Description: Zach wakes up in the hospital after his epically brief King of Fighters battle against Zangief, and his first visitor is not someone he was expecting. Even more surprisingly, the strangely nice old lady claims to be a fan of his and to come bearing a gift.
A hospital in Zambia.
19:35
Zach Glen wakes up, perhaps unsurprisingly, in a hospital room. That tends a good deal after fights, especially after going up against juggernauts like Zangief. He looks around slowly, his neck stiff with bandages and what feels like a few stitches. Zach frowns; the last time he actually /needed/ stitches... was at least before he came into his abilities. Since then, his rampant energies have been typically enough to close up most of his wounds without the assistance. Then again, he's never been bitten by a large angry Russian before.
The psychic knight errant looks around, fumbling around for some kind of nurse caller... thingamabob. His searches come up empty for the moment. He still doesn't know how the King of Fighters team battle ended. Or even what day it is. Zach has, once or twice, done the 'deep healing sleep' thing and literally lost track of time in the process.
This hospital is not really the best, as far as they go, but on such short notice it's the best they could get together. The nurse caller thingamabob, unfortunately, seems to want to just taunt Zach just outside of his reach - maybe it is a cruel prank someone played on him. Either way, things are quiet enough for a short while. Quiet and peaceful, even with the tension of not knowing what time it is, what day it is... or if the team won or lost.
The door suddenly creaks open. The creaking is obnoxious. A small shadow creeps from the lights outside, perhaps a bit ominous given the bad shape that Zach is in - how helpless he must be at this point in recovering from his injuries.
"Oh, I'm sorry," comes the voice of an elderly woman as she steps inside - someone of Japanese descent, so she looks rather out of place. "Did I wake you? I... I did not expect that to creak so loudly." Her smile is warm as she has a little chuckle. "I could come back later."
Zach is alerted to... a presence of /some/ sort. Zach's eyes snap to the door as it creaks open, sending a small spike of adrenaline through his system. He prepares to jump whoever it is, stitches be damned, when the old lady makes herself apparent.
Glen peers at the old lady for a moment, taking in her features quickly. "No, it's no trouble ma'am," Zach replies easily. The fact that she's Japanese is not all that surprising. Yuri Sakazaki and Rainbow Mika hail from the small island nation. The elderly woman could easily be either woman's grandmother. "Are you looking for someone?" he asks politely. He pauses, tilting his head to one side, "Admittedly, I'm not sure how much help I'd be in that regard."
She is every bit the appearance of a grandmother. The way she hobbles, the way she uses a cane to move about slowly. Her eyes squint, and there's that soft, smiling face. "Oh, that's good to know, I would've felt horrible if I disrupted your rest after that brute had his way with you." She tsks. "Poor dear."
"I was... I was hoping to meet with you when you were conscious and well," she smiles. "You could say I'm a big fan of yours."
That takes Zach a bit by surprise. So much so, in fact, that he actually gives voice to it. "I... think this is the first time I've actually /met/ someone who is a fan of me," he says, the surprise evident in his voice. "Excuse me while I be a bit confused. New situation and all."
It is fair to say that Zach is actually flustered. He'd have honestly thought that his target audience (if he had one) would be younger. And male. "I'm sorry I had to show you such a rough fight, though. Zangief's faster than you'd think from looking at him."
"Oh, that can't possibly be true, can it?" The woman seems doubtful. "That's almost like saying you have no one that likes you, and... that would be very, very sad, wouldn't it?" She shakes her head. Tsk, tsk.
"Don't sell yourself short, dearie. You did what you could, did you not? Fighting to the very fullest extent of what you were capable of."
Zach scratches the back of his head, wincing at the position even as he does so.
"Almost," Zach says, "But not quite. I do have people who like me. I just know them by name, and they are fighters themselves." Zach grins lopsidedly as he continues, "And I'm /terrible/ at holding back, so it generally goes without saying that I put what I had into the fight. Still, it didn't go very well for me obviously."
"Be careful there," the old lady advises as Zach winces while scratching his head before he explains his piece, but otherwise nods along to what he says. "Oh, would I ever know that, back in my day... ho ho ho." She smiles thinking about it. "Ahh... memories."
She straightens herself out a little. "Now, I hope I do not come off as presumptuous, young man... if I'm mistaken, clearly I am just a babbling old lady growing senile."
How so? She doesn't lean closer or make any sort of aggressive gesture. "If I'm correct, you are... very different, yes?"
Zach eyes the lady for a moment cautiously at this point. He's never hidden what he was. If she were a fan, she would likely know that. "I'm part of a minority in the fighting circuits," he replies somewhat guardedly. "It can lead to misunderstanding even on the best of days." Behind his head, he gives his hand a quick flex to get it loose.
