damned_institute | Day 49: Noon

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Day 49: Noon - Tasty Burger

Once she'd found she wasn't in any danger whatsoever of hopping aboard the Pukemobile, Yuffie had gotten kinda peckish. She'd ditched the bagged breakfast ages ago, way back on the bus, and, haha, like hell was she trekking back over that way to get it. Too much to see in a town without a lot in it.

So, here she was. Sitting at a plastic table in a plastic chair, in the almost completely plastic 'Tasty Burger', with fries, chicken strips, and a banana shake to wash it down with. Yuffie wrinkled her nose, more put off by the Eastern-style 'meal' than the reproachful stares of the staff and patrons. The latter she was way, way more than used to. Came with the job description. All of the job descriptions.

"Should've gone to the Twin Pine," Yuffie muttered around the (plastic!) straw, slumping forward onto her damp, denim-clad elbows. Taking a long pull of vaguely banana-flavored gloop, she cast a deft, if bored, eye around the establishment. As always, she'd gone for the most strategic seat; one that let her see as much as possible, without cutting off her access to at least one viable escape route. Not that she wanted to look at the place. Eurgh.

It was still hard to reconcile how this place should have looked with how it did look. Quick repair jobs were one thing, but something about the set-up rubbed Yuffie the wrong way. It was the same the whole town over. Chips, here and there, cracks in windows and doodles on walls. But no scorch marks, no sign that there'd been a no-holds-barred battle tearing up the place from top to bottom. The residents were pissy and suspicious, but not in that way—not in a way that'd suggest they remembered what they'd done, what they'd turned into, and what the patients had done in return.

[Cloud and Nanaki~.]

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Sheena gave Forte a confused but curious look at his reaction. Sure, Yukari was a bit much to handle, but eventually you got used to her. And it wasn't so much that she'd invited Yukari to join them in their awkward conversation as much as she just told her damn summon to get inside before she catches a cold. Just not in those words.

Okay, so maybe Sheena was using Yukari as an excuse to get out of the rest of her conversation with Forte. Maybe she just wanted her youkai to be near. And, well, Yukari was the reason the ninja was turning him down.

Rolling her eyes, Sheena popped a fry in her mouth and then shoved the remainder of her food at the youkai. "You're always interrupting something," she replied. "Here. Eat something. Forte and I were just clearing up a matter." Her eyes flickered to the youkai before looking back at the robot.

Yeah... now it was really kind of awkward. "I'm sorry, Forte. I really am." Her eyes unintentionally flickered over at the youkai again for a second. "Another time... another place... and I might've not been apologizing. Just don't go getting all weird-er on me, okay?"

Ugh, here she came, smiling and chipper. Okay, so she was Sheena's friend, and the ninja was happy to see her, but Forte had already made up his mind. She was insufferably annoying, mocking him at his weakest, and she wasn't helping her case by showing up in the middle of their talk.

Although he felt bad for putting Sheena in an awkward position, he did want to know what she was going to say before she was interrupted. Was it really because they were trapped here, or some other some other factor he didn't know about human relationships? Or was it because he wasn't a human, or inexperienced, or something else that was wrong with him? Dammit, he still didn't even know exactly what he was being turned down for. However, there was no way in hell he was going to ask in front of Yukari, or let her know what they'd been talking about.

He tried, with partial success, to compose himself and act unfazed, finally unwrapping his hamburger and refusing to acknowledge Yukari now that she was here. In response to Sheena he lied, "It's fine," and added truthfully, "I don't know what I was expecting, anyway."

"I've got my own coupon," said Yukari with a pout, though that didn't stop her from helping herself to some fries anyway. She stopped mid-chew though, a fry still sticking out of her mouth, when the atmosphere suddenly took a turn for the worse - returning to what it had been before? Sheena was apologizing and Forte was acting weird - well, not that she'd ever seen him act any other way. She seemed awkward and he dejected. What in the world had they been talking about?

Well, she had a few ideas.

"Hmm, did Sheena do something wrong, I wonder?" teased the youkai, leaning up against the ninja's shoulder playfully as she finished her fry. "Just what have you two been up to while I've been away, hmm?"

