Turn Your Head and Cough...(Open)

[Dazzle]

Dazzle wished he had misundestood. He wanted to double check the admissions secretary's words in his dictionary. But he knew that he probably wasn't wrong. Before he could go to his apartment and begin his semester at To-Oh, he had to get...a physical.

Dazzle was usually a healthy person; he usually was only sick on the days of family engagements and the occassional Monday. He had all of his vaccinations. Moreover, he was coming to To-Oh to study, not to play football. Things that were illogical bothered Dazzle, and his appointment at the hospital was definately illogical.

So Dazzle found himself in a crowded waiting room of a hospital in a foreign country, which was not exactly where he wanted to spend his day.

After a half-hour of waiting, he decided to visit the snack shop out of pure boredom, hoping to find some unique Japanese junk food. After much thought, he settled on candy that appeared to contain some sort of squid.

Dazzle returned to his seat, thankful that it wasn't taken, and began to read a book he had brought along on monotremes. While absorbing the information, he began to munch on the candy, which all at once tasted salty, sweet, bitter, and a little bit like pork chops.

After another half-hour, Dazzle was very uncomfortable. He didn't mind doing nothing, just as long as it wasn't in a public place. He had already finished this book, in this case his speed-reading was a curse. Out of frustration, Dazzle leaned back in his seat and began to count the ceiling tiles...

[dizzieprince]

Roz was wheeled into the hospital like normal. His mother was smiling softly down at him while he clung to Ruby fearfully. She stopped for a moment at the main desk to check him in for the week. He somehow convinced his mother to let him sit in the waiting room while she spent the normal hour it took them to set up his room. He carefully found his way to the awkward room he’d seen many times before. He looked around at the people and shivered some. He wanted to come to the room, but he didn’t like seeing so many people at one time. He counted the few faces he saw and stopped in an area where there were less people in the seats. He carefully moved his chair around the room before stopping a good bit away from some people in the waiting room chairs. His wheel chair was suddenly bumped by some woman rushing around like a crazed animal knocking him back some. His beloved Ruby landed on the floor out of his reach. His lips formed a pout as he tried to reach for the rabbit, but he couldn’t reach far without almost falling out of his chair. He noticed a man in one of the chairs staring at the ceiling. He bit his lip at first, afraid to talk to someone he didn’t know, but pulled himself together some and moved his chair next to him. He reached a shaky hand out and pulled at the man’s sleeve gently.

“Um, could you help me? Ruby landed on the floor…..”

His German accent was thick yet clear as he looked to the man with fear filled eyes. He didn’t want to start crying in front of all these people, but could feel the tears forming behind his eyes.

[Dazzle]

Dazzle was staring at the ceiling when heard a faint voice call out to him. He looked down to see a rather helpless looking boy in a wheel chair asking him for help. Apparently his stuffed animal or something landed on the floor. Seeing as the boy was in a wheelchair, he was clearly unable to reach for it himself. Although Dazzle usually did not feel the need to be the "nice guy," helping out deserving people for a change was the right thing to do. "Wow," he thought, "I wonder what happened...He looks like he is in pretty bad shape...Ruby eh? Must be that stuffed animal on the floor..."

Dazzle did not like the atmosphere of hospitals. Too much depression, with a constant sense of impending doom. In no way was he an optimist, but he was not really morbid either, and seeing people who might not live to see the next day is hard on almost everybody. He looked at the boy, who upon second glance appeared to be a teenager, although his age could easily be contested. If anyone in the world deserved a little help, it was this guy. Dazzle picked up the animal, and gave the poor little guy a friendly smile.

"Ruby," he said, "That is a rather interesting name for a rabbit...I guess I have a rather interesting name too...You can call me Dazzle...What is your name?"

[dizzieprince]

His body tensed some as the man started to move. He appeared much taller then most people he had seen in the waiting room, but he was still scared as his Ruby was handed to him. He gracefully held his beloved rabbit close as the man started to speak. His eyes widened some out of fear, but his face softened at how nice this man was being and it didn’t seem false. He parted his thin lips to speak, but took a sharp breath in first.
.
“I’m Daniel, but people call me Roz.”

His eyes reverted to the top of Ruby’s head before his fingers started messing with his necklace nervously. He looked flustered from his little talking; it seemed as if he was far too shy at that moment. He lips parted again as he spoke kindly.

“You don’t look ill Dazzle, why are you here?”

His bright eyes slowly looked back at Dazzle. His face for once was questioning of someone’s reasons for being in this prison of the ill

[Dazzle]

The boy before Dazzle appeared very nervous and tense, to an unwavering degree. Dazzle did not know why this boy was the way he was, but he definately picked up the vibe that this kid has had a hard life. He's probably been through more than Dazzle could even imagine. In the boy's apparent helplessness, he seemed honest and sincere as most children do. Dazzle sighed to himself, although not a "good" guy, he certainly was nice where niceness was do. Plus he was bored, which was about as much motivation as Dazzle needed to do something.