There's not a whole lot he can do while in a bed other than throw energy around. That's not position or stance dependant for Zach.
Zach's tension doesn't go unnoticed - perhaps in more recent times, there has been greater exposure to the... minority. It is not terribly well understood for the most part, and this is an older lady getting up there in years after all.
"You seem tense," she says as she lifts up her free hand and lowers it down as if to say, 'calm down, be at ease.' "It seems as though a part of you is still in that fight."
Zach is still a bit guarded. "Maybe it is," Zach replies judiciously. Then again, he's already been kidnapped on account of his abilities once before. A little paranoia might be understandable... if he talked about it to anyone.
"I wouldn't use the word very," Zach finally says as he tries to understand the twitch in his gut that's kicked up again.
"Well, that's a fighter for you!" The woman has a hearty little laugh. "I'm sorry... you are in significant pain right now, I... I don't mean to make light of your injuries, young man."
It's at this point she sees the little nurse summoning doo-hickey just out of reach, so she reaches over to get it closer to him. "Oh my, you dropped this, didn't you? You poor thing."
The pain's not much of a consideration at this point. "Pain's the price of business," he concedes as he reaches for the paging device carefully with his left hand. "Thanks," Zach says politely. "I'd be grateful for some water and today's paper."
Knowing what day it i would be /great/.
"If I knew about the water, I'd have surely brought some, dear," the old woman says as she rustles about inside a purse. "Now, I know I put it in here somewhere... I've already read it today. Ah, yes!"
It's not a very big newspaper in these parts, apparently... and fortunately, it's in English! Zambia has declared English its official language, after all. "I don't mind you having it, young man, but, there is something else I wanted to give you."
She hands over the small newspaper thing she managed to roll into a purse somehow - fortunately, it's still the same day as the day of the grand fight. Unfortunately, the newspaper was printed before the fight took place, so the results aren't there.
Zach takes the paper gratefully. "It's fine," Zach says thankfully, rolling open the paper to glance at the dateline. Same day, huh? He finds that he is slightly surprised by that. The lack of fight results is fine by him; he figures Rust or Antoine or one of the others will be by soon enough.
He looks over at the old lady curiously. "What's the other thing?" he finally asks.
"Oh, where did I put it... dear me," she mumbles, "and it's something I feel you'd have loved to have, too," she sighs loudly as she dips her head, still rummaging around, "I know I have it in here, but... before I do."
She raises her head so she can at least meet Zach's eyes. Her eyes are still very kindly, all smiles, for what of them he can see. "Let's say I've known others like you through my years. I'm... I'm not one of them, dear, but I do believe I have something that could be of great help to you."
Zach is, normally, in possession of a couple of artifacts that react to his abilities. "Yeah," Zach asks with just a touch of suspicion in his voice. "And what would that be?"
The odds that this old lady, or any old lady for that matter, has something useful for him are not all that hot. It's enough to ping anyone's paranoia meter, really.
"Oh, where did I put it?" She continues to rummage through. "Rats!" That is about as close to foul language as she gets. She sighs loudly. "Oh, I know I have it somewhere... hum."
She closes her purse. "I've admired you for your character, you know. You're such a hard worker! I'm sure the many children who visit the community center in Southtown thank you dearly for it - and I do, too."
"Someone has to keep the floors clean," Zach says pleasantly. "Can't really teach much about fighting, aside from the virtues of self-mastery," he says. He's still on guard, but at this point keeping it out of his body language. The kids don't really pay attention to the general cleanliness of things around the center.
"It is quite a virtue," the old woman nods. "One I believe that, despite what you say, is something you show plenty of... do you not?" She leans a little closer. "I've known so many who have gone /mad/ with that. It is truly sad... but you've shown many times over that you are indeed of strong character. I admire that in you."
Zach is silent in response to the lady's monologue. He leans back as she leans in; personal space has always been something important to Zach as well. He swallows, keeping his eyes on her. "Well, thanks," Zach says, obviously at a bit of a loss. At this point, he's not so worried that she's going to try and kill him.
He's wondering what it is she is trying to /sell/.
"I understand," she starts as she pats herself down. She's either truly that kindly or has a serious poker face going on in a situation anyone else would find absolutely infuriating and difficult to deal with, "that... this comes a little late. I'm... sorry to see things turned out the way they did. You all fought as hard as you could... I wish I came to you sooner."
Zach shrugs slightly, fighting the pain reaction down as he does so. "You did the best you could, right?" he asks, turning her earlier conversational tack around on her. He doesn't seem terribly worried