that identity flu."

[herr_bookman]

"Oh, I'm pretty sure I've got it, too," Autor says, sniffling. "But at least I'm in my right mind. You used to be a friend of mine named Yamato. You'll wake up as him again soon enough."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Kazuichi looks dubious. "I think I'd know if I was actually someone else. I'd remember that."

[herr_bookman]

"Not necessarily," Autor says, not without sympathy. "This bug is a doozy. It hits the bar every year, and the symptoms are always the same. You will be yourself again soon, I promise."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"I feel fine now," Kazuichi whines. It's really quite shrill. "It's just that my hair is wrong, and my teeth feel way less pointy, and I think my eyesight is better, and suddenly having better eyesight is definitely a symptom of a brain aneurysm or something."

[herr_bookman]

Autor winces at the whining, and sneezes. "Pointy? You have pointy teeth normally? How very odd," Autor says, shaking his head. "You have better eyesight because you aren't who you think you are. Nothing about this is normal."

[heatherandsteel]

Once he felt a little better, Quentin had gone home and when he gets a door again, he smiles to see Yamato.

He has an odd sense that they talked but its foggy, "Why are you going to do with the colors?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Dump them on my head. It's how things have to be," Kazuichi says, extremely dramatically.

[heatherandsteel]

Quentin eyes him, that's a weird thing to say, "Why?"

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Because -- because I woke up and my hair was blond! Blond. It's not natural. It's not right."

He sounds like he might cry.

[heatherandsteel]

"Yamato, I've never known you not to have blond hair? Are you okay?" This is off and worrying.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"This is the worst possible thing. I just want some hair dye! I'll settle for blue! I mean, if I have to."

[heatherandsteel]

"Bar, is there some that washes out easily?" He remembers the kids in high school used stuff and maybe that will make Yamato calm down.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"It's not the same," Kazuichi mumbles petulantly, but Bar does, at least, provide a box of hair dye that will wash out in about six washes.

[heatherandsteel]

"Why does it have to be dyed? I like your hair how it is."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Kazuichi turns pink at that, and shakes his head furiously. "Style reasons. If I go home with blond hair, people might mistake me for Fuyuhiko."

Nobody will mistake him for Fuyuhiko.

"I need my distinctive look, bro."

[heatherandsteel]

"Who's Fuyuhiko? I don't think you've ever mentioned him before," He thought he knew the names of most of Yamato's friends.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"He's a crazy tiny Yakuza heir guy person thing. I don't want to be mistaken for him! He has a bad reputation."