damned_institute | Day 48: Courtyard

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Day 48: Courtyard

"I could tell you some stories," Yuffie suggested brightly, "of unquestionable legality." Illegality, that was. Petty little things like the law didn't usually mean very much to her, except for the times when she had to uphold it. Always fun for the breaking, though, the law, and messy for the clean-up. Just the way she liked it.

Her nurse looked like she wanted to rub her temples. With sandpaper. "No, thank you," she said instead. "Why don't you run along, now?" Please!, was the unspoken request. Before I spontaneously combust. Or commit various acts of violence that would have me arrested, or placed in a loony bin. Like this one. Yuffie had quite a bit of fun filling in the blanks other people left. Sometimes she did it outloud, just to see the reaction; sometimes she kept it to herself. It really, really depended.

"Don't mind if I do!"

She took off, bolting out into the Courtyard. The weather was dour, overcast and threatening rain, but Yuffie didn't care. She'd refused a coat on principle, and had found herself bargaining: Fine, fine, Plucky had conced she could go without a coat, but unless she had at least a sweatshirt on, there'd be no outside-time for her. She ran a little ways down the dirt path, then toppled herself into a series of cartwheels. Straighten, run. Cartwheel. Straighten, run, just for the sheer sake of movement, and the whip of the wind. She laughed a little giddily, checking her gait down to a jog. Gawd, Leviathan, she'd needed this. Right from the get-go, she'd needed this. Every day she spent cooped up in side, the more nervous energy she had.

Nanaki had helped, she realized. Sort of. He'd…helped. In a way. His presence and everything that was wrong with it weighed on her, for sure, but he was still Nanaki. He didn't deserve to be here, didn't deserve to be stuck in a body that he hated and couldn't use, but all the same, she found herself glad to have him.

Yuffie started to hum, as she jogged leisurely around the Courtyard. A cheery little tune, one of her favorites; no, it was her favorite. A Wutaian walking song, with the roughly translated title of Pathway After the Rain. The pace stayed even but the tune picked up, and she found herself half-singing snatches of the lyrics to herself. It felt like ages since she'd last said anything in her native tongue, at least outloud; she wrote in it all the time.

[The Doctor]

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Mirroring his position certainly seemed a little odd thing to do, Scar thought to himself. But now that the former lion observed him a little longer, there also was something about this boy, but he couldn't quite pinpoint it. How irritating that he couldn't figure it out from just by looking at him.

The question made Scar pause slightly. The days tended to blend into one another after a while, making it difficult to say how long he had been here precisely. But it was a frequent conversational topic, however. At least not as bad as small talk of the weather...

"I'd say about three weeks already," the king said eventually. And he could have sworn that it seemed so much longer. "How about you?"

"I see," he nodded. As he'd thought with Yuffie, it didn't seem like such a long time when compared with his own captivity. But it was still unpleasant.

"I arrived yesterday afternoon," he explained, getting up again, on all fours. He reached out his arms on the ground, pulling back in a long luxurious stretch before shaking it off and sitting on his feet. It wasn't so bad if he put his arms out straight and leaned against them.

"It's a very peculiar place," he pointed out.

"I suppose that is another way of putting it," Scar said flatly. Then again, humans were part of the reason why everything was so strange.

There was something oddly familiar with the way the boy moved. And stretched. Atop of that, he had yet to observe any humans doing such movements. Not that he cared the way they stretched or moved or whatever, and he could hardly be called an expert, but it was still something that seemed...familiar. Something that definitely belonged to something that possessed four legs rather than two. Scar blinked. Perhaps...

"Were you something other than human before you arrived here, by any chance?" he asked, seemingly out of the blue. It certainly wouldn't be the first one other than himself...

Nanaki looked like a teenager who'd just been caught sending a note about the teacher in class. Not that Scar would understand that look. Or Nanaki. Ok. He looked like a lion that just got caught piddling on Pride Rock. At least one of them ought to get that analogy.

"Uh-" Nanaki cleared his throat. "I'm not used to this body yet," he explained. "... are you something else?" He refused to think that he was no longer what he was. He was... just.... not physically...

The response, in both both language and spoken language, translated to a very clear 'yes'.

"It'd be worrisome if you were, I suppose," Scar offered. Even he wasn't completely used to this body yet, and he didn't plan to get used more than absolutely necessary. It wasn't like he'd look like a hairless monkey forever...

"I am a lion."

"A lion," he mused, "capable of speech and human thought?" Fascinating. He pulled himself a little closer, trying to picture the beast. "What sort of lion, where from?" He'd have to find them when he got back home. Although there was talk of new worlds. That would be a shame. A lion-esque creature that was like Nanaki. He craved that sort of thing! And to find one here, both of them in human bodies.

Scar's eyes narrowed at that comment, as it seemed to imply that he thought lions were not capable of 'human' speech and thought. He managed to avoid a snide comment in response; antagonizing people would only be counter-productive in this place, he reminded himself. Still, it hardly prevented the sarcasm in his answer.

"One with fur, four legs, claws and a tail," he deadpanned. "I am from a savannah called the Pride Lands, not that I expect you to know where that is." Unless he was from the Pride Lands or had heard from it one way or another, though his response would be clear enough were that the case. Still, he asked:

"How about your species?"

Apparently the lion didn't like being associated with human traits. Nanaki wasn't altogether pelased about it either, but humansw ere the only other lfieform that showed sigsn of intelligence and, while their intelligence was limited, they were the majority.

The creature was also sarcastic. Wonderful.

