Visiting Hours

[Okibi]

She'd been lurking about the village for a few days now, taking in the changes. The greatest, of course, was that it was now above ground. She still wasn't quite used to having the sun's glare on the top of her head while she walked around - at least no while in Sunagakure. She'd grown used to the burning ball of gas otherwise, as made evidenced by her skin, now a healthy tan. It was a step up from the pale pallor it had been before.

Considering the village had been attacked not that long ago, it had been fairly easy to get in. All she had to do was flash the false papers she had made for herself and she was let right in. She'd shaken her head at the time, once out of eyeshot of the gate guards. Complacency was such a dangerous thing. She dug her hands into the deep pockets of her coat, cursing the need for the bloody thing. Damn, it was hot. She still wasn't quite used to having to wear gloves and boots either; even after months of wearing them they still felt confining. What she wouldn't give to rip the things off and go for a good, barefoot run-

No, no she couldn't think that way. It was dangerous.

She schooled her features into the stoic mask she'd been practicing for months. A nurse noticed her coming down the hall and stood up behind her desk. "Scuse me miss, I'm sorry but only people with clearance can be up here. This is intensive care, you know."

She glanced at the stout and solidly built nurse from behind her reflective glasses, knowing the shade of her eyes was completely hidden. "Forgive me, but I think you'll find that I do have clearance." She slipped the woman a thick wad of yen across the desk and watched as the nurses eyes went wide. For a moment the woman looked conflicted, but eventually gave in and snatched up the money.

"You're going to have to leave your sword here. Weapons are not allowed in the rooms." The nurse said, sounding steely even as she pocketed the bribe. With a careless shrug, she slid the sheathed blade from her back and laid the weapon on the desk. It was just for show anyway.

"Thank you very much." She offered, no smile, and continued on her way. Ever true, her nose lead her right where she had to go, and she stopped outside the door of the room, leaned against the wall, and listened.

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Sousuke was confined to the hospital. He hated it so very much. His state as of late was most questionable. He was stripped of his metal by the demonic entity he named Sinworth. It took the Steward several hours to get used to the face staring back at him in the mirror. He looked like a younger version of his father. The burns had taken his hair and caused a great deal of scarring. Sousuke stared at the ceiling. He was in the presence of his old friend, Number Seven, who was told by his grandmother to keep Sousuke from leaving the room at any cost. It was to the point of tie him down and make sure he stays down. The old veteran had caused quite a stir when she brought in her unconscious grandson with his team. Several threats were issued about how he should have the best treatment, considering how he was their liege lord, the one who signed their cheques, so on and so forth. The old woman still had a way of making her point.

Okibi would find herself listening to the ramblings of an all too familiar voice, although it seemed weakened. "Doing nothing is troubling. Troubling and boring, my dear Number Seven. Strapped down to this bed. Told to sit here and let my muscles recompose. X-rays in the future Not looking forward to that. I wish grandmother didn't find me in that hole in the ground. If Destroyer had found me, he'd have not caused such a show he would have taken me home and let me recover. Sure all the alcohol would have been gone, but most of it was brought to me by Lord Nobu as a gift. Treeborn would have planted himself in the backyard."<i></i> He sighed. He still did not sleep. He would at time phase out of consciousness and have his eyes awake while doing so. "I think Yume will find out about this shortly... I expect her to show up and ... I'm not sure what she will do. Probably lecture me on my sleep deprived state... granted it's been like this for months now. I seem to reject the notion of humanly limits when it comes to exhaustion, this being the exception. Father and grandmother have been arguing about my little adventure on the surface. The slaves we freed, will need to figure them out later."<i></i> He blinked as he stared at the ceiling. "I suppose the news is out by now. Steward more sickly than ever. Incapable of looking after himself. How can we trust the man who can't look after himself, look after the village? Simple. Someone has to."<i></i> He questioned out loud. "You've known this for some time... and my months long restlessness and lack of sleep. The fact you've kept it a secret is most appreciative despite our vehement arguments. I despise this state of affairs. I am being prevented from making this right."<i></i> Sousuke did not define what right was. Perhaps it was rambling. Perhaps he was delusion. Perhaps he had taken his job as Steward too heavily to the point where he would work himself to an early grave.This was the most talkative he had been in the last few hours, given that he was phasing in and out of mental consciousness. Perhaps this was his body's way of telling him to finally stop working and start resting. This was overdue for some time.

