Good Morning, Starshine

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Who: savethelastchip, its_troublesome, highly likely markofthebrave and then we'll just start adding as we go if anybody else starts a thread.
What: Visiting hours.
When: backdated to April 11th
Where: Clinic.
Summary: In which Chouji wakes up, gets the lowdown on how he got here, possibly takes a couple of visitors and...you know, tries not to fall asleep on them if he does.
Rating: If it gets past PG, something is clearly awry.


[ It could be said that this has not been Chouji's week. And while he would normally go to the trouble of finding something salvageable that happened to counter-balance the claim, this time around he's more inclined to just agree. Possibly because he spent a couple of hours yesterday almost dying and a little over half of today unconscious.

You can just guess how nicely this afternoon is going to go.

After his return to the land of the living is taken care of, there's really only one place to find him all day, and that's where he'll be- dozing on and off, but still never against a friendly face if one should decide to pop in. ]

Comments

[markofthebrave]

Good. [The relief is evident in her tone. Katara hates losing friends.

And then her expression sobers.] Where I'm from, it's traditional to resolve these kind of conflicts with a hug.

[Pause a beat.]

[endgames]

[You could hear a record scratch in that pause. He blinks, expression somewhat incredulous.]

Uhh... [He knows he's tired - maybe he heard her wrong. But she looked so serious about it too.

Just what.]

[markofthebrave]

[And then she breaks into a grin.] But I guess I can let you off the hook this time.

[She stands anyway and starts to move her chair more parallel to him, with a better view of both Chouji and the door, because she doesn't mind sitting and waiting a bit for Chouji to wake up and keeping Shikamaru company. Besides, she's realized there are some things he needs to know.]

[endgames]

Ha ha. [Very funny. He sags a little in his relief.] You're too kind.

[Shikamaru leans back in his seat, watching her move the chair... and mourning the loss of his foot stool. Oh well. He tilts his chair back on it's legs some so it's back hits the wall behind him, balancing it.]

[markofthebrave]

[She's quiet for a moment and she's not looking at him - her focus is on Chouji, and the way his chest is going up and down. After Aang had... she'd spent days sitting next to him in the boat, waiting for him to wake up, for something. And she'd come to realize that... breathing was something.

And she holds on to that for a minute.]

...it's easy to forget, sometimes, that you guys haven't been here as long as I have. It's just about halfway, I think.

[endgames]

Halfway, huh. [He knows what she means by the way she says it, but he can't help but take something else from it.] Time flies.

[He can't believe he's been here for seven months. And it's stranger to think that Naruto's been here for years, and that there's other people like him, like Katara, who have been here for so much longer.]

[markofthebrave]

[She keeps looking at Chouji.]

Yeah. I try not to keep track. But I remember, the first time Toph was taken... I was so angry, I made a journal entry asking anyone who had been taken to meet with me and talk about it, to figure out what they did and what everyone knew about it...

I even tried to figure out if there was a way to get them to take me, and have Sokka track them so we could see if they were taken out of barrier or hidden here - back then, we didn't even know that for sure. But there wasn't any way, and Sokka hated the idea even though I could have gotten him to go along with it...

[She takes a breath, swallows hard.] I remember everyone told me I'd get used to it. [Her brows come together.] It's not the same. But I'm still not used to it. I don't ever want to get used to it either. What they're doing is wrong.

[endgames]

["I even tried to figure out if there was a way to get them to take me..."

He's still paying attention to her, but that's triggered a very dangerous series of ideas in his mind. His gaze wanders back to Chouji as well.]

There's a difference between not being surprised when it happens and accepting it. Far as I'm concerned, that you haven't... that's a good thing.

[markofthebrave]

[A quick smile, and then she moves on towards what she'd really wanted to tell him. First, though, she glances at the opened door - glad it's opened, because it's easier to tell who can come by that way, and keeps her voice low.]