"I don't," he said, with a shake of his head. It was a shame, such a huge shame. "My species is difficult to explain and no longer carries a name with it. But I have been likened to lions in the past." He shrugged, it was an awkward movement, however.

"How old are you?" he asked. For a huma, he looked like an adult, a real one.

Edited 2010-03-09 20:21 (UTC)

"I see, a nameless feline species, then?" Scar answered. That hardly sounded practical, did it? Well, he supposed it wasn't any of his concern.

"Any particular reason why my age is so interesting?" he asked. "Let's say spring has passed about eight times ever since I was born, if you're so curious." Funny enough, this individual happened to be the first to ask about his age. The former lion had to wonder how the question was relevant to their talk of species, but perhaps he enjoyed hopping to different subjects.

"So do you have a name, or are you as nameless as your species?" he asked. This was almost starting to seem like a mutual cross examination, like a new question in exchange for an answer. "I am called Scar."

[OOC: Age has never been canonly stated, but I figured about 8 years old is pretty reasonable.]

"Not exactly. I also posses canine qualities," he explained. He had no preference over canine or feline, but he felt it was fair to mention both aspects. Even if it helped to amplify his inability to find a place to fit.

Nanaki stared, blankly. It was hard to tell he was fuming until he growled 'Eight?'. That was hardly fair! Only eight years old and he looked like an adult. Here was Nanaki with 49 springs and he was not only treated like a child, but he LOOKED like one now too. "I... I think they made a mistake," he said, stiffly. "Your species must age quickly."

Nanaki relaxed a little, trying a new sitting position. "The nurses are calling me Nathan, I don't really care either way. Were you always called Scar?" he asked, looking at the man's, well, scar.

[Sorry for the difficult questions. I can always edit them out XD]

"What?!" Scar exclaimed in surprise at the explanation, jaw dropping along with it. A feline with canine qualities? How could a species be a combination of both? How did that even work? How could that...ah...never mind. Forget it, for his own sanity it probably wasn't a subject he should pursue.

Oddly enough, Scar's age seemed to provoke some sort of fuming reaction. Short-lived, but still there. "Ages quickly compared to what, precisely?" He asked with a questioning expression.

"And I was actually referring to whatever you were called before arriving here," Scar pointed out flatly. "Whatever the nurses provide is denied out of principle, naturally." Unless he actually was as nameless as his own species.

"What do you think? Are there creatures born with scars in your world, or are parents generally able to somehow predict their offspring will receive one or more sooner or later?" And in case 'Nameless' here was of the particular idiotic sort, that meant 'no, he hadn't always been called Scar'. And no, he didn't plan on sharing the details regarding the event that lead to his renaming. No one needed to know of his foolishness, or what he had been called previously. Hnn.

"Yes, well. Human's are usually a little more surprised by the fact that I talk to really take great notice of it, but there it is. No explanation, just my existence." He shifted a little nervously, not quite thrilled at being the centre of attention. Especially with reactions like that, even if his own, regarding age, had been the same.

"Compared to humans who, compared to me, age rather quickly too," he said, a little sadness creeping into his voice. "I suppose it doesn't matter, if I was going to have them change this body, I'd want my own back in any case." It just wouldn't have hurt for them to let him appear older. Even if this was the equivalent, he wasn't a child... He was smarter than humans.

"I was called many things, but I suppose, for arguments sake, you may call me Nanaki."

His eyes narrowed a little at the continued sarcasm. "I was simply wondering what your name was before you received the scar and trying to ask politely." If he was anything like his parents, the eventuality of a scar would be easy to predict.

Lions aged quickly compared to humans? The subject had never so much as occurred to Scar, and he could hardly be called an expert. He had to wonder how old humans generally became. Especially male lions generally didn't become much older than ten springs, though that usually had everything to do with growing weaker and less able to fend off nomads, therefore likelier to acquire lethal injuries or being ousted by rival males. If they are lucky, they survive a few more springs before finally being offed. It made the outlook on his own future rather bleak, even if he already hadn't been aware of the consequences of a certain hyena's trio failure to kill one cub. Now that he was aware, though, there was a chance to prolong it until his chosen heir would taken over. He knew it wouldn't be too many springs before he'd start aging and eventually unable to keep ruling, that's why he had already chosen a heir.

"What is the general life span of a human, then?" he asked curiously. "And that of your species?"

So, he had a name. And about time Nanaki here began mentioning it. Regarding his: "Whatever I had been called before I received my namesake is of no importance," Scar merely answered. He certainly didn't plan on telling.

"It varies on life style, habitat and other outside factors. But I suppose the average human would be..." Ok, he didn't really know. He grew up around the elders who had a longer lifespan. "Eighty." Yes, that sounded good.

He didn't want to talk about his own lifespan. It had been the cause of great distress for a while now. "There's no certainty about my species. It's just.... longer."

That was no fair. Nanaki told the lion his name.

Eighty? Scar blinked at that. "That is ten times my age," he said to no one in particular. Humans grew that old? And that meant Nanaki's species grew even older, despite how 'uncertain' that may be.

And it wasn't like Scar hadn't told Nanaki his name; he had. 'Taka' was hardly one he used, for that matter.

"Mm, yes," he nodded. Only ten, he was lucky. Nanaki felt Gilligan stir and looked around frantically for a moment, he spotted Cloud and relaxed a little, although a different sort of tension filled his back when he spotted the Turk. He watched them for a minute.

"Are there more Lion's here? Or anything else that has changed form?" Perhaps Scar would teach him to walk and write.

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Day 48: Courtyard

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