 

[Sagasu Yume]

Enter Miago Tsukiko​

Today was an exceptionally hard day for Tsukiko. On top of today being the day when everyone seemed to need someone to cry to it was also the day she had decided to quit smoking. Gum snapped between her teeth to keep her mouth occupied while the charts kept her mind from asking for the sickly vapors. Stepping out of a room where her patient had conceded to let her leave, she catches a glimpse of a woman interacting with one of the nurses. She couldn't be 100% certain but she had a hunch that money had just exchanged hands as the long-coat clad visitor brushed passed the station and into the sealed ward. Popping the clipboard into the tray outside of the solitary room, Tsukiko shoves her hands deep in her lab coat and takes strides toward where the exchange had occurred. While her steps were restricted by her skirt, they were punctuated with taps as her heels hit the rolled flooring. Wordlessly, she puts her palm out to her co-worker, twisting her mouth and blinking slowly as she waits to be handed her share. With a huff, a portion of the yen finds its way into the Mednin's hand and is pocketed as fast as it had been the first time. Hands placed together, the practitioner offered a small 'bless you' bow and ventured into the wing.

She knew exactly who was down there and had half a mind to fire the nurse for her shortsightedness but it was far from her to judge. She had accepted bribes and shuffled wait lists before; no one in the medical field was clean. It still stood to investigate the intrusion as Mako had made it very clear that a select list of visitors would be allowed, limited to family and immediate close friends. It pained Tsukiko that the list included Sennin Kuro but she was a professional. Paying no direct mind to the visitor, she sweeps into the Stewards room as a bubble pops on her lips.

Morning Sunshine. Your grandmother sure is the colourful one. How are you feeling, sir?

The mix of common and formal tone was a little strange but it seemed to fit the mednin and Sousuke's relationship pretty well. They weren't really friends but at this point they were at least acquaintances. Stepping close, she snaps on some gloves as she checks over any lacerations that were left from his encounter. Checking the site of his IV for infection, she eyes the bag to ensure it would last until her next round. She hadn't told Yume yet but getting word to her wouldn't take long. The drip contained pain medication but from the ramblings that had come from the room, she worried the dose might be too high. Stress could break a person and the last thing she needed to have a hand in was causing their leader to grow dependent on opiates.

Would you like me to send for Yume? Shinji has been doing his best to keep her home but that won't last long. I wanted to make sure you were up to seeing her. I know how... obsessive she can get when she's worried about someone.

Aside from her madness at Keystone, Yume had proven to be slightly unstable when it came to matters of the heart. They'd encountered each other outside of her uncles room in the asylum and exchanged words. Rather, not so much exchanged as Tsukiko had spit venom at her. The senior mednin wasn't certain if she meant it but she certainly wasn't sorry, which was probably close to the same. To keep from convincing herself that she should feel guilty, she changes the bandages that required refreshing. Putting the rolls of gauze back in the kit, she looks up with as close to a sympathetic smile as she could manage and pats him on the leg gently as she stands.

You do have a visitor though. She made a point of getting into this wing but seems to like the view from the doorway. I'll be back a little later to check on you. Don't push yourself too hard.

Tsukiko wasn't the type to dance around the bush and was half expecting to be clobbered by the woman waiting outside for giving away her location, but nothing came from being afraid of other's reactions. Exiting the room with the same 'eyes forward' demeanor as she entered, she heads to the next room down the hall. This room was empty but it shared a wall with the Stewards room and allowed her to eavesdrop.

 

[Okibi]

For a short while she wondered if she'd come at the wrong time. No sound came from inside the room; was he asleep? Unfortunately, she didn't know why Sousuke was in the hospital - she'd only heard it in passing while she lurked outside the family home. Maybe she would have to come back later . . . Damn, what a waste of a yen roll.

Just as she was about to push away from the wall and walk away, the sound of a weakened voice drifted through the crack in the door. Something in her chest jumped. Releasing the strain in her shoulders, she relaxed against the wall once more and dug through one of her pocket, searching for something. A moment later, she pulled her hand back out, a candy wrapped in a bright pink bit of plastic in hand. She popped the candy into her mouth and crunched it viciously as she listened with growing concern to the exchange going on in the room.

At first he made little sense to her, and she almost wanted to smile - that, at least, hadnt changed - but the desire quickly faded the longer she listened.

"Perhaps if you hadn't kept this to yourself for so long, and argued me into doing the same, you wouldn't be in such a state." Said the familiar voice of her dearest friend. Her chest lurched again, and she dug around in her pocket for another piece of candy. "I can smell your health worsening by the day. By the sands, if Okibi were here-" He cut himself off, sounding just the slightest bit choked up. She rose an eyebrow.

Someone was coming down the hall. She slumped further against the wall, trying to look nonchalant. Sadly, she was still perfecting that particular skill - staying still was so hard. The woman (another nurse, or a mednin?) strolled right by her and into the room. Sighing softly through her nose, she popped her second candy into her mouth and crunched away as she listened to the woman greet and exchanged a few words with Sousuke. The nurse's last words to him made her stiffen - she hadn't been planning to show herself, was never going to. Now, she either need to get the hell out or . . . think of something quickly.

