damned_institute | Day 44: breakfast

Yuffie had died.

No, really. Seriously. She had actually died. Bleeding all over the place, making a horrid, sticky mess and scaring the hell out of Suzaku; she remembered it clearly. Kind of. Sort of. Through the blood loss, the pain, and the visions. Through Aerith's voice whispering in her ear, Cloud's stricken eyes, and her own panic. As bad nights went, it had been Bad, capital B and all the trimmings, and oh, god. She sat, trembling on the edge of her bed, eyes closed and hands pressed hard over her racing heart. The by-play between Landel—Landel!—and Lydia barely even sunk in. There was nothing in the whole world, any world, that could prepare you for something like…

Had it all been some kind of hallucination?

Had she imagined the whole thing?

No… She didn't think so. Nightmarish or not, Yuffie knew reality. But if it had been real, how was she alive now? That kind of pain wasn't something you could just cook up, was it? She thought about it all the way to the cafeteria, drifting behind her nurse without focus or intent. Maybe if she tried to stay clinical, tried to step back… But she'd never been good at that when things got personal. And every time she closed her eyes or blinked, she swore that the scenes played back to her, like an overused commercial on a crappy channel on a crappy TV, in a run-down dump of an inn that smelled like mothballs and yesterday's breakfast.

The scent of blood and damp, rotted wood clogged her nose. Disgusted, Yuffie shoved her bowl of cereal—handed to her by a clucking Plucky—off to the side so that she could melt into her chair, palm heels scrubbing against her eyes. Too much. This was… Too much. She couldn't even paste a plastic smile on her face to make herself feel better. Her usual shield, the white noise of inane babble that could filter out almost any crisis, was in tatters all around her. Five minutes, she gave herself.

Five minutes (not) to think, five minutes to get her act together, because there was no way she could let herself shatter here. No way…

[Closed to Sheena]

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Was that a Look? Two could play at that game! "That was different," she shot back, fending off Sheena's pointed gaze with her own. As far as Yuffie was concerned, there wasn't a single thing similar between acting out to gear herself up, and trying to keep an emotional teenage girl with possible abandonment issues afloat. There just wasn't. It didn't work like that!

Still, she'd as good as said she'd do it, and she never backed down from a challenge.

Her whole body was tense and she still felt heavy inside, like cement was running through her veins, but her answering smirk was genuine. "If we can't, nobody can."

While there was practically nothing similar between the two situations, Yuffie was still the best one to help keep Miku from crumbling into a pile of Miku-colored bits. The Mizuho ninja was not bothered at all by Yuffie's return look. She simply smiled.

"Think of how damn deadly she'd be if we got her ninjafied," Sheena stated. "No one would suspect something that cute." It was kind of like how no one suspected the cripple. Unless the cripple was half-elf, but that wasn't relevant.

Yuffie's expression flitted between conspiratorial and put out, like it (and the girl wearing it) couldn't quite decide which would look better. Fit better. Be better. "And she has got the guts for it," she said, eventually. "Er, sort of. She chucked a slipper at Sagara's--Sanosuke's, I mean--head once, when he was being a prick." Conspiratorial was winning. Definitely winning. There was something sly brimming in her voice and eyes, like dawn behind a night time thundercloud.

"Cute but deadly. Sorta like us, but fluffier," she concurred brightly. It still rang hollow to her, but she was getting there, inch by painful inch. Her gut still twisted for Aerith, grief following two steps behind and a half pace to the left; she almost imagined that it had a face, but that was dumb and crazy and imaginary friends were for losers.

Sheena's eyes went wide for a moment, surprised by Miku's actions, but then she grinned. "Oh yeah, definitely. Underneath all that... Miku-ness is a little fire that just needs a little stoking."

Finally sitting up, Sheena stretched, her back audibly popping into alignment with an accompanying grimace. She flicked a single grape at Yuffie. "So... how do you think we should go about getting her to stop moping like it was her fault Sousuke disappeared?"

