004 | Back in Black | Open

[stillshinigami]

So he's feeling better, that's pretty clear by the fact that he's goofing off in the courtyard. With his exploring track record? Getting assaulted near every time he's gone out to look about? He'd made a point to stick around for a while until he had completely recovered before doing anything, but now he was fed and feeling stir crazy. So there he was. Out in the court yard taking a spin on his hover boots. They shorted out plenty but they did what they were designed to do. Faster, higher jumps? When they worked it was great and he was having some fun, yelling out for the sheer joy of it.

"Hah!" He said as he jumped over a length of the pond with ease and continued on. He looked back to marvel at the distance he'd jumped, not really paying any mind to what was in front of him.

Comments

[sakedrinking]

And unfortunately what was in front of him was a certain busty Vocaloid who had warily ventured outside to see what all the noise was about.

She found out exactly what it was, when the source of it collided right in to her, sending them both sprawling to the ground with a very loud squeak and yelp from Haku.

She groaned, head reeling from the crash, alarms of an impact going off in her systems. Nothing was damaged, but it had certainly thrown the poor girl for a loop and left a nice ache through her nerve receptors that seemed to be making it hard to sit up.

Oh.

No.

That was the fact that there was a certain pilot laying on her.

"M... Maxwell-san... oowww..."

[stillshinigami]

Really. Every thing that applied to her circuits and nerve things? They all kinda effected him as well. He lifted his head up first then pushed himself up with both hands, though only one was on solid ground. The other? Soft and squishy and--

He looked down at the breast his hand was on and resisted the urge to smile like an idiot. Duo pulled back and off of the girl, sitting at her side.

"Man. I feel like an idiot running into you like that. Sorry!"

[sakedrinking]

At first Haku hadn't noticed, what with all the nerves reacting at once and making it hard to tell what was pain and what was just regular feeling. But a groan and a shift later she was able to look up and realize--

Ohh.

Well.

At least she didn't scream, Duo?

"Eep!" was the squeak that came this time, Haku jerking back and away from him with her arms going over her chest protectively, face turning a very nice shade of red as she kept her eyes to the ground.

"I-i-it's okay..." she stammered after a bit, voice high, strained and slightly weak sounding.

[stillshinigami]

He didn't blame her, but he didn't really show much shame after the initial apology. Instead he just tried to offer a friendly smile, sitting there as patiently as he could. He frowned a little, hand reaching up to scratch his cheek.

"Yeah well there's that pesky thing called gravity. Then again isn't that just my luck? Embarrass a I hardly know." He whistles, then chuckles, shaking his head.

"You been okay, Haku? I haven't seen you in a while."

[sakedrinking]

Luckily for him she didn't really seem to pay much attention to how little he truly was embarrassed. Mostly because she was too busy being a ball of awkward herself.

"I... haven't been out of my room much..." she admitted to his question, curling her legs up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. She was a wreck. It wasn't obvious, since things like sleep deprivation or malnutrition weren't issues for an android, but there were little details. Messy hair that looked barely brushed and missing her trademark black and purple bow. Sluggishness that came from lacking energy due to not going outside as much. A tremble to her hands she was trying and failing to hide.

"I don't... really have anyone to walk with, in case something happens..." she added as an afterthought. A lie, really. She could have asked any of the people she'd met recently and they would agree in a heart beat.

[stillshinigami]

No point in staying embarrassed, running an apology into the ground. It was an accident, right? Duo stood up and strolled over to the apple tree that was nearby. He pulled down two apples and returned over to her, sitting back down. No worries, right? He could see she was upset, and what better thing for him to do as a good deed than to try to cheer her up?

"You and me both, sister." Course he'd been hurt off and on for the past two weeks or so.

"You ask Quatre? Heero? Duo? Me?" Duo asked as he took a bite out of the apple he had.

Absently, he was curious just to know if he'd made a mistake by offering her and apple.

And the last two months were beginning to show in him too. Messy hair now an inch longer than it was when he'd arrived, messy and falling over either side of his forehead.

[sakedrinking]

Haku took the apple with a hesitant nod of thanks, wrapping her hands around it and holding it on her knees for the time being.

"I-I... didn't want to bother any of you..." she said softly, distinctly avoiding his gaze. She rolled the apple around in her hands a few times. She would eat it eventually.

"You're all trying to find ways out of here, aren't you...?" she asked, "I'd just get in the way."

[stillshinigami]

"Don't even start with that, Haku." If she were talking to him back home? If it were war times? He'd have agreed with her.

"You're a living computer. AI. I'd bet you're pretty clever. Who's to say you can't take one look at some of these puzzles and figure out what we need to do to get outta here? You might be exactly what we need." Duo said after chewing that bite. He took another.

"Nobody got anywhere by inaction."

[stoicperfection]

After Duo left with Ratchet, Heero spent about an hour checking in and around the sarcohpagi. Beyond a bit of his blood on the floor, he couldn't find anything that would help him figure out what had happened. There had been no stocks in his, so he could have easily pushed the lid off. But it didn't explain everything else.