The nurse marched out of the room, paying as little attention to her as she had the first time, before popping into the room next door. She glared after the woman from behind her red sunglasses, trying to burn her hair with her glare alone.

A large, white, canine head popped out of the door after the woman, giving her a curious and slightly wary stare. "Can we help you miss?"

 

[Takahashi Aki]

Sousuke listened to the council of his loyal friend. He raised his head slightly to look at the doberman. "Someone had to push this forward. Katuso doesn't have the structural knowledge. His concerns are elsewhere."<i></i> He countered. The would-be king had not been seen lately. Maybe he had been entertaining his new friends? It was a grim thought. Doubt was something that grasped Sousuke. He shook his head. Everything boiled down to him. This surface movement. The problem with it was the court. They very much wanted to help, but on the condition the Cabal were executed publically. Number Seven began speaking again, "This is going to get worse before it gets better and this would have happened. I wonder ... is that death you smell?"<i></i> He asked the canine. He spoke of Okibi, there was a pause of sorts. Number Seven, like himself suffered from this. It got to the point that even saying her name caused problems. "It still hurts. There are many things I would give if I could spend one more day with her."<i></i> He referred to Okibi and Number Seven knew exactly that. His head snapped back as he rested it on the pillow once more.

Tsukiko worked her way in now. Sousuke ignored her for a moment. He didn't like the term she used. "There is no sunshine here. One would have to be on the surface for that."<i></i> He answered a moment later. He thought about how he felt. "Strange."<i></i> He answered initially. "Violated... robbed even."<i></i> He answered. "You've never been stripped to the bone of your power have you? No. I think that is something very unique to myself."<i></i> He watched her work about now. He continued to listen to her speak. "Shinji is a good friend. One who listens to me."<i></i> He took to a fit of coughing and hacking. A fit overtook the small bed ridden man. "I suppose it is time, time that Yume knows. Send for her, but have her briefed. I don't wish to see her subjected to shock. I ... I suppose I owe her an explanation, or two."<i></i> He paused for a moment when the medic spoke of a visitor being here. He wasn't expecting anyone. He turned his head but could see nothing. Sousuke tried to get up, but found himself unable. He forgot that he was strapped to the bed. His expression soured. This was most annoying. As Sousuke grew annoyed, he began to go into a fit of coughing once more.

 

[Sagasu Yume]

The arrangement of the empty room made it a little difficult to be inconspicuous, however if someone found Tsukiko there with the bell of her stethoscope pressed to the wall she wasn't planning on lying about her intentions. One knee precariously on a side table, she was barely balancing on the other foot as she listened, doing her best not to flash an upward view of her skirt to the hallway. She was starting to reconsider her preference for pencil skirts as work attire. Readjusting her lab coat to hide her unmentionables, she pivots around and sits on the surface instead and crosses her legs. The conversation seemed to go quiet as Seven ventured to the door to speak to their visitor. The conversation was sure to get interesting when the woman identified herself. No one just sits outside the door of someone sick unless there is a story regarding why they wouldn't just go in. She would give them time to sort it out before adding the lover to the mix. Chewing on her lip she puzzled over the concept for a moment. Was Yume his lover? Aside from what the text books showed, was either the Steward or the prudish mednin carnally minded? It amused Tsukiko that it was likely the most action Yume had ever seen was as a result of physicals that could occasionally elicit an unexpected reaction.

Stifling a giggle at the thought, it brings a thought to her mind that would allow for an amount of time to pass before Yume would show. Sliding off her perch, she goes to the other side of the room to keep her conversation as private as possible. Entering the code for Shinji, she initiates the comm and waits for his answer.

UmmmHmmmm?

Can't you answer a comm like a normal person? I'd at least expect a remark about a booty-call.

I really wish I could but I'm otherwise occupied. Besides, I'm used to you just showing up. Are you calling to make sure I don't have my girlfriend over?

Nice, Shinji. Really classy. I'm actually calling on business. The last time I talked to your sister I kind of yelled at her

So you want me to tell her you're sorry and to meet you in your office with wine later?

No. Shut up and listen. I want you to tell her to come to the shadow wing. She'll know where that is. I'll meet her there and fill her in. I thought if I called her, she might not answer or wouldn't listen.

Then could I come to your office with wine later?

Tsukiko ended the comm session without replying. He could figure out whether he was welcome there or not. Despite his juvenile behaviour, he had a heart of gold when it came to his sister. He would make sure she received the message and convince her to come if she puts up a fuss about seeing Tsukiko.


[[OOC: I'm going to take a few rounds to get Yume there, it'll give you two some time to RP together without the third party]]