Day 48: Courtyard

[thatdamnedninja]

"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

Comments

[blood_and_pocky]

[For Zack!]

Aidou had a headache.

He was sure, in fact, it was the same monster headache that’d been dogging him since his arrival, oh, almost a month ago. He’d found its strength was directly proportional to his level of failure, so naturally upon waking he’d wanted to bury his pounding head under the pillow and pretend he didn’t have to go through yet another day of patient theatrics. Augh, he was just sick. Of everything. When had his lack of progress become a consistent habit instead of merely an intermittent aggravation? It was enough to make the vampire--

Well, it was enough to get him very, very angry, but that was also a futile habit of his. Hence, Aidou had sat through breakfast grinding his teeth, but by the time second shift came around, the sharp bite of frustration had dulled to a distant (and familiar) sense of disappointment. No, there no point in shouting out his fury, as much as he might like to. And no, this losing streak wouldn’t last, because he was going to change it. Tonight he’d do something. Something more

[zack_fair]

Speaking to ZEX had opened up Zack's mind even more when it came to realizing just how powerful the Head Doctor was. This was on a whole different scale from anything Hojo had been allowed to do. While the man had experimented on both him and Cloud, they were only two people. How many of the patients here had once been in different bodies, for instance? It was enough to make his skin crawl if he thought too hard about it. Still, it was good to see that ZEX took enjoyment out of some things, and he hadn't been as down in the dumps about his situation as he could have been. That was always good

[blood_and_pocky]

While the courtyard was not impressive, it seemed a fair indulgence that he take a little time to walk around, do something while he was outside in the fresh air. Something other than sit around on a lumpy couch or a hard plastic chair. Working his legs out at the same time he scoped out the area would be killing two birds with one stone

[zack_fair]

Zack had to admit he was a little disappointed. He knew that they'd only spoken once, and that Aidou hadn't showed himself to be the most eager person in that moment, but what kind of greeting was that? The soldier frowned and threw both of his hands into the air. "That's all I get? 'You'?" It was clear that he was only making a joke, but he did have to wonder why he only deserved a lackluster greeting

[blood_and_pocky]

There was something to be said for the sort of social interactions the noble was used to, especially with those who weren’t his own kind. Aidou didn’t think anything of what he’d blurted out until Zack frowned at him, which derailed his train of thought, causing him to backtrack. What was that supposed to mean? He openly wrinkled his nose in a look of speculation, clearly a touch nonplussed. “What about it? Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten you,” he offered. So what did Zack thing he was supposed to get? That hadn’t been all that rude, had it? Well, okay, he’d said it in more uncouth Japanese, but when he couldn’t be sure Japanese was what Zack was hearing what with the nonsensical language spells, so there was no guarantee such a thing had even translated

[zack_fair]

It wasn't that Zack had been worried that Aidou had forgotten him (it had only been two days, after all!), but it was more that the guy hadn't looked all that interested in even seeing them again. Then again, he couldn't blame him too much when all Zack had done during their first meeting was dump questions on him. Either way, he hadn't actually been as offended as he'd acted, so it was all water under the bridge as far as he was concerned

[blood_and_pocky]

The opportunity to plan and get his business in order was the best medicine possible, in Aidou’s opinion. He’d been averaging a suitable amount of blood, but at the same time, he was stagnating in other areas. Very important areas, like how this place continued to do what it did. It was good that Zack had stopped by on his own

[zack_fair]

It was good to see that Aidou wasn't taking his response personally or anything. It wasn't like Zack wanted to turn these people down, but he'd ended up with a lot more on his plate than he'd planned for. He knew it was good to keep busy, but he was going to have to make sure he kept everything straight. He usually had relied on his phone for that, but he obviously wasn't so lucky here. Even writing by hand on that bulletin board had been a blast from the past.

As the kid went on to explain why he needed him, Zack nodded in response. In that case, it sounded like any other patient would do, which honestly made him wonder why Aidou had decided to ask him of all people. Not that Zack didn't think he would be a good pick for the job (of course he would!), but Aidou had been here a while. He would have thought he'd have met a ton of people who could help. Still, maybe it went back to what ZEX had said about there not being many military types here

[blood_and_pocky]

Dimly, he had to repress a snort at the words ‘string you along’. If it wasn’t his enemies themselves, something else was bound to confound him either way, Aidou had found. His expectations were already low, so it didn’t much matter. The sentiment was nonetheless quaint

[zack_fair]

If Aidou didn't have anywhere specific that he wanted to go, then Zack was content with just taking a stroll as they talked. It would allow him to get a good idea of the scope of this courtyard, and what he was quickly realizing was that it wasn't all that big. Enough to allow them to stretch their legs, but that was about it. An illusion of freedom, but he knew better. No one was going to find their wings here

[blood_and_pocky]

Ah, yes, one variable always involved in picking teams were temperaments. And the fact that Zack seemed the type to accept some things as they came without distracting Aidou with a bunch of pointless questions or outbursts or other mental fits was fine by him. He eyed the human, assigning a few more ‘like’ points to him. The basement had been chalk full of messy and somewhat rough plans from the beginning, Aidou knew this, but the lack of proper preparation would be much easier if the people he had to work with could just deal with things instead of getting on the noble’s nerves

[zack_fair]

So Aidou already had someone else in mind, huh? It looked like he would be the third piece of the puzzle, then. Zack was going to feel even worse if he had to decline, in that case. It sounded like Aidou was more or less ready to put his plan into action, and Zack would be holding him back if he had to devote his time to something else

[blood_and_pocky]

That would work. If Sasuke had his other business to attend to then, well, Aidou would figure something else out to round out a three-person group. Almost any other fighter-type would be preferable to cooperating with an ex-human again; if he looked at things that way, he had a hell of a lot more choices. There was always the option of helping Sasuke in order for Sasuke to be free later…

Outwardly, Aidou just nodded and gave an acknowledging, “Okay,” while inwardly suppressing a scowl at Landel’s routine interruption. It was exceptionally infuriating that afternoon, though. Ugh, that fool! What he wouldn’t give to end that life once and for all.

At least his morning hadn’t been a total waste. This’d been something resembling progress.