"With you n' me as her nurturing and talented guides, she'll move up the ranks of badass in no time at all," said Yuffie. "From slippers to swords! Not that there's anything wrong with slippers. They're pretty damn handy when you know how to use 'em." And as the master supreme of unusual weaponry, she should know.

She flicked the grape back without even thinking about it, sending it speeding towards Mizuho's nose. "Uh," was her intelligent response. "Well. If we can get her so active that she can't think about it, that'll be one thing…" She shrugged, rubbing the back of her neck thoughtfully. "But she needs to face the facts, one way or another. Shutting herself up in a box of emo is, like, the single best way to kick Sousuke in the face. Repeatedly."

What would -- Tifa do? Or say. The woman was infinitely more patient than Yuffie was, like silk with a cast-iron backbone. After a long pause, she added, "I think we've gotta make her see that this isn't the end of things. There's still a lot left to do, and there's still a chance that he's out there somewhere. Possibly gettin' noogied by Sano. Or wedgied. Or both."

Without really paying attention, Sheena's hand came up and caught the grape, a thoughtful look on her face. Gods, she could really use Lloyd and Colette being about right now. If anyone could make Miku un-emo (whatever that meant) it'd be them. Not that she wanted either of the stuck in this damn ranch.

Idly rolling the grape across her knuckles, Sheena hmmed. "See, now that's the problem. She's kind of bathing herself in... emo." That was such a weird word. "I wish I knew what pissed her off. I think she'd be a lot easier to fix if she was angry than all sad and stuff." Anger was so much better than sadness (so Sheena liked to tell herself).

"Do we want to take her out raiding tonight? I... need to be doing something constructive tonight." Something that didn't end up with her anywhere near a certain youkai...

"It'd be even better if we could just nip the whole thing in the bud," Yuffie pointed out, gazing blindly up at the ceiling. "Teach her how to use emotions productively, instead of pushin' 'em down to fester." She blew a raspberry at nothing in particular. See, this was why she usually played these things by ear, right in the moment.

"Tonight? No can do." Sitting back a little, Yuffie glanced briefly at her poofy-haired tablemate. Her eyes said it all; amongst other things, tonight really wouldn't be the time for an edgy, spooked ninja with a vicious streak and a wicked sense of humor to take it easy -- and with somebody like Miku alongside, that's what they'd have to do. "Take her out for a test run, or something. I've… Later, we can all get together and rock this place 'til the roof tiles dance. Swear it on my ninja honor and left pinkie finger."

A test run? If it had been any other night, Sheena would jump on the chance to take Miku out and at least teach her how to sneak. Unfortunately, with as much as Sheena's mind was wandering to... other things, she knew she wouldn't give Miku the attention she deserved. At least not alone without someone else to keep her focused on the task.

"I'm holding you to that promise, Wutai," Sheena replied, flicking the grape back at Yuffie. "I haven't seen Miku today, but if I see her..."

She purposefully left that lingering. Even if she wanted to clarify, she didn't have the chance when the intercom went off.

"Don't do anything stupid tonight, Wutai. I don't feel like kicking your ass for it tomorrow if you do." Sheena wasn't an idiot; she'd seen that look in Yuffie's eyes.

"Later."

A nonchalant two-fingered flick sent the grape flying away again -- or it would've done, if the stupid thing hadn't given up the ghost. It went splat, pathetic and green, against the edge of Sheena's plate, just as the intercom blared to life.

Her snicker bordered on sardonic, "Yeah, yeah," she drawled. "Thanks for the lecture, mom. You couldn't kick my ass even if I knocked myself out first."

It still… almost felt wrong to talk like that. Yuffie squashed the idea ruthlessly, ground it under foot, stuck metaphorical fingers in metaphorical ears, and metaphorically chanted 'la la la la'. If metaphorical was even the right word for that. Showers. Showers next. She could wash all this out of her system, clear her head, and be ready for that little chat with Kenshin.

"Later."

Day 44: breakfast

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