He was thinking about this, trying to run everything through his mind again and force himself to remember something. What happened next was his fault, as he should have been paying attention to his surroundings. Duo had flown right into him with those damn boots of his, knocking them both to the ground. His first instinct was to wrestle himself out from under his attacker and viciously pinned Duo against the ground, arm wrenched behind his back painfully.

[stillshinigami]

"Gnng! Oi! Hey!" Duo said piping up in protest as his arm was wrenched behind him. Fortunally the hover boots stopped once his feet left the ground and stopped moving as a safety measures designed in mind for clumsy fools like himself apparently!

He realized who it was, Heero, seeing him out of the corner of his eye. "Heero, lemme go!" And within seconds he was wrenching his free arm around to strike back at Heero to knock him off, or attempt to.

[stoicperfection]

The moment Heero realized who he was pinning, he let go of his arm and was off before Duo could get a strike on him. Sitting back on the grass, he watched the older man to make sure he hadn't seriously hurt him.

"I'm sorry Duo."

[stillshinigami]

Duo almost said something, but it came out a bit garbled in his shock that Heero Yuy just apologized---... he apolo--

"Uh... Yeah." He rolled over and sat up. "Hey Heero." He offered a sheepish smile at that. "No problem. Just.... Hey it's good to know you're back to form!"

[stoicperfection]

"What were you doing?" He asked, ignoring both Duo's reaction to his apology and his compliment. It had been just a normal reaction to being 'attacked' so suddenly, that was all. Nothing to be impressed with.

[stillshinigami]

Yet in a place like this? It paid to show a little enthusiasm for good health, didn't it?

"Practicing using these." Duo said as he gestured to his new boots. Dark grey metal souls and covered by some kind of lighter grey colored armor.

"Hover boots. Ratchet gave em to me."

[stoicperfection]

Hover boots? Heero shifted so he was on his knees, leaning in close to get a good look at those boots. Once he was satisfied he pulled away and sat back on the grass.

"You used those to help me, didn't you?"

[stillshinigami]

"Yeah. I did." Duo said with a small smile.

"Made it easier to carry you..." So he pauses, looking Heero over and offering an even brighter smile before reaching down to take them off.

"Give em a try. It's cool. Like having your own vernea."

[last_lombax]

"Duo! Wall!" A voice called out from somewhere to Duo's left. Ratchet walked out into the courtyard, his hoverboots on his feet but had not activated them yet. He really hoped Duo didn't run into that wall.

[stillshinigami]

Duo jerked his eyes ahead and then shifted his body right, just barely missing it and scraping his arm along the way. Shit!

"Oi!" Phew. Well at least he didn't crash into it.

Looking around for the source of the voice, he grinned once he saw Ratchet. "Up on your feet I see! Welcome back to the living."

[last_lombax]

Ratchet nodded and gave a half smile. Right, back with the living. He activated his boots and slowly hovered over to Duo and glided along beside him.

"Good to see you're practicing. How long you been at it?"

[stillshinigami]

"About a half hour." He hover-strolled along side his pal and offered a brofist, then stopping near the water and deactivating his boots.

"I still gotta learn to how to stop more efficiently---ee." He dropped to the ground.

"See? I think they're a little buggy but they work great."

[last_lombax]

Ratchet returned the brofist and leaned his weight back as the boots cut out and slid a bit over the grass. "You just got to lean against it and land. Makes it easier." He shrugged. "Not sure why. When Alister had them they worked better than mine. Fountain might have messed them up."

[stillshinigami]

"They might just work about the same as yours now. Or worse. Who knows. They do what they're supposed to do though. Though I'm thinkin' I need to get a color change. Silver just isn't meshing with the black."

He settled and sat down against a tree, looking far more tired than he should. He looked at Ratchet for a moment, nearly asking about Alister, but... hell. If Ratchet asked him about Trowa? Man. No good.

He shrugged.

"I really like em, Ratchet. Best gift I've ever gotten." Deathscythe didn't count. He stole that.

[last_lombax]

"Got to wish for paint for that one." Ratchet followed and sat down next to Duo. He wanted to ask about how Duo looked but with the deal about not probing into problems and him already bringing up Alister twice, he'd leave it alone for now.

"You're welcome. I just wanted to get you something good and that would last."

[intheshadow]

There was something else that was watching him jumping around with the hover boots, though more out of fascination than excitement. Wander had never seen anything like that before, that was for certain. He looked a tad amazed, actually.

Still, for now he was simply watching without approaching. After all, he had no idea what this was; it was better to stay hidden for now.

[stillshinigami]

Duo turned his head back forward and moved in to skid to a stop, deactivating his hover boots right under the apple tree. He was more tired than he shoulda been after just that. Thankfully there were plenty of apples, but they won't last. He knew other people were eating them too.

He looked up at once, weighing the options of eating one and eating some of that slop they were forced to eat. Ick. Looking back down, he noticed the boy watching him and he offered a wave of his hand.

"Hey there!" He called before sliding down to sit in the grass.