Day 54: Sun Room

[tightsofmight]

[From here. All your top posts shall be mine.]

Peter entered the Sun Room with a dour expression. Goody, he was the first one here. Fancy that. Pick of the couches was his then. Eeeny meeny miney...moe. Peter stalked over to what he knew from experience was the fluffiest couch in the room and eased himself into its downy soft embrace. Ordinarily he would have just pounced on that sucker, but yeah. His arm was in a sling for a reason. He sighed and wormed his way into a full body sprawl. He didn't care if it was irresponsible of him. This shift's only mission was to remain as still as possible.

Of course, being the first one in here had some stipulations. With great opportunity came great responsibility. Which today, came in the form of a soft meow from below. Then the sound of puncturing fabric, advancing upwards towards him. More meows, independent of one another and even more tiny punctures.

Peter Parker was now officially the cat sitter.

"...Oh hi... lonely kittens," he said uneasily as the first scrambled over the edge of the cushion. It padded towards his face. "No no, kittens don't belong near faces." He gently picked it up and put it on his chest. Two more crawled over the edge.

He had never really had a pet growing up. And he didn't hang out with a lot of people with cats or dogs, either. So of course, he didn't have a good idea of how to properly handle most animals without ticking them off. It looked like he was going to have to make up for lost time now, as the cats' numbers swelled to four. Two were exploring his legs, another batted at a fraying string on his sling, and the first stumbled back towards his face and mewed plaintively. Peter frowned and gave it a ginger pat on the head. That seemed to to the trick. He put it back on his chest again and scratched behind its ears.

"You guys had better not start doing that claw thing on my leg. I can't reach right now, but revenge will be mine if you do."

"Meeeeew!"

"I'm still petting you! Geez."

[For Elle Bishop.]

Comments

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

Sakura wasn't sure what she's expected as she buried her face somewhere near Howell's bony knees, but she was surprisingly glad when the voice that followed hers agreed, though it took some effort to roll over and look above them at the empty balconies. Her sharp green eyes narrowed and while she couldn't see the laughing masses, she was no less certain they were there. Silent laughter and all.

"I still got two... three... three of them before they stuck me with..." she trailed off, hand sliding to the back of her neck as she let out a sigh. Three wasn't that many, but unlike the staff, the men had been trained soldiers and cared a little less about whether or not they punched an adorable little girl in the solar plexus. Besides, she hadn't been trying so much to attack as she had to slip away, only to find many more of them waiting for her just outside the cafeteria anyway.

"They should just get to it," she said abruptly. "The waiting around is the worst! If they're gonna kill us all off anyway, they shouldn't have us suffering here without... without friends and... and without baths and... not even any good shampoo!"

Just because her hair wasn't long anymore didn't mean she didn't care at all about it. Besides, when it came to looks, at least she hadn't resorted to using ninjutsu to compensate like their Hokage had.

[slipperymagic.livejournal.com]

"I know!" Howl agreed with slurred enthusiasm. He even attempted to sit up, and managed to hoist up his body for a few moments in order to look at Sakura and gesture with one arm. His coordination was suffering quite a bit, though, and he soon gave up on the gesture. The drama was completely lost, and replaced with more embarrassment. He wasn't so far gone that he couldn't recognize that. "It's humiliating and degrading. Sometimes I think this is a poor example of magic use, and the rest of the time I think they simply don't care to fool us. They're likely seeking to make us believe we're less than human, you know. So they can pat themselves on the back for breaking us. I can't think of any other point to this."

That was a lie. He could think of worse things, but they frightened him too much to spend much time on.

"My dear," he mumbled into the crook of his arm where his face was now hidden, suddenly serious if not actually sober. "Next time, assuming I'm stronger then, I shall take you back to your home. Wherever it is, where all the girls have pink hair. You deserve a better example of a hero than myself, but I..." He stopped when his voice cracked.

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

The speech made perfect sense, though a good portion of that might be due to the drugs running through her system. But it was true! All these experiments; everything to let them know that their lives could be snuffed out in an instant. They were just playing his game. Was it all really just to break them?

"How could anyone be that cruel?" she sniffled. It wasn't as if they weren't human- though some weren't she supposed... but still-...

She watched him for a moment and messy as he was, he was no less handsome and his words no less touching. "It runs in my family," she offered, a sad sort of smile touching her lips as she shook her head. Why were all the best guys the ones she wasn't in love with? Lee would say the sort of things she'd kill puppies to hear Sasuke say to her. And even Naruto had his moments. Here there'd been Superboy too. And Howell of course.

Before she knew it, her nose was running again and she was sniffling back a few tears. "No... no, I think you're wonderful already Howell-san. You're always so nice to me and-... and... we'll find a way home, don't worry. We'll both get stronger, okay?"

[slipperymagic.livejournal.com]

Howl pressed his face more insistently into his arm for a moment. It took effort to resist the foolish urge to allow Sakura's incoming tears to be contagious. He didn't want nor deserve her faith, but he didn't believe that she was the sort to sit about and hope that Howl would come and sweep her off her feet. Rather, he recognized that she was giving him a pep talk. That made him laugh bitterly into the sofa, although it wasn't completely insincere. Although she was decidedly incorrect, it was nice enough to have someone around who believed you were nice and could overcome the odds. Such as things were, at least how they were normally, it wasn't often that someone would take enough pity on him to say these things. After all, to strangers he was a great wizard, dangerous and powerful, and to those who were closer by necessity, he was vain, intolerable, foolish and frustrating beyond comprehension. All they had room for was disdain! (But that wasn't all true, was it? He didn't want their mistaken affection. Why did they insist on giving it to him?)

Howl hardly felt composed, but he no longer feared he would shed tears out here in public, and so he started to sit up to look at her. His eyes were dead and lifeless, although the rest of him was alive enough, if sluggish. He took a good look at Sakura. Really, she was hardly more than a child, and she didn't seem to be scared at all. Well, perhaps she was scared, but she was at least not cowardly. It was more than anyone could hope for from Howl, a grown man with the power to bend reality to his liking.

"No, no, I'm a heartless man," he murmured, only half paying attention to his words, "and I'm likely as strong as I ever will be here. You... perhaps you will find the way first. I would not be surprised to hear it."