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

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[doneinthree]

Despite the insistence of his nurse, Kirk didn't bother to button up his coat before heading outside. The day was cold and damp, uncomfortably like that night Bill had wandered into the arms of that patchwork creature, but for a few seconds, Kirk didn't give a damn about any of it. He breathed the sharp air deep into his lungs, and turned his gaze upwards, blue eyes drinking in the square of grey outside the courtyard walls.

He wasn't claustrophobic - he wasn't phobic of anything, despite his efforts that one year to pretend he was, just so he could attend those counselling sessions Bones had for his aviophobia. The Starfleet psychiatrists had quickly found Kirk out and ejected him on the grounds of being more of a distraction than effective moral support. Or maybe it was because of that formal complaint Bones had filed. Whatever. If it wasn't a phobia, then it was something else which propelled him constantly and compulsively off solid ground, towards the wide open sky.

Was it even space up there? Or was it one more false image being pipelined into his brain, if Chekov was right and this was all some kind of simulation? Perhaps the only thing they could be certain of was that the territory beyond their prison was unknown. Undiscovered.

"Where no man has gone before," Kirk murmured.

[Howl]

[slipperymagic]

"I suppose it is an adventure of some sort," the man who had come to stand next to Kirk said. His pitiful level of enthusiasm betrayed that fact that he most definitely did not enjoy the prospect of any sort of adventure. It was certainly nothing that made him want to vaguely quote old programmes.

Howl wasn't even sure why he had said anything at all. He knew that now he was going to be sucked hopelessly into a conversation with this stranger. The man looked about Howl's own age, give or take, and he had that classic heroic look to him. Somewhere along the line, thanks largely to Ingary's fairytale logic, that look had made Howl start to imagine daring knights and gold-hearted rogues, rather than the flawed athletes and movie stars of his own world.

He had never adjusted to the way Ingary worked, but perhaps he had grown to rely upon it all the same. Ultimately, he was as out of place in a land of fantasy as he had been in the 'real' world. Case in point, as the handsome tragic stranger, Ingary's very nature dictated that he should have swept a single lady off her feet, and then ran off with her to live happily ever after. Instead, he created unnatural ripples of heartbreak.

A cool breeze blew Howl's hair into his face, and he gave the other man a tight smile from behind the dark strands. Vain as always, he still had enough left in him to hope that he looked more beautiful than he felt.

[doneinthree]

Kirk's gaze dropped from the sky at last to look at the man who'd spoken to him. He looked considerably less... unique than Beelzemon, although his brown hair was longer than was the style the last time Kirk had been on Earth. Of course, Earth conventions meant very little in this place. Hell, he was beginning to doubt that this universe even bore much resemblance to the one he'd left behind.

"Yeah, when Starfleet told me I'd get the chance to explore new worlds, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind," Kirk answered wryly. There was something a little off about the man's appearance, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He seemed human, just...

Well, never mind. He'd met his fair share of humans and non-humans in his life, and knew well enough that they all fell within a wide spectrum of personalities. Kirk slid his hands into his coat pockets, his ease a perfect contrast to the man's displeasure. "But I guess I can't discount an adventure as an adventure just because I'm not winning." The corner of his lip quirked. "Yet, anyway."

[slipperymagic]

Howl folded his arms in one smooth, expressive motion. He couldn't entirely resist giving the man a skeptical look when he began to launch into his science-fiction inspired commentary, but Howl had kept one eye on the bulletin board. He knew that variety of origins that people laid claim to. Funny, really, that he found fantasy to be a more acceptable reality than zipping through outer space to new planets and what have you. Both were equally ridiculous.

His attitude was enough to grate at Howl, though. Not in any way that was justifiable, of course, but perhaps out of jealousy. Not only was he apparently a natural blond, but he was confidently optimistic, and didn't seem like an idiot either. Howl had it right when he pinned him as a self-appointed hero. Personally, Howl was not one to flirt with adventures he couldn't come out of alive with absolute certainty. No one would be terribly impressed to know that, but those he wanted to impress would never know.

"'Yet', you say?" Howl asked, unable to suppress his morbid curiosity. "Do you have some grand plan to turn the tables on our magnanimous kidnappers?"

[doneinthree]

"Still working on it," Kirk answered, without the decency to show the slightest trace of sheepishness. Overconfidence was either his greatest weakness or greatest strength depending on whom you asked, but right now, he would take his brand of recklessness over navel-gazing. Kirk strode a few paces east, towards the greenery-covered brick wall he'd noticed the last time he was outside.

The nurses were keeping a close eye on them as usual, but he'd learned that they'd happily leave him alone so long as he didn't do anything dangerous. Speaking about dangerous things was free game. "Those vines there are practically asking for us to climb over the wall," he remarked, one hand tracing a path through the air as he tried to judge the stability of the vines without touching them. "But you get transported back to your bed no matter how far you go from here at night."

Kirk glanced back at the dark-haired man. "Or so a note on the bulletin said a few days ago. I don't suppose you've tried it yourself?"