Day 48: Courtyard

[thatdamnedninja.livejournal.com]

"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]

Comments

[vstheworld]

Scott left breakfast in an infectiously good mood. He was so glad he'd been able to talk to Keman. Any conversation that eventually turned into fun times with fork fights was a good one in his book, no matter how awkwardly said conversation might have started out. Even the cold outside wasn't enough to bother him; it helped that compared to some of the North Ontarian winters he'd lived through, the temperature right now was downright balmy. His still-injured leg and healing arm were an annoyance, sure, but those things too would pass. He was sure that they wouldn't hamper him nearly as much during the coming night, and he was even more sure that in the nights following, he would be back to full-on Butt-Kicking Mode.

Scott took a full, cool breath of the crisp air, letting it permeate his lungs and make his body tingle pleasantly. He let it out in a big cloud of condensation as he leaned back onto one of the benches. "Heh. Kinda looks like a Pac-Man ghost," he said to himself as he watched his cloud of breath dissipate.

[Freeeeeee~ no limits.]

[madeinthehrl]

Soma's nurse had wrapped her in a slightly lumpy sweatshirt, coat, and boots, the look in her eyes brooking no further argument, and Soma had had to give in. It wasn't as if she could have fought back, not with the bandages currently swathing the better part of her chest and arms. She had asked to stay inside instead--she wasn't usually one for reading the bulletin board, but today was different--but the nurse had said something about the fresh air being good for her, so out she went.

The air was cool but not cold, and certainly not deserving of however many layers she was currently wearing. She'd just experienced her first Russian winter with the lieutenant colonel; everything else tended to pale in comparison. Soma stood in the middle of the courtyard a bit more stiffly than was even typical for her, glancing around for a familiar face. There--the man who'd been injured two nights ago. He had been talkative, even at night; it might make for an interesting change from last shift. Besides, she'd been wondering how he was faring.

Making up her mind, she approached, her movements hampered somewhat by the coat and her injuries. "Hello," she said, a little awkwardly. "Are you doing all right?"

[vstheworld]

Scott almost didn't see the girl coming. Her light hair almost seemed to blend in with the light, monochrome sky overhead. When he did see her, though, he grinned and waved. "Hey! It's..." He was drawing a blank. He had wanted to say her name there, but unfortunately, it had completely slipped his mind since whenever he had seen it on the bulletin. Well that was awkward. "...yyyyou!" Lame save, but a save nonetheless.

He continued: "Er, anyway, yeah! I'm doing better than I was, anyway. This arm was pretty useless yesterday, but this healer, Raine, took care of it a little last night," he explained, showing the girl the limited range of motion he had gotten back with his right arm and hand. "The leg's still being a pain, but it wasn't hit as bad in the first place. I can deal.

"How 'bout you? You healing up okay?" Scott hadn't seen exactly to what extent the girl had gotten hurt, but he knew she hadn't escape that fight unscathed.

[madeinthehrl]

"Soma," she supplied. "Soma Peries." It was only natural that he didn't remember her name. Their first encounter hadn't exactly been the ideal time for formalities. "Scott Pilgrim, correct?"

She'd heard that there were healers here, and she'd seen Hinamori's failed attempt at it several nights ago. Still, the idea of having a healer nearby was difficult to adjust to. She supposed she didn't need to worry about it as long as it worked. It wasn't as if this place would be developing cellular regeneration anytime soon.

"I'm fine. The--patient only gave me a few scrapes and bruises. They're almost gone now." There was no need to mention the injuries she'd received since then.

[vstheworld]

Scott nodded that she had gotten his name correct. He supposed his name was probably easier to remember than something like "Soma Peries," but it was still kind of embarrassing that she had remembered his name while he hadn't remembered hers. He would definitely remember it next time. Maybe. Hopefully. He never could trust his own brain cells sometimes.

He heard the hesitation before Soma went into describing her injuries. "Pfft, you don't have to call him a patient if you don't wanna. It's not like he's right behind us listening or anything." Just in case, Scott checked over his shoulder. Never knew when an "OH THE IRONY, HE REALLY WAS RIGHT BEHIND YOU" situation could happen. He'd rather his life not become a cliched comedy series. More than it already was, anyway. "The guy's a grade-A douchebag, brainwashed or not. I've fought evil ex-boyfriends nicer than him." Lucas Lee came to mind. For an evil sell-out who had punched him in the face, he really hadn't been so bad a guy.

[madeinthehrl]

The expression on Soma's face clearly said she agreed with Scott's assessment of--Red Hood, had he called himself? It was a ridiculous name. "I'd certainly like a rematch. I wouldn't have gone easy on him if I'd known he was like that without brainwashing."

She probably wouldn't have killed him. Almost certainly not--not after last night. But she wouldn't have felt bad about leaving a few more bruises than she had. "Evil ex-boyfriends?"

[vstheworld]

Scott raised a fist of solidarity when Soma brought up the idea of a rematch. "Oh man, you have no idea how much I'd like to see that jerkface try to take us on without his fancy toys or enhanced reflexes. Everyone on the same level - see how he likes that!" There was the possibility that the Red Douche could still kick his ass if they were to fight again, but he really doubted the guy could take on both him and Soma at once. And if it were him, Soma, and Sora all together again, the guy would definitely be going home crying for his mommy.

Then he was asked about the evil exes. He was beginning to wonder if some worlds just didn't have boyfriends in them, because so many people asked about them when he brought them up. They were someone's former boyfriend. They were evil. He thought it was pretty simple to figure out. Still, he could see why it might throw people for a loop. He hadn't exactly been expecting to handle people like them on that day when Matthew Patel first burst through the roof of the Rockit Club. "My girlfriend's exes," Scott started, aiming to keep this explanation short and sweet. "For whatever reason, they all got together after she dumped them and formed an evil league of ex-boyfriends bent on stopping her from dating anyone new. It's the lamest thing, man. Seriously. So far I've managed to beat three or four of them, though. I think there's six or seven total."

[madeinthehrl]

"It's probably not out of the question," mused Soma. "He probably doesn't have his abilities or his weapons anymore, and it sounds as if he's still up for another fight."

Scott talked about an evil league of ex-boyfriends as if it were an everyday occurrence for him. It probably was, even if it was one of the odder things Soma had heard about in this place. She'd thought he had been exaggerating when he'd mentioned it. He probably still was.

"...oh," she said a little lamely, not entirely sure how to react. She had never given any thought to boyfriends. She wasn't sure she wanted one, if they were that much trouble. "Good luck."