I had a friend, before you got here, who'd been taken a lot. One time he came back and... it seemed like there wasn't anything wrong, and everything was fine. But it wasn't. What happened after that was one of the worst ones I'd seen. They'd put in some sort of parasite... that could control his body. It threatened to kill all the people he was closest to if he didn't go along with it. And it got stronger and... started to go after the people he cared about anyway. His friends ended up having to attack him back, and one of the things they did to him killed the parasite.

[Sketchy story is sketchy, she knows. But she's trying to protect their privacy and tell Shikamaru what she thinks he needs to know at the same time. Hopefully, he'll take that 'had' as she intends it and assume they've all gone home.]

It almost killed him too. And that was nothing to what the parasite had done to his chi.

[endgames]

[He goes very, very still as she explains what happened to this friend (whether or not he's still here is irrelevant for now).

Because something like that... he admits that when it comes to the Malnosso, there's no rhyme or reason to what they do. It just happens. Hell, they sent Temari back with different memories that one time - she was essentially a completely different person.

It makes it almost impossible to imagine what they'll do next. Something like what happened to this friend... He knows Chouji well enough to recognize if something like that happened, he's sure - Naruto too. But Hinata? Shino? Probably even Temari.

It's something Shikamaru wouldn't even think of until it was too late.

His hands fold into loose fists against his knees, but he says nothing. He thinks he understand what Katara is getting at, but he'll let her continue.]

[markofthebrave]

[She waits for him to speak, remembering as she does the way it felt to be standing over Sanji's body and searching for what was wrong, remembering having to go and find Zoro...

"Put him back!"

...

I never wanted to be a healer.

But he doesn't say anything, so Katara tries to remember her point and continue.]

That's why I think that anyone who comes back 'normal' should get checked out, by a regular doctor and by someone like me, who can see inside. [Not that she knows anyone like her here, but that doesn't mean there aren't any.] Because I don't know what you can find and what you can fix, and sometimes even if you know what's wrong you can't fix it, like with the death penalties, but...

[But this is twice now, where she would have been able to tell people that something was wrong if they'd just gone to her first. She doesn't want it to happen a third time.]

I know we already agreed about this, but I thought you should know.

[Because it's another factor. Because you haven't given up either, and the more information you have, the better.]

[endgames]

[...]

Thank you for telling me. It's- [He wishes he'd known earlier, even if he had no reason to. Because he would have had someone look at Chouji then. But he knows better now, whether she'd told him or not. He's learned that lesson the hard way.

But now he understands it. Like he understands from this story that she's gone through it more than once now. She had every right to be angry last night for him not telling her, even if he didn't know why at the time.]

It really won't happen again.

[markofthebrave]

[She looks back up him and smiles a little, nodding.] I know. I just wish I'd told you sooner.

[Because that's part of why she's telling him now. Whether he gets it or not, this is her way of taking ownership of some of the blame. It's not her habit to go talking about her friends' problems, even in the vaguest possible terms. But they'd needed a reason to come to her, and she'd had a reason and if they'd known... well.

But would I have had the strength to do it, would I have thought I had to do it, if I didn't know his life was at stake? Katara doesn't know.

She shrugs a little.]

Like I said, it's easy to forget you haven't been here as long.

[Because if you had, than you'd have known - maybe not this story, but it would have happened. Because the Malnosso are jerks like that.

This is an apology as well, in its own way. She shouldn't have been so angry when they just didn't have the experience she had. She'd thought he'd known better... and he hadn't. She should have remembered that yesterday.]

[endgames]

It's fine. Don't worry about it. [His turn to shrug.] Regret's a nice sentiment and all - it shows you care. But it's a pointless thing to do for long because it doesn't change the things that we did.

[He folds his arms over his chest, turning his head to return that smile.] So let's just stop regretting it and keep it in mind for next time, yeah?

[Apology accepted. So let's move on to something else.]

1/2

[markofthebrave]

[...wasn't this the last step to doing exactly that?

She's tempted to point that out.]

[markofthebrave]

[...unless he's speaking as much to himself as to her, and in that case she's just - glad that he's doing better.]

