Feral

Wong Ha Jung

He dipped his head in response before realizing that the boy might not see it. "It's all right," the man said softly. But silently, he added, You shouldn't thank me when I did barely anything at all. And if it weren't for Warrior, I would have most likely gone and made you hate me again.

He still wasn't sure that it wasn't a good idea to take William to the infirmary but at least Wong Ha Jung was somewhat convinced that the boy would be fine on his own. Generally, if somebody had enough energy to either complain or be embarrassed, they would probably be okay. Probably. He hoped.

"Do you need anything?" Wong Ha Jung asked the boy. There it was again, the feeling of needing to be physically doing something. Restlessness was hardly a usual state for him, but he thought that it was rather understandable considering the present situation.

Wong Ha Jung

And then he just felt terribly, horribly guilty because now William was referring to that dilemma specifically. Don't thank me, please. I almost took you there anyways, I really almost did. Even knowing that you wouldn't have wanted me to. But since he couldn't go about saying that, the counselor just smiled. It helped a little, even though that feeling of self disappointment remained. "You have good friends," he told the boy instead.

It seemed like a safe thing to say but it kept bringing to mind Warrior's words. Now when exactly am I supposed to push? Wong Ha Jung wondered. He was so tired of kicking himself down that he thought maybe he should simply just stop. On an emotional level, he could probably accomplish that fairly easily with White Autumn...

He let that train of thought crash. No. I don't know why I'm considering that. It's not even an option. But it would have been easy. But it would have been wrong.

Wong Ha Jung tilted his head a little to the side as William began to speak more quietly. "That bad of an experience?" he asked softly. He glanced away for a moment in uncertainty before looking back at the boy. "I suppose I've had my fair share of that with hospitals, too." He was half muttering now. "Much less of a problem with the people than with how I ended up there, though." Which he had really rather not think too much about. Then again, it seemed like he had been failing more and more in that regard. Just something about the island...

Wong Ha Jung

"Believe me, I've never worked in a hospital before," the counselor told the boy, beginning to ramble a little as he organized his thoughts. "I don't think that I'd like to, honestly. There's too many people around for me." Too many people suffering. Although, he supposed that it was better on the island since there was magic, after all. Laughing softly in self consciousness, Wong Ha Jung said, "I don't think I'd be able to stand it." Sometimes, he couldn't understand how Ekaterina did, either. She's much a stronger person than I am.

"I guess I have a love hate relationship with hospitals in general," the man said, smiling slightly. It was either that or giving into the urge to fidget nervously. "I used to get hurt a lot. It wasn't really anybody else's fault but my own. I just had this tendency to fall down the stairs a lot." And out of windows, but William already knew that from their first meeting. "I suppose I've been in my fair share of fights, too..." Oh, yes, those two facts were linked together but he wasn't going to say that out loud. With the way things worked in his mind, they were barely linked together there, even.

Wong Ha Jung shrugged, really trying not to think too deeply about anything in particular. "Actually, I think the only reason why I'm here right now is because somebody got a hold of my hospital records," he said, as a way of turning the conversation to someplace else. "I had an issue with my powers at some point. Put me into a coma for two weeks. Confused all of the doctors there, I think. Ah..."

Wong Ha Jung

Instinctively, Wong Ha Jung started forward as William fell back, only to stop himself just a moment later. Be careful, he wanted to say. He bit down on the words instead and leaned his shoulder against the tree. "I was a clumsy child," he said, glancing over Spirit's sleeping form. He wondered if the wolf was truly asleep or just making a conscious choice to not intervene. "I'm still a clumsy person but maybe not as much as I had been back then, I think."

And then there was that question about his powers, which the counselor always found himself dreading. After all, it was kind of messing with people's emotions, even if it was mostly beneficial. It really was something of a violation. For people who were generally untrusting, well. Wong Ha Jung always worried about that.

But he answered anyways. "It's an emotion based power," the man explained distantly. "Part of it makes people feel more positive. The other part, I tend to keep inactive and ignore. It's just not nice at all." He rested the side of his head against the tree and hummed softly to himself. "I kind of need to keep it going constantly. If you'd really like, though, I suppose I could turn it off."

Wait. Why was he going straight to offering that? Wong Ha Jung blinked a few times, feeling puzzled at himself. "Or move a few feet away," he added, still trying to figure out where that came from. Was he really just that tired? So much that the thought of making himself sick didn't bother him nearly so much anymore? "The range on it isn't that large..."

Wong Ha Jung

Wong Ha Jung couldn't help sighing to himself in relief, not when he had really been expecting the boy to just up and leave on him. After all, William hadn't actually wanted to meet him in the first place. If the boy had any desire to cut off at all, this seemed like it would have been a good opportunity for him to have done just that.

I wonder if he understands that he's just given up his chances of getting rid of me, the counselor wondered. Ah, I suppose now we're truly stuck with each other. Which was not a problem at all in his mind. As for what William would think of it, well.

"My hair color is actually supposed to be black," Wong Ha Jung said with a chuckle. "It comes back whenever my powers aren't working. The pink is from, ah, I don't pretend to know why it happens. It's just part of Vermillion Summer. People didn't really like me too much at home because of it. It's just a little strange, I guess." Home meaning Hong Kong and a little strange meaning stands out in a crowd so much that it's probably visible from half a mile away.

He looked up as Warrior returned, smiling a little faintly at the spirit for a moment before turning back to William. "Are you all right to stand?" the counselor asked. "Or do you need more time?"