[ Jade is really freaking startled when he starts screaming. It's too loud and jarring and Brian Does Not Talk; even his seizures are pretty quiet. ]

Brian? What's wrong?

[ She reaches out to touch his shoulder, but thinks better of it. He might not be lucid enough to recognize her, after all, and he gets violent when he's scared. ]

Oh, noooo -

[ Yeah, okay, it's definitely time for shoulder-touching. And head pats. If his hair was exposed she would be brushing it soothingly. ]

You talked to someone in your sleep, didn't you? Hold on; I'll be right back. [ She fetches (ha ha ha) a bottle of water and offers it to him, her other hand returning to its post on his shoulder. ]

[ Aww, he's not even too tired to reject cuddles or anything! They've made so much progress. ]

What about you feels wrong, in particular? Do you have to keep talking again?

[ FrieNd?? ? in distres s?? Jade has to do something!!! In a minute, when they figure out what's going on, she's going to wrap him in a blanket and insist that he eat something. He'll sleep this off like a cold. It's Fine. ]

Whoa, um - take deep breaths, okay? And maybe don't talk.

[ Even if she couldn't see his neural pathways losing their shit, it's pretty obvious that something is Wrong. Her grip loosens in case he decides to bolt. ]

Can you breathe alright? With the mask on, I mean. [ Please don't make yourself pass out from hyperventilating into your weird balaclava-thing. ]

[ oh gosh oh jeez oH G OD !! ]

Whatever's scaring you, I want to help, okay?

[ She should probably. Distract him?? Somehow. ]

...Do you want to play checkers? I still have that set from our first visit to the toy store. Or we could play pick-up sticks. Or - Or maybe you could draw? I have a stylus, if you want to use your tablet.

[ She spares him the embarrassment of looking like a doofus and hands him the tablet. ]

Drawing, then? I will get that stylus.

[ While she's up, she'll also rifle through her food and find him something nice to eat, like an orange. Those are her favorite. She puts it in her roomy-ass pocket for later.

Jade holds out the stylus for him to take and sits beside him, her own tablet in her lap. They can take turns! ]

[ She jumps when he throws the tablet, startled. ]

Oh, jeez -

[ Once again she gets up to fetch something for Brian. He seemed pretty absorbed in his scribbles in the past; maybe he can't concentrate? She can relate. ]

What if you drew something different? Like, um...

[ ...Oh my god. Perfect. ]

We could design a trollsona! That is to say, um - a trollsona is basically just what you think you would look like as a troll. You know, those aliens that type funny?

[ GASP ]

You have a typing quirk, too! And that crossed-out circle is like those symbols they wear. All that's left is the horns, blood color, a weird troll name...

[ She has her tablet out now, opening the drawing app and extremely hype. ]

[ AAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! ]

They can pretty much be whatever you want! Especially the horns. In my experience, trolls tend to have a gimmick, so that is also helpful for making design choices. Animal motifs are really popular; if you had, say, a goat motif you could have little goat horns. Troll names are also six letters long for some reason. I guess we could just add an "h" after the "a" in Brian? As for the blood color...

Do you have a favorite color? My trollsona has green blood, even though that caste doesn't exist anymore.

Oh. Um, what do you mean by "before"? [ Although she kind of has an idea. ]

Is it physically wrong - like, painful? Are you hurt?

[ Oh. ]

Is there anything I can do? Um... I still have some fresh fruit from the grocery store, if you want some.