Day 40: Greenhouse

[thatdamnedninja]

Yuffie was in two minds about how the 'meeting' with Orangello had gone. No, scratch that; two was way too small a number. Maybe four? Or five, no, make it six. Maybe. The only thing she knew for sure was that something had to give, and it sure wasn't going to be her. Whether or not she actually joined up with anybody was irrelevant, as long as she

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[brightlyshine]

It took Elena a little bit of time to get out of the cafeteria, although getting away from all the food smells was helpful. She actually didn't mind the shift away from all the boys after the discussion from breakfast. Because, well, yeah they were her family, but she didn't want them over-worrying about her. And she figured there'd be a lot of time for that later in the day, or something.

But at the moment, there was someone else she thought that could be helpful. She made her way into the greenhouse, looking around before she spotted the familiar face. "Yuffie?"

[thatdamnedninja]

Yuffie quickly gave up on the plant. It was… plant-like. So, what? What was she supposed to do with it, aside from wonder if it was edible? The only thing she really knew was what kind of trees were best to sleep in, and which herbs were helpful or harmful.

Luckily, Elena didn't take too long. “Hey!” Spinning away from the plant, the ninja clasped her hands behind her back. After the Turk's reaction to the whole 'going out at night with Reno' thing, it'd been a bit surprising that she'd been asked to meet up like this. Not bothering to school her expression to hide her curiosity, she cocked her head to the side. “'Sup?”

And now that she was looking a little closer, she could see that Elena really didn't look too good. Pretty roughed up, actually.

[brightlyshine]

She seemed happy enough, Elena thought, or at least enough of her usual self that she assumed Yuffie was doing okay so far for what this place was. And she did feel a bit sorry for her knowing that Cid and Cloud had disappeared...

But Elena had so much more she was worried about, and she wondered if the other girl might have a better clue than she did.

"Sorry... Really rough night," she greeted, glancing at the plant Yuffie had been paying attention to. "You know, getting kidnapped and experimented on, that kind of fun stuff. Found out a couple things about materia, though..."

That should get the girl's attention.

[thatdamnedninja]

Happy wasn't exactly the word for it, but Yuffie was a master of the superficial. A master of 'getting over things'; nothing could stop the Great Ninja Yuffie, not ever. She wouldn't let it. Besides, why would she go showing weakness to a Turk? Even if they had a decent working relationship-- or not working, in Reno's case -- there was no excuse for that.

Rough night, huh. That wasn't exactly surprising. “Business as usu--- wait, back up a second!” Yuffie straightened, arms falling to her sides. “You kinda look like somebody drop-kicked you out of a low-flying helicopter, yeah, but you got dragged off for those experimentation things-- and materia? What about materia?” She paused for a breath, her expression an odd mixture of dismay and fascination. It was kinda like walking down a path to a train wreck. “Don't tell me this was some kind of Hojo wannabe. Or the guy himself.”

The name still sent pinpricks of anger zinging up and down her spine. And, with it, something that almost, almost resembled fear. They'd taken a Turk. For

[brightlyshine]

Elena blushed a little, glancing around and kind of avoiding Yuffie's gaze. She'd figured she might as well be honest about the whole thing, considering what she was about to ask. If it'd been anyone else, she would have been more careful about her words.

"A wannabe, for sure," she agreed. It was embarrassing to admit she'd been so easily caught. Might as well get down to buisness. "But um... You know a lot about materia, don't you? Have you ever heard of a case of melting one down into liquid?"

[thatdamnedninja]

Nice way to avoid Major Awkward, right there. Yuffie almost sighed in relief when Elena didn't press for sympathy - she'd been caught out, now she had to pick herself up and keep going. That's what Turks did, right? Something like that. “You guys manage to kill him afterwards? I'm, uh, assuming that the rest of your harem turned up sooner or later…” Jeez, if they hadn't, that'd just suck.

Elena's next words really weren't what she’d been expecting to hear. Blinking hard, Yuffie ruffled at her hair, running her fingers through it. “Melting materia down to liquid?” A scientist she was not, but Yuffie was proud to call herself an expert on materia. “Umm. That's kind of…”

Sick and wrong. Stupid. Weird.

“I've never heard of anything like that being done,” she continued, marshalling her thoughts. “Whole materia being inserted into somebody, yeah, and of course there's mako baths and all that other creepy stuff. I guess it could be done -- I mean, obviously, since you…” Abruptly, she shifted a little and managed to catch Elena's gaze

[brightlyshine]

"It's weird, isn't it?" Elena smiled sadly without humor as she thought the situation over. "I mean, I've studied materia in training and other such things before, but this one's new to me."

Her head was still hurting, and she rubbed at her temples a bit. "It was a mystify materia. A mastered one that can cause beserk."

Glancing around to make sure no one was listening in on their conversation, she lowered her voice, trying to hide the fear in her tone. "I... I don't really want Reno and Rude to freak out, but... I can still hear it in my head. The spell, or whatever it is it does... it's still there. I'm just... more in control for now somehow. But I'm worried it might come back."

[thatdamnedninja]

“No kidding,” Yuffie mumbled in response. In a way, she was still reeling from the very idea -- melting down materia! Ugh, why would anybody want to do something like that? And then to mistreat it, using it for horrible experiments? One more thing to add to the list of unforgivable acts committed by the Institute

[brightlyshine]

It was a lot to take in, Elena knew. Heck, she still wasn't sure she completely believed it herself. But either way she had to deal with it now, and as much as the questions Yuffie had for her was a bit overwhelming, she knew she had to think through the answers.

"Right. And maybe it'll still wear off... but I don't know how long it'll take, or what it'll do in the meantime while it's... still in my system. I-I don't know if anyone's ever dealt with this, since it's not like that mako the SOLDIERs dealt with or anything."

Her fingers unconscious rubbed across her elbow as she held her arms together. "And... a little, I guess. My training was a bit... rushed at the end, since they pulled me in to help while Reno was out of commission, but I've seen a couple. But they try and teach us not to rely on the stuff too much, either, so."

She gave the other girl a weak smile. "I'll tell you it feels like the worst hangover ever the next day, so don't try it."

[thatdamnedninja]

This was a total mess. The implications of it were pretty sucky, and Yuffie wasn't even done cycling through them all. She'd sit on Cid's airship for a month, just to have one of the WRO's scientists on hand to bail her out. “The closest example we have is all the messed up stuff that was done to Vince, and it's not like we have all the details on that, either.” She didn't really want details on that

[brightlyshine]

Elena sighed softly. She was so tired and still didn't feel all that great, so all the complicated talk about materia was a bit overwhelming. She didn't know all that much about Vincent either, except for their encounters in the past and the fact that he was a former Turk, but... somehow she didn't think it would help much. The man wasn't even here.

"I guess... I'll just have to be careful for a while, or something, since I don't know when it might get strong again. I just really want a break for a while, you know? Fighting for work is one thing, but this is a bit ridiculous."

[thatdamnedninja]

Yuffie sighed as well, long and heavy and almost an attempt to force all the air out of her lungs, before falling abruptly into a lazy sitting-sprawl on the floor. “Might as well sit down,” she yawned. “The nurses already know that we find all the green stuff about as appealing as a 'hug a Tonberry' campaign.”

She stretched her legs out, leaning her weight on her palms. “If you want a break, have a night off! Grab Reno and Rude an tell 'em you're taking a vacation. Do something stupid and fun and possibly involving crossdressing. There's no point in letting this place wear you down.” Yuffie's own effort to smack back against the weariness were working, kind of, but she suspected - somewhat distantly - that she was laying it on a little thick. At least nobody here knew her well enough to call her on it.