"Quiet," Sheena said in low hushed voice to the youkai. She could tell Forte was lying and it didn't take a ninja to figure that out.

"And it's not fine, Forte. I know it's not. Even if you didn't know what to expect, you had to have known what you wanted." She offered a bit of a smile. "It does make me feel special, you know. It's just... I'm not avail--"

She then abruptly turned to Yukari. "Why don't you go get your meal. They have ice cream."

Forte still refused to admit to anything, but blushed at Yukari's teasing, while keeping his eyes focused squarely on his food.

His stubbornness taking over, Forte shook his head, "No, I- I didn't even know what I wanted. I think I was just confused, really. Forget it."

To be lo~ved?

Her words echoed in his head, and he stole a quick dirty look at Yukari - the worst part about her teasing was that she was right.

That was when he caught up to the rest of what Sheena had said, and he turned back to her. Was she about to say she wasn't available? As in, there was already somebody else she cared for? His mind raced again, wondering what this person was like, if they were better than him in some way or if it was just a matter of time. Was that the key to her conversation with Frank, the unspoken information that he was missing? He tried to remember what he could from that day, the wheels slowly turning.

Edited 2010-04-28 06:04 (UTC)

And there it was, a confirmation of what she already suspected. Inwardly, Yukari felt small, dark smile, but outwardly kept the same silly expression. If Sheena had meant to keep the youkai in the dark, she wasn't doing a very good job of it - and her request wasn't subtle at all. Still, it was exactly because she could see right through it that Yukari decided to go along with it.

"Hmm, I did enjoy the ice cream last time I was here," she agreed, getting back up. She gave them a little smirk before heading over to get in line. "You two place nice now."

Walking up to the counter, Yukari resisted the urge to glance over her shoulder at the pair. And unfortunately, the noise of the crowded fast food join was enough to drown out anything that might be said - ah, too bad. Well, she could guess most of it anyway.

It wasn't that Sheena was trying to keep Yukari in the dark; they'd already vaguely touched on the subject of the robot before, a couple days back. No, this was an attempt to make things a bit more comfortable for Forte, if only slightly. And more comfortable for Sheena. It wasn't like she was the type to just talk about her relationship with the youkai openly.

After watching Yukari make her way to the counter, Sheena looked back to Forte. "I can't forget it and I won't forget it, Forte. I'm sorry I can't be what you want me to be. I'm just... already involved with someone else. Like I said, if I wasn't, if things were different..." She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Forte. You're sweet and I like you, but I'm not available."

Forte listened as Sheena assured him that it was a matter of circumstance, and wasn't any fault of his. But mostly, he was frozen by his own revelation.

The 'bot felt even more stupid than usual. Was he really this clueless, or had he not wanted to put the pieces together? He hadn't actually thought much about what Frank and Sheena had talked about as much as how it felt, and not at all about any other conversation that day, but now it was painfully obvious.

Sheena was upset about Yukari. Frank realized she wasn't available after talking about Yukari. Finally, Frank leaves angry and goes to yell at Yukari.

When he did finally respond, he managed to make less of a scene than Frank, whether it was because he was more prepared or because he was shocked for a different reason. He looked from Sheena to the other woman, now at the counter. "But... but... her?" Of all the people in the institute, why did it had to be the most infuriating woman he'd met?

Meanwhile, over at the counter, Yukari was having a revelation of her own.

"Ooh, you have strawberry ice cream?"

"Yes, her," Sheena replied with a defensive scowl. "Do you have a problem with her?" Other than the youkai being the one she chose over him. "I know she's irritating, annoying, and has an amazing ability to make people incredibly uncomfortable, but there is more to her. You just have to take the time to see it."

The ninja hmphed and grabbed one of the few fries left, gesturing with it. "And I can't really explain how it happened between us, but it just kind of did. Look, Forte, I'm sorry, but I can't help the way I feel any more than you can help the way you feel. It's part of being human."

She ran her fingers through her hair. "Please don;t make this any more difficult than it already is."

Forte was listening, and on some level he knew what she was saying made sense - he certainly couldn't explain why he felt the way he did, and there was no reason Sheena should be able to. But that was the rational reaction, and Forte was far from rational.