Yeah.

[And taking in his appearance - he was probably here all night, too - there are no blatantly obvious cues, but she figures he's probably even more tired than he looks.]

Why don't you get some rest? I'll sit here for a little while and keep watch.

[So you don't have to worry about being alert for someone coming, because I'll do that.] I want to see if he'll wake up. I'll let you know before I go.

[endgames]

[He starts to protest:]

Maah, it's- [Only to promptly cut himself off.

He stares, than chuckles.] How troublesome. You took care of all of my questions. Now I don't have an excuse not to.

[Shikamaru shifts his weight a little closer to the corner made by the wall he's leaning against and the counter to his right. Making himself more comfortable, but waiting to make sure she doesn't change her mind or something.]

[markofthebrave]

[Dryly:] Yeah, I can see it's a real pain.

[She tucks her knees up in the chair and digs around for the homework she never finished yesterday - more to have something to do so that she stays alert than anything else. She'll keep watch, watch the door, watch Chouji - everything will be fine.]

Sleep well, Shikamaru.

[endgames]

[He nods, tucking his chin down to his shoulder and closes his eyes.

It doesn't take long. You don't always know when or how long you can sleep as a ninja, so you learn to fall asleep quickly. He likes to think he had a head start on his classmates in learning that too. Whatever the case, not a full two minutes later, he's out.]

[markofthebrave]

[Katara smiles at him and then glances unseeing down at her math. What a day. Now all she had to do was to wait for Chouji to wake up or for it to be time for her to go home and make dinner. It feels a little strange, this knowledge of how knit the two of them are into her heart in ways she doesn't completely understand. But Katara knows that sometimes, she doesn't have to understand. Sometimes it's enough just to be there.

And while she can control that, that's something she can do.]

[savethelastchip.livejournal.com]

[ Luckily, it won't be too long of a wait on Chouji today; he's coming around for the second time in juuuust about twenty-five minutes, give or take.

Man, he's not a fan of tuning in and out like this; it makes him feel like he's missing a little too much. Not that his initial semi-frown over falling asleep will make it very far once he sees who stopped by. Never unhappy to see a visitor, especially if it's a good friend.

Have a clumsy hand lift of greeting? ]

[markofthebrave]

[Katara senses movement out of the corner of her eye and flicks her gaze back to Chouji just in time to see him raise his hand. She inhales sharply, but is careful to keep her voice low.] Chouji!

[Relief surges in her and she can't move fast enough. Her reaction is instinctive, and Katara doesn't second-guess it. She scrambles out of the chair and is beside his bed in an instant, throwing her arms around his neck, her head finding purchase in the crook of his neck. Hot tears fill her eyes and so she shuts them in an attempt to keep from crying.

She knows that she should say something, but she's just going to enjoy the fact that he's awake and breathing for a moment.]

[savethelastchip.livejournal.com]

[ He's completely unsure if he was expecting that or not, with a leaning towards the latter. It doesn't stop him from using that raised arm to hug her back just as firmly.

There are plenty of things he screws up, but he's hoping not to make this one of them. ] Hey.

[markofthebrave]

[Sniff. Sob. Katara's totally flailed at the 'keeping her tears internal' at this point. Between the nightmare of the draft, the nightmares after the draft, Toph and Zuko and Michael and Jet and Sokka, Nami taking off and Luffy's mallynapping and now this, it feels good to cry and at least if the tears have to escape, they're out of relief. She doesn't lift her head just yet, though - sorry about getting your neck wet, Chouji.

Sniff.]

Hey.

[savethelastchip.livejournal.com]

[ No worries; getting his neck wet doesn't even register as a concern. Chouji's the last person to judge someone for crying when they need to cry, and he definitely knows that much- it happens to everyone sometime.

So he'll keep his arm around her shoulders and let her take as long as she needs, and wish that he were better at this: because he wants to say "everything will be okay" and he wants to say "I'm sorry," but maybe she doesn't particularly need to hear anything from him right now, either. ]