[ Closed ] Check-ups after dust-ups.

[fullofthorns]

Who: Seifer and Roze
What: Checking on a friend who refuses to be a friend.
When: September 30th, evening.
Where: Seifer's casa.




Roze showed up about an hour after texting Seifer, smelling like soap and clean dampness that only came from recent and very hot showers. Instead of her usual skimpy clothes she had opted for an oversized black turtleneck sweater that swallowed her hands, only her fingertips curled around the cuffs keeping them from sliding completely down. Black tights under that, her usual heels abandoned in favor of a plain pair of sneakers she'd been using for morning jogs. Even her hair was out of its usual twists and braids, damp and curling around her face.

She'd come over as quickly as she could without going out of her usual way to primp and preen, resulting in what looked like...a pink-haired high school girl. Aside from the chest stretching the fabric she looked almost wholesome. Especially without the extra six inches of height.

she could have walked in, but chose instead to tap on the door lightly, standing in the hall with her D-T sitting on top of a plain white box in her hands.

Comments

[knightfan]

With raised brows, Seifer watched as Roze collapsed onto the floor. Was she going to be okay? At least her over-dramatic reaction put him at ease a little. Earlier, Roze had seen him at his lowest point so far in this place. Watching her act like this took his mind off it, and hopefully hers, too.

"Soup, meat and water. And some fancy juice. My kinda meal." Seifer took the sack from her so he could peer into it to see for himself. "Cafeteria?"

[fullofthorns]

"Yeah, I just asked for the stuff and waited around. I dropped some things over at Pretty-Boy's place too. Hopefully he's not stupid and he eats and drinks like he oughta," she grumbled, standing and arching her back, hands pressing against her lower spine until there wasa loud crackle. The air rushed out of her and for a moment she looked relieved until her face turned a bit grey.

"FUCKING OW...shit...stupid fuckin'...ow...ow..." she groaned, wilting and flopping over to rest face down next to Seifer once more, uttering a weak whimper as she groped for her D-T. Yeah, those ribs, still not quite in the best of shape. Mostly healed, but definitely not all. She'd taken to dressing moderately more conservative just to cover the massive, ugly bruise. It was faded from its horrific purple, but the rotten-banana color was no better in her opinion.

"Movies....moooovieeeeeessss...." Roze wheezed, raising her head just enough to stare at the terminal, flicking through the files.

"What do you wanna see, Princess? Dragons and action, drama, romance, somethin' scary. I got movies from all genres. Not as many as I HAD but...hey, whatcha gonna do?"

[knightfan]

There was an obvious frown on his face when she mentioned 'Pretty Boy,' but it passed quickly enough, falling into a more subtle expression after a moment. When Roze stretched and swore in pain, he automatically put his hands out on either side of her. "Damn, take it easy. You're scoldin' me for not taking care of myself, but at least I don't do that."

The frown was back, this time for a different reason. Doubting she wanted to talk about those injuries, he carried on with the other topic. "Got anything with dragons, magic and romance?"

[fullofthorns]

"Dragons, magic and romance....Dragons, magic and romance," she repeated, mumbling to herself as she tapped through file names and pondered the contents, some movies she hadn't watched in ages and had nearly forgotten.

"Okay there's Earthsea, The Hobbit...well, there's a dragon in the sequel and unless you count the bromances there's not really romance...uh. Beowulf, Dragonslayer, Willow, Enchanted, Spirited Away, sorta...I don't have a lot with all three requirements, but I do have a lot of movies with magic and romance. Hmm. Stardust, Peter Pan, Secret of Moonacre...Beauty and the Beast."

She rolled onto her good side, looking up at Seifer from her angle laying down with a sigh.

"Sooo. Like. My ribs are still sore is all. I wanna get this outta the way. I know I really oughta stop runnin' around so much but there's a lot I've gotta do and people I wanna see and all. I really do appreciate the concern though. I really, really do. I just..." she shrugged, pursing her lips and rubbing her nose.

"I don't like looking weak in front of people so I push on despite lookin' like shit and feelin' like bigger shit. Some people take it pretty poorly, other people might baby me too much, like Miwako. I love her to death but I don't like feelin' like I'm made of porcelain, y'know. I get enough griping from Musashi. I mean, every girl likes to be taken care of sometimes but no girl likes to be made to feel pitiful. And right now...honestly Princess I feel fuckin' pitiful. And not very cute at all. So...yeah. There."

[knightfan]

Leaning his elbow onto the bed, he hovered over her so he could frown at her more directly. "Hey, if I'm comin' off as treating you like porcelain, that ain't what I mean. I know you can take care of yourself'n all, just like you know I can take care of myself. Doesn't mean I'm gonna let you off the hook when you stretch like that and end up hurting yourself."

Then, using his free hand, he gently flicked at Roze's forehead. "You're not pitiful. Loud, obnoxious, full of energy and caring and kinda cute, but definitely not pitiful. Princess."

[fullofthorns]

She stared at him, cheeks puffed and red as she hunched her shoulders. Typical embarrassed teen girl toad-face. Every time he complimented her. It was one thing to make remarks about her of a sexual nature - Dante did it all the time, as did Bro - but to call her cute or drop the Princess nickname in retaliation was more than she could computer. She flopped her face back into the bed again, propping the D-T up on her head, turning it towards him.