"But she's so- so-" what could he say? That she was mean to him? She told him just what it was he was feeling? "I'm not going to take the time, I don't know how you can even stand her! And- and she was the one who told me-" Once again, he was quickly losing the ability to form sentences, he didn't know what to do, it was just so damn confusing, and enraging. No, he didn't blame Sheena...

The thing about fast food was that it was fast. So it wasn't long before Yukari was heading back their way, tray of burger, fries and ice cream in hand. A smile on her face, Yukari came within hearing range just in time to catch the end of Forte's protests.

"The one who told you what, hmm?" she teased as she came up to the table, setting her food down. "That you were in love~? Would you rather I left you in the dark?"

Was it better to have loved and lost or to have been unaware you were in love in the first place? Of course, perhaps Yukari wasn't the best person to learn that from.

Sheena's eyes went wide, her eyebrow twitched, and she turned her gaze into the youkai. "You told him what? Yukari..."

She wasn't so much angry as much as she was irritated. So, Yukari was the reason she was in this position for more than one reason. She was perfectly fine, in a way, dealing with this because of her relationship with the youkai, but to find out that half of it was because she had so graciously informed the robot of what his feelings meant. Didn't she know where that would lead to? Hell, what if Sheena had chosen Forte over her; was that an acceptable risk to open her mouth like that?

"Damn youkai," she muttered.

Forte was far beyond feeling awkward or uncomfortable. In fact, what he was feeling now was an unfortunately familiar mixture of anger, betrayal, and jealousy. But mostly anger.

He jumped to his feet, slamming his hands on the table and turning to Yukari. "You knew the whole time, and you... you were just mocking me, because you already knew I had no chance!"

It seemed Forte, at least, thought the latter was a better option, but then, so did many when the former happened to them.

"I told him the truth; shocking, I know," she said coolly in response to the reception she was getting. Alright, so maybe it was all kinds of awkward for Sheena to have to deal with a lovestruck robot, but someone probably would have told him anyway. Well, maybe not if all his other friends were robots. As for the robot himself...

"Now, now, don't sell yourself short. I wouldn't say you had no chance," she replied calmly in the face of Forte's outrage. "You were wondering why you felt that way, and I simply enlightened you."

Okay, so maybe she thought her chances at winning Sheena's affections were just a smidgen better than Forte's, to say the least, but it hadn't been her intention to make him struggle fruitlessly and laugh at his efforts. The other thing was, unlike the ninja, Yukari wasn't nearly as possessive, at least not in the sense of monopolizing the girl for herself. Just as long as she got the biggest piece of the ninja-pie.

Besides, it was more fun to see people interact than not interact, to make those connections that spanned the gaps between them. Humans - and robots, it seemed - were such interesting creatures.

"It would have been better if it had been someone other than you," Sheena muttered, rubbing her temples.

Because then this wouldn't have happened, this angry robot that looked like he wanted to take a swing at Yukari. The ninja wouldn't let him, keeping a close eye on Forte, as she would stop him the moment he tried to, but that didn't make it any easier. She was well aware that Forte had a temper and was prone to lashing out.

"Forte, sit down," the ninja said with a subtle commanding tone. "Stop making a scene. And didn't I tell you if things were different, I might have said yes."

Sheena's warning fell on deaf ears, as Forte had forgotten she was even there. He had a reservoir of emotion that was being tapped into and quickly taking him over, much more deeply rooted than what he felt for her.

He might have found something in this entire institute that would have been good, that would have made it almost worth being stuck here in this human body, but before he was even aware there was a competition, he'd lost. Why? Because she was better than him? Because she just happened to be first? She was all smug and laughing and smiles, and now that he confronted her, she was trying to play calm and innocent. Goddammit she was just like him!

"I hate you! It's all your fault!"

The boy finally gave in, screaming and swinging a punch at her smug face as hard as he could.

Edited 2010-04-29 17:08 (UTC)

"Perhaps," Yukari agreed absently, though her attention was more on Forte than Sheena, for the same reasons the ninja was looking at him. So as it was, the look on her face was not one of surprise when he struck out at her. If anything, it was, perhaps, disappointment. But it was only there for a moment.

