[Semi]

[thricepawned]

Characters: Itou, semi-open to Sasuke, Jade, and Takasugi.
Location: Training grounds
Rating: Durr
Time: December 26 Morning, before the blizzard
Description: Itou's tired of being an invalid, and goes on a quest to get back in shape, one arm or no.

Comments

JADE

[thricepawned]

He was already tired. Itou knew logically and due to having to sleep a lot the past three weeks that his stamina and endurance was completely wrecked, but he didn't really expect it to be this terrible. What he could do for hours before became utterly exhausting after barely one.

Today was his first day of practice and might color how he did the following days, however. So he took a short rest and started again, determined to last longer because nothing else would satisfy him.

[curtissy]

It was about that time that Jade passed by some distance away, idly looking around as was usual for him even when he was certainly quite alone with only the wind and the snow as company.

Despite the blizzard warning that had prompted him to return to his apartment quickly, a curious sight caught his attention, one interesting enough to make him stop. Kamotaro Itou...what could he be thinking, training out here at a time like this?

"This wasn't anything I'd expect to see right now, but I suppose there's a first time for everything," Jade commented only when he was within earshot range. And that was very close indeed, since he could barely even hear his own voice.

[thricepawned]

Itou didn’t know about the blizzard warning - he’d been out here since earlier this morning, and hadn’t taken to looking at his communicator. He’d noticed the wind picking up, but had dismissed it as the day proceeding as usual.

He’d been on the same form since he started - the beginning, most basic form - unwilling to move further until he’d perfected it. When Jade spoke up so near him (Itou had been so focused on his arm that he hadn’t even noticed), Itou whipped around with the sword to strike. Seeing Jade’s face made him abruptly abort the move before the hit could connect. Two wobbly steps later and attempting to flail with an arm that he didn’t have and he was on his ass on the ground.

[curtissy]

Well. Jade supposed that this was the part where he should be apologizing profusely and help Itou up. But that would have been a mistake, wouldn't it? He'd offer to assist, but it would be up to Itou to accept or refuse.

"Will you need any help?" Jade asked, not moving from where he stood. And as an afterthought, he added: "My apologies for interfering with your practice, by the way. However, it's best that we leave soon."

[thricepawned]

He looked up at Jade with bewilderment for a moment, stunned by unexpectedly losing his balance for no apparently reason. This was quickly replaced by anger, annoyance, and then some exasperation as he struggled to place himself in whatever the hell situation he’d found himself in.

“Why?” he croaked instead, throat dry from exercise and not speaking for an hour. Itou got his legs under him and pushed himself off the ground, surreptitiously fixing his glasses and patting his pants’ leg as he did so. No, he did not need help.

[curtissy]

As expected, that annoyance had been more amusing even if Itou had reacted better than he would have expected of most people.

"While I'm sure that you must be dedicated to your training, I rather doubt that you'd like to do that in a blizzard," Jade replied simply, as if they had been on friendly terms. "Or perhaps that would suit you even better."

sob, all the typo.

[thricepawned]

"A blizzard," he echoed dumbly, before shaking his head and finally moving with purpose. If there was a blizzard coming, Itou was the last person who wanted to be outside when it hit. He picked up his heavy coat and shrugged it on (it involved more bending around than it should) before tucking his sword into one of the belt loops of the coat. It was a poor sheathe, but it did free his hand for better things.

"If you're heading back to the Communal, shall we walk together?" The sweat was freezing on his face. He wiped it away with a kerchief, but mostly kept his hand in his pocket.

[curtissy]

"Sure, why not?" Jade replied, indicating that he didn't mind either way. His own hands were already inside his pockets but that was less due to the cold and more because it was customary for him to do so.

[thricepawned]

That didn't require an answer, he assumed. Itou only bunched his shoulders against the biting cold and began the walk back to the Communal, taking the wooden sword with him. He'd asked before if he could take it, and the answer had been encouraging enough.

"Were you in training, too?" he asked eventually, to be polite.

[curtissy]

"I wasn't. As a matter of fact, I had been about to leave for work before this warning appeared on the communicator," Jade said, simply stating things and showing his communicator as proof.

But that in itself had been unusual. Strange weather, this...was the weather system of this world more bizarre than Jade had thought or was this but another tell-tale sign of the Madness Wavelength?

The only sign that Jade had been thinking anything at all was a slight adjustment of his glasses and a casual look at the person walking beside him. "I wonder if this weather will persist."

[thricepawned]

Itou looked at Jade in surprise at the mention of work - it hadn’t occurred to him that the man would get one, if Shibusen made things so convenient. Itou had no intention of acquiring a job here himself. It seemed like keeping Kondo from baring his ass to the public was a full-time job, not to mention trying to keep alive from Okita’s attempts at making his life difficult. He masked the rest of his thoughts by rummaging around his pockets for the communicator

[curtissy]

"I suppose it was quite fortunate. You were after all quite absorbed in your training when I first found you, and it'd be absolutely tragic if you had frozen to death without even realizing why." Jade's tone may have been mocking, but the sudden onset of the blizzard was clearly bothering him too. Of course, there was nothing to it right now but to head back to the apartment to wait it out.

"While that's true, it's only December right now and the weather wasn't permitting. Unless you propose that something else is at play, perhaps," he said a while later, as if he only thought of it afterwards.

[thricepawned]

Itou only gave a non-committal reply to that, failing to be offended by that because he wasn't actually sure if that wasn't true. Besides, the weather was more interesting to talk about.

"I'm not so familiar with this world's physics yet, but I've read that Madness sometimes contributes to a climate change," he suggested, not entirely sure about the theory because he didn't have a good grasp of the idea of Madness yet. "We may be protected here inside Death City from this Madness, but the rest of Nevada -- or the country -- is not."

[curtissy]

"Tomorrow's weather report might shed more light on the issue. While it is correct that we are protected from the worst of the madness, this weather is hardly what I would call being 'protected from the Madness'," he replied, looking up at the sky.

If it was this bad here, how much worse could it be outside of the city? While Jade may not have ordinarily be concerned about such matters, he did still consider every anomaly as something to be investigated.

[thricepawned]

"This is merely being unprotected from the weather. That the weather can be influenced by something else is not something that can be helped," Itou suggested, although it was all theory. Instead of looking at the sky, he looked down at his feet to watch his step, because the cobbled streets was becoming slippery.

"It's more a matter of finding out if the influencing factor is a direct threat to us or not."

[curtissy]

It was less the weather and more the protection as a whole that was on Jade's mind, as the barrier that was currently up was said to be weaker than the one before. He glanced at the road for a while, noting Itou's caution.

"I suppose we could ask if anyone's slipped on the ice. It's a little indirect, but they wouldn't have slipped if not for the weather, would they?"