"I highlighted all the magic and romance movies I have with and without dragons," she mumbled into the mattress, toes curling on one foot, then the other, back and forth.

"I'm real sorry but the big ones like Dragonheart and Dungeons and Dragons didn't make it. So, mostly just the ones I already mentioned have dragons or draconic monsters. I recommend Beauty and the Beast for just magic and romance, but I'm biased. Its a childhood favorite. Otherwise Stardust is pretty damned good. Lots of magic in that one."

[knightfan]

She kept doing that and he didn't understand why. Why did she fluster so easily? It seemed so... weird, in combination with her boisterous personality. Elbow still digging into the mattress, he leaned the side of his face against his hand, drumming his fingertips lightly along his cheek.

"Anything you think's good is fine with me. I already know nothing will ever top my favorite movie, so it's about time I started lookin' for a runner-up."

[fullofthorns]

"Fine!" she barked, perking as she propped herself up, nose to nose with him, eyes narrowed and expression fierce, though playfully so.

"Then we're watchin' Beauty and the Beast. And you don't get to complain when I sing along with the songs. After that we can watch some dragon movie if you're not already asleep. You might like Dragonslayer. Its pretty old and not very fast-paced but its good."

She nodded, snapping her teeth at his nose without touching it then kissing between his eyes before pushing herself carefully to sit up on the bed and set up the D-T connection.

"If you really dig the romance angle though, we've gotta watch Stardust at some point. Its got everything but dragons, shockingly. There's witches and unicorns, magic, sky pirates, ghosts, sword fights. All kinds'a stuff. Someday though I want you to watch Kitaro no Gegege with me. You can kinda get a feel for like...my life and job. On a very childlike approach but the principle remains the same."

[knightfan]

"What? Oh no," he argued, sounded slightly offended. "I get to complain. No one told me there was a singing clause involved."

Wasn't she the playful one, acting like a dragon? Although he was pretty sure dragons weren't quite so affectionate. In a way, she still reminded him of Rinoa, too. Energetic and playful... the pushiest, bossiest person around. He was even calling her princess, although that was partially in retaliation even if he did think the nickname fit her.

"Witches, magic and sword fights, huh? Consider me pinged. And I guess I wouldn't mind learning about your job and lifestyle," he added. Maybe it would make more sense than fathers masquerading as their daughter's best friend or... whatever... that was that happened. He was still a little foggy about that.

[fullofthorns]

"Shaddap. I sing pretty well. I used to sing a lot until mom made me feel stupid for it," she remarked, grunting as she pushed herself to sit up next to him, shoulder to shoulder.

"Serve out the food while I get this started? I snagged plates, bowls and cups. No chopsticks this time. Spoons for the soup, napkins for the rest. Gonna eat those sandwiches like real men. Aw yis."

She grinned happily, nudging him gently and setting the D-T on her lap as a controller and giving him a moment with the food. Meanwhile she busied herself lifting her shirt enough to check her bandages, tucking her finger under the edge and sliding it around to smooth wrinkles.

"You want me to fix your bandages later? They didn't look very snug before," she offered. It was a casual question, not mothering in any way. Just one warrior to another pointing out that his first aid left something to be desired. "Musashi does mine so they're pretty tight. Gotta keep shit from shifting too much. Hard to breath sometimes, though. Shit."

[knightfan]

"Yeah, sure thing," he said quietly. Okay, so serving food wasn't some kind of monumental task, but... it was nice. It made him feel a little useful, something he'd sorely been missing as of late. It was pretty pathetic that this made him feel useful, but he accepted the feeling for now. So, without a single complaint, he organized the food into two meals he felt were adequate enough for two people with bottomless pits for stomachs.

"No, I'm... fine. They may not be tight, but they're good enough that nothing will get infected." His may have been loose, but Impmon's were tightly secured. He could handle himself... decently. "Thanks, though," he amended. Even if he didn't want her help, he appreciated it. It felt different than getting help from Squall. Different enough for him to thank her in the first place. She wasn't offering to look down on him. Probably.

[fullofthorns]

"Huh?" she looked up, squinting at him in response to the thanks. Eventually she smiled and shrugged it off, accepting that casual was more comfortable for him than her tendency towards pushy. She tried to oblige.

Really he could thank Squall for that. For good or ill the other gunblade user was making her have serious doubts about herself in a lot of ways. Other things had started the process and Squall merely exacerbated the problem.

Meanwhile, Seifer benefited, though the difference was marked.

"As long as you're sure. I dunno what the extent is on yours, but if mine aren't pretty tight, shit gets uncomfortable. Fast. Feels like having broken bamboo kitchen utensils shifting around in there sometimes," she muttered, wrinkling her nose in disgust. Long term injury was not something she could find any even remotely academic reason to like. How humans managed for months and years was beyond her ability to understand.

"How are you healing up though? If you don't mind my asking. I mean I try to pay some attention back home because I've gotta be careful how much I hurt someone on purpose or accident, but this is all kinda...well, fuck it. No. Its REALLY frustrating. I'm used to healing up in a week at most but this is absurd..."