Day 60: Recreational Field (Third Shift)

[razing_phoenix]

It was definitely a good thing that Tear had tracked him down, seeing how she'd had a wealth of interesting information for him. Granted, a lot of it he could have guessed himself, especially the details about Landel's capabilities, but it was always good to have it confirmed by a trustworthy source

Comments

[chippforprez]

Normally, Chipp wouldn't have paid too much attention to his fellow patients, not out of spite but because he was too busy focusing on more important things like getting the hell out of here and kicking ass. However, a girl nearby managed to catch his attention and keep it, which was truly an admirable feat. It was really hard to ignore the crazy rainbow hair, but it was harder still for him to ignore her attempts at walking. Was she someone who was just getting out of her wheelchair? Simply by observing her, it was like she never walked before in her life.

Damn, was this place that kind of hospital now? Even so, how could they just leave a girl like that to learn how to do it by herself?! She needed training. And there was someone in this place who was completely willing to train her and get her up off the ground and running in no time. He couldn't call himself someone worthy of being President if he didn't help, right? Right! Chipp wasted no more time, walking over to where the girl was crouching down and stuck out his hand for her to grab.

"You alright? Let me help you out with that!"

[rainboompow]

"Huh?" Rainbow glanced up. It was the gray-haired human, and he was trying to help her up. Her first instinct? "I don't need help! I can do this myself," she answered, shaking her head and ignoring the extended hand. She knew she could do this, and the less she had to get bogged down by the weirdos here, the better.

Her knees were still sore after hitting the ground, though, and her legs were tingling from being pushed so hard so suddenly. It didn't feel like she couldn't get up, but it did feel like it was going to take longer to get out of her crouch than she would've liked. So, grudgingly, Rainbow spoke up again after a moment of silence. "...Okay maybe just help me get up, but then I'm good."

[chippforprez]

"Huh?" What the hell, he was trying to help her out and that was the kind of response he got? If Chipp was a tiny bit more of an asshole, he might have huffed and walked away. But maybe he sort of could understand how the girl felt, remembering how he repaid his Master Tsuyoshi's kindness by trying to kill him for a month. Sometimes, you just had to be really stubborn about offering help. And if Chipp could claim to be anything, it was stubborn. "Yeah, I thought so. Don't worry, I'll help you out!"

Of course, he had no intention of watching her fail at trying to walk again. Sure, just letting people figure things out could be a good teaching method, but this girl looked like she didn't even know where to stop. He didn't even know legs could bend in that direction.

"Okay... Have you ever walked before in your life or has it just been awhile?" That seemed like a reasonable place to start. Although his words could definitely be taken the wrong way, Chipp looked extremely serious as he stared at the girl. Where to start? Damn, how was he supposed to explain something like walking? Well, whatever, he could do it! If he was going to become President, then teaching someone how to walk was something he could definitely do!

Chipp didn't even bother thinking about how those two things were remotely connected.

[rainboompow]

Rainbow let the human pull her up by one hand, her arm tensing slightly as her fingers naturally closed around it. Having hands was like suddenly having her hooves tranformed into mini octopi (fivetopi?), only with more bones; it was creepy. ...But even Rainbow couldn't deny: being able to use her new fingers to grip things did have its uses. At the very least, it was probably better to just give in and use the fingers rather than just let them flop around like jellyfish tentacles. That didn't mean she had to like it, though.

She would have protested at the human not leaving her right then and there, but the words out of his mouth caught her off-guard before she could speak. "O-of course I know how to walk!" she sputtered disbelievingly, though in the back of her mind, she was thinking I wasn't that bad, was I? She shook her head, clarifying: "It's just walking on two legs makes no sense! There's so much more balance and speed you can get on four! Urghh, how do you guys stand it?"

It was about then that Rainbow realized she hadn't yet let go of the human's hand; she had been relying on that to stay upright while speaking. As soon as she noticed, she yanked it away, wobbling slightly afterward, but otherwise able to stay up now that she had been helped into the right standing position. She continued: "Anyway, soon as I figure out how to work this body better, I'm outta here. Can't take that long."

[chippforprez]

"It makes perfect sense, you use two legs to run and two arms to fight! I have plenty of balance and speed!" Chipp retorted, and for a moment, it seemed like he didn't even register the oddity of her statement and kept on going. Damnit, he was going to help her walk and no insult from her was going to stop him! Who had four legs to walk with anyway? ... Oh.

Despite his initial offering to help, Chipp didn't even bother to hide his confused expression as he tried to look behind her, as if he would see two extra pair of lega sticking out of her backside or something. There was nothing of the sort, but Chipp still had to wonder. What was she, exactly? Some kind of Gear...? The more he listened, the more it sounded like she wasn't a human. But she looked like one... Alright, if he thought about this too hard, it was going to hurt. Who cared?! He was supposed to be helping her walk!