Dazzle tried to give a comforting smile as he said, "I'm just here for a physical for school..." He knew better than to ask the boy why he was here. The boy knew his own problems, and it probably wouldn't be a good idea to bring them up. His condition was more than likely chronic, and for all he knew, this kid could be dying.

"You know, I'm not such a fan of this hospital bureacracy..." Dazzle continued, "You wanna go take a..." Dazzle had to pause, as taking a "walk" was probably not an option for this boy. "You wanna go somewhere other than this lame waiting room?" Dazzle was bored out of his mind, the dullness and order of a hospital did not sit well with him. The similarity, the consistency, the cleaness, all of this was against Dazzle's code of ethics. "We could go to the gift shop, or we could go hang out outside...Don't worry, they'll find me when it is time for my appointment..."

[dizzieprince]

He paid close attention to this man’s words, reading some of the words he had left out. A small nervous giggle came from him as the man left out the word “walk”. He was use to people saying walk to him, but he just didn’t like it when people said it with false smiles or questions. His eyes lit up at the word “outside”. He was trying his best not to seem too eager to go as he spoke.

“I would love to go outside, its better then being trapped inside this prison.”

He carefully turned his chair around and headed for the door. He stopped a little ways with fear in his eyes again. His turned his head to look at Dazzle, his eyes seeming scared and embarrassed.

“Um, could you push me from this point; my arms are tied after moving around the building for a while.”

His eyes averted back to the floor as he hugged Ruby tightly, a small squeak coming from his throat.

[Dazzle]

Dazzle smiled, this guy saw behind the lies of the hospital too. A hospital is supposed to make you better, but staying there only made Dazzle feel worse. He believed fully in the immortal words written by Pete Townshend, "I hope I die before I get old." Spending everyday in a place like this would drive him beserk; life wasn't meant to be lived in a cage. The suffering, illness, and death outside of the hospital was all part of the beauty of life, whereas the dumbness, recovery, and life support of the hospitals were simply unnatural.

"No biggie little dude..." said Dazzle. "Now let's get out of here...And oh...Try to make it a point that I am not kidnapping you..."

The kid did giggle when Dazzle made his offer. Did he plan on shouting for help when he grabbed the wheel chair? Maybe the little sadist gets his kicks in the dull hospital by messing with the other patients. Dazzle sensed no real malice in this boy however, although he wasn't the best judge of character. The boy would have no real reason to frame him as far as he knew, which Dazzle then realized was not very much. "What's life without a little risk?" he thought as he grabbed the handlebars to the wheelchair.

Dazzle wheeled the patient out into the foyer in the center of the hospital. Although it was "outdoors," the little closed off area was surrounded by the white walls of the hospital, which still created a sense of impending doom. The sunlight, trees, and green grass made the little courtyard at least more appealing than the waiting room though. Other patients, both chronics and vistors, were also outside, playing games or chatting with relatives. The atmosphere was almost jubilent, although one got the feeling that this little courtyard was just an illusion which people used to hide from the reality of the hospital.

Dazzle finally settled on a park bench right in the center of the courtyard to have a seat, pitting the Roz right across from him. He sighed to himself, eying the speakers at the edge of the courtyard that would inform him when his doctor was ready. "At least this place is a little less static," he said to himself.

"So Roz," said Dazzle, trying to make conversation, "Have you and Ruby there always been together?" He wasn't very interested in this guy's backstory, but hey, anything to pass the time. And if he made Roz's day a little bit better because of the conversation, all the better.

[dizzieprince]

He chuckled weakly at Dazzle’s remark. He didn’t have any reason to get the man in trouble, so it never came to mind in the beginning. He seemed ready to jump out of his wheelchair when the doors opened to outside. His body seemed to relax when the smell of clear air hit his nose. He seemed to smile softly as he looked up, feeling alive once more out of the main building. He was bought back to his senses when he was stopped in front of a bench and Dazzle sat across from him. He blinked for a moment, slightly confused for some reason. He became nervous again as he held Ruby close at the man’s question.

“I think so, all I know is my mama made her for me before I got sick.”

He was looking down at his giant, boot-like slippers and moving his toes in them. He looked back up at Dazzle, the light of outside showing how frail he really was. He smiled weakly before speaking once more.

“Your not from here, are you Dazzle? And why re you called Dazzle?”