The youkai dodged back in her chair, just enough to keep out of range of his initial attack while the ninja restrained him. A punch was so obvious; maybe if he'd tried to kick her or something underhanded, he'd have made his mark, but she already knew what kind of person he was, so this much was easy to predict. Unfortunately.

Unfortunate because now her teasing was at an end, for the moment. Any more would be cruel, and while Yukari could be cruel, Forte didn't deserve that. She didn't pity him enough to do something for him, but at least enough not to do something to him. It would have been a little more interesting had he been able to restrain himself, but it seems that was asking too much of the robot.

She chose not to say anything for the moment, as it was sure just to provoke him further. Though not saying anything would probably aggravate him anyway. Sometimes, you just can't win.

And there it was. Sheena was, herself, disappointed even if she understood it.

Sheena didn't even get up as she caught Forte's fist with her left hand, the other grasping his wrist firmly and turning it sharply to the outside. It wasn't enough to do any damage, but there would be a twinge of pain that will hopefully get Forte to come to his senses.

"Forte!" Sheena's words were sharper than the twist on his wrist as she held him from doing anything else.

Forte winced as Sheena twisted his arm, but the only response she got at first was a snarl, the boy looking more like a feral animal than a supposedly logical robot.

After a moment of being restrained, pulling and only twisting his arm more, he was far from calm, but regained enough focus to realize this wasn't going to help anything - and see the nurses quickly approaching. He growled back, "Fine, just let me go." He no longer intended to attack Yukari, but he couldn't stand to be near either one of them right now.

Edited 2010-04-30 03:53 (UTC)

Yukari sighed. What could have been something amusing was quickly falling apart. Well, it was probably too much to expect someone as straight-forwards and serious as Forte to be able to play along. Hope had been replaced by frustration, and that made for a much less entertaining creature who smoldered rather than glowed. Instead of an amusing and interesting competition, she was just left with someone trying to quit the game entirely.

"I'm not going to apologize," she said simply, sitting back and crossing her arms. "But I do think it's unfortunate that it came to this."

She regretted the result, but none of the actions that led to it. Life was a game of chance, and even if one makes the best moves, it sometimes still comes to naught. Well, there was still hope for the future.

Letting go with one hand, the one on his wrist remaining, Sheena leaned forward enough to briefly touch Forte's cheek. "You're better than this," she said, referring to his snarling countenance. "And I am still your friend."

The ninja finally released him with a sigh, leaning back in her chair before waving the nurses off as best she could. This had turned out horribly. It almost ruined her day. Almost.

"Fine", he growled again. Yukari was just sitting back smugly, acting for all the world like she had done nothing wrong, and he was... not even surprising, not even intimidating, she was just bored with him. He turned away and rushed quickly to the door, fighting the increasing urge to try again.

Perhaps she seemed smug, but if anything, Yukari considered this a failure. She didn't know for herself, but she hoped Sheena was right. Despite everything, she rather liked the boy when he wasn't trying to punch her in the face. Hopefully he'd get over this setback and try again, now that he knew what he was up against.

"I will, however, say that I'm sorry I ruined your lunch," said the youkai quietly, glancing over at Sheena after the robot left. "It wasn't my intention to cause an argument like that."

Some things, Yukari planned. Others, she didn't plan at all. This series of events was one of the latter, but who knew if the ninja would believe that? She was, after all, the most suspicious youkai.

"I know," Sheena replied, feeling the sincerity through their connection.

The ninja slumped back into her chair and tucked her hair behind her ear. "He'll calm down... eventually. And then he'll hide again for a while trying to pretend this didn't happen while throwing himself into horribly dangerous situations. Then... he might talk. He might try to best you or something if he thinks I'm worth it." She shrugged her shoulders, not sure if she was worth it, especially knowing there was little chance for him while she had her youkai.

"Hey... Come find me in the park by the buses when you're done eating?" Her chair scraped against the floor as she stood. "I'm feeling a bit restless," she added on before leaving Yukari to the remainder of her lunch.

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mind-the-sukima.livejournal.com - 2010-04-30 23:49 (UTC) - Expand

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