"Yeah, well, I'll get you up and running in no time. Just follow me," Chipp instructed, walking a few paces away from her. He hadn't forgotten that her whole lesson was in walking, turning around to face her. "One foot in front of the other. Just take it slowly! The Japanese say that you fall seven times, and stand up eight!"

Damn, he was good at being reassuring. There was no way he'd fail to get her up and running in no time. Even if she was some... not-human-possibly-Gear-previously-four-legged thing. Whatever, he'd figure that out after he helped her.

[rainboompow]

"And if you need to fight and move at the same time, that's what wings are for!" Rainbow re-retorted. Though, even as she made that argument, she did think for a moment about earth pony runners like Applejack who did just fine without wings. Whatever. It probably didn't matter right now, she thought. All that mattered was staying on her feet and getting the hay out of there.

While briefly lost in that thought, Rainbow missed Chipp's moment of confusion, hearing only the continued attempts at "helping" her out. "Oh yeah? Well it sounds like whoever the Japanese are, they don't know too much about balance if they're falling over all the time," she said, unable to help a hint of snark creeping into her tone, or a slightly self-satisfied grin from crossing her face.

"But anyway, I don't have time to go slow! The longer I putter around here, the more Discord is gonna mess everything up out there!" she clarified, gesturing out beyond the wall with one hand open (wobbling slightly again as she did).

[chippforprez]

Wings? Alright, she had to be a Gear or something. Chipp had half a mind to ask her, not because he saw her as a threat, but maybe to ask if she knew anything about that weird pirate girl who fell on him a year ago who also happened to have weirdass wings and then -

And then the girl insulted the Japanese. And Chipp absolutely could not allow this conversation to continue without correcting this grievous mistake. Although Chipp wasn't looking too friendly to begin with, he looked absolutely livid as he marched right up to the girl and stared down into her eyes, right into her very soul as he made his feelings about the wisdom of the Japanese very clear.

"The Japanese are masters of balance," He hissed, punctuating each word with a jab to her shoulder each time as if trying to make a point. "Without the wisdom of the Japanese, I wouldn't be standing here teaching you how to walk! Show some respect! How can you not -"

Wait a minute, did she say "whoever the Japanese are"? Did she not... know about the Japanese people? For someone who came from a world where they were legitimately considered "international treasures". that sort of thing was unheard of and practically mindblowing. How she could not know about the Japanese?! Especially if she was a Gear! No, he couldn't let this go. Before she learned how to walk, she had to learn about the Japanese. Nevermind all that crap about going fast or defeating Discord or whatever, there were bigger problems here!

So Chipp grabbed the girl's shoulders and started to push her down, trying to get her to sit and probably making the scene look a thousand times worse then it already was. "Okay, you know what, sit down and shut up! I'm gonna teach you about Japan!"

[rainboompow]

And before Rainbow could get a word in about how the guy had taught her jack squat about walking other than what she already knew, he was grabbing her by the shoulders and pushing her down toward the ground. With her already precarious sense of balance, it didn't take much effort to get her there, either. "Ow!" She hit the cold grass flat on her rump. The sting of pain shot up from rear to spine to head, making Rainbow's eyes scrunch shut for a moment.

After the pain had passed, Rainbow's eyes snapped open and she glared up at the human. Forget learning anything from this guy: she needed to learn how to get away from him and/or kick him in the teeth right now.

"Hey stop it! Lemme go!! Japan could be a gumdrop for all I care! Not important right now! Get off already!" she shouted, flailing her arms and trying to shove the grey-maned human away from her as hard as she could.

[chippforprez]

The hell, now she was trying to hit him?! Chipp attempted to correct this by grabbing at her flailing arms, trying to get the brat to sit still for a minute. At this rate, he forgot entirely about teaching her how to walk and was now just doing his best to defend Japan's honor as a weaboo ninja who had no idea how the country actually worked when it was still around.

"No! Japan is very important! You need to learn this!" Chipp argued back, and that was what caught a nearby nurse's attention, who was horrified by the sight of what appeared to be a grown man trying to beat up a crippled young woman. It therefore should have been no surprise that Chipp was quickly yanked away by an orderly as tall as he was, so caught off guard that he nearly fell over himself. What the fuck?!

"Robert! That is absolutely no way to treat a lady!" The nurse shouted, getting between Chipp and the girl. It took him some time to really process what was happening: He was being held down by some guy and the nurse was scolding him?

"What the hell?! I didn't do anything wrong, let me go!"

Of course, his demands were unheard by the nurse, who wouldn't hear another word of it as she motioned for the orderly to pull Chipp aside so she could give him another extensive scolding. At this point, the ninja also was aware that he was being pulled away from the girl, over to where the doors were. For the moment, she was spared from having to listen to a lecture about the great ways of the Japanese.

And Chipp? Chipp was in for the lecture of his life.