His face was hit with sunlight, showing the bruise-like shadows under his eyes. He wanted to ask as many questions as he could, but was trying to be polite and only ask one or two at a time. He didn’t want to scare Dazzle, especially since he seemed to like his company.

[Dazzle]

"Ugh," thought Dazzle; he hated answering THAT question. Roz probably thought he was some sort of weird European transvestite. He looked around, trying to avoid the question why simultaneously trying to think of a way out of it. How do politicians do it? Well, the kid deserved a straight answer, so Dazzle was willing to give it.

"Well I'm from Germany, I'm sure you've heard of it," Dazzle said with a smile. "Our reputation tends to precede us. Don't worry, were not all Nazi's..."

"Back at University in the Motherland, I was the top student. One of my tokens were the 'epic' speeches that I would give on all subjects; Sometimes I was trying to display morals, sometimes I was giving a pep talk, and sometimes I was just trying to get a good grade in speech class... Well, my last name is Datzel, and since that sounds so similar to the English word 'Dazzle' and because I would wow everyone around me. I even one a public speaking contest back home... That's kind of my token style, I'm smart, but not super genius smart, although I can debate with the best of them..."

Dazzle sighed. He heard rumors of AT LEAST two students who attended To-Oh who did better than him on the entrance exam. They both got perfect scores, how was he supposed to compete with that? Although in the 99th percentile, there was still that select few who was better than him, which was very annoying. Despite it being somewhat of a lost cause, Dazzle wanted to try his best to make a name for himself at To-Oh. He already had a reputation as an eccentric after only being there a little while, and many knew of his academic talents.

"I transferred into To-Oh just recently. It's a pretty prestigious school... You know the saying that there is always a bigger fish...I kind of discovered it at To-Oh..." He looked down. He had been so used to being the best. Knowing that Japan had better students really bothered him. To him, there was no point or goal in life, so he made one. He wanted to prove the universe wrong, take the randomness of the universe and still make something with it. Show that the eccentricities of the universe are its strengths. "But you don't want to hear about something boring like school..." he continued.

"Have you lived here long? Because I want to know if there is anything cool around here..."

[dizzieprince]

His eyes lit up when he heard Dazzle was from his homeland. He wanted to jump out of his chair as he did when he was younger and stronger, but restrained himself and let him finish. He smiled sweetly at him and listened with a few giggles every so often. He finally found it in him to speak and told a little of himself.

“I’m from Germany too. My family owns a big company and lives in many different estates. My mama and I moved here for better treatment for me. I only here for the doctor that seems to have figured out how to heal me to where I can start walking farther then a meter. I guess you could say I’m happy I’ve met someone from home.”

He smiled again with a small chuckle, his energy seeming to come back. He paused for a moment to think of a place he found entertaining to him and his mother.

“Well I’ve lived here for about a year and find the park a nice place to go. Aoyama is nice to go to during the day.”

[Dazzle]

Dazzle laughed, as he did not feel like such an outsider any longer. So far his experience in Japan had been kind of disappointing, and meeting Roz was a much needed shot of medicine. "Hmm...Kaulitz..." he thought to himself, thinking of what affluent family he could possibly belong to. If he is THAT rich, he has to have heard of him...

Dazzle almost let out an inappropriate joke about his homeland, involving Death Metal and bondage, but he then remembered he was dealing with a kid, albeit a German one. Give a year and he might be ready for that sort of humor. "Well," he said, "Japan definately has its differences...But it is kind of fun...And it isn't really all that different..."

On the outside, Japan was VERY different. The happy-go-luckiness of Japan was something absent from typical German culture, although the European socialist attitudes have begun to really seep into the mindsets of the hardworking German people. But if you look past the glitz, glam, and funky colors, Japan and Germany were really a lot alike. Especially the attitudes of some of the youth. Although not really a fan of his own generation (the sixties and possibly the nineties would have suit him much better), the disobedient culture of the youth seemed to be a worldwide problem.

Dazzle's mind wandered as he thought about the similarities, which he thought to be really scary. But whatever, people who are failures are just going to fail anyway. Roz seemed cool, his life experiences probably built a little character in him, something a lot of people their age definately need.

While they were sitting in the park, a pleasant feminine Japanese voice (a bit high pitched), asked for a Mr. Datzel to come to the check-in room to meet with his doctor. "Well that is my call," said Dazzle standing up straight for a second to stretch. "Nice meeting you man, maybe I'll see you around sometime..."

Roz was pretty cool, and although he'd be busy with college life, stopping in once in a while would not be a problem. He had a feeling Roz didn't get many visitors, especially like him. "Dude, here's my cell number..." He handed a small sheet to him, hoping he would only call after nine as not to waste his minutes.

"See you around bro..." Dazzle said swaggering away, hoping that they would not have to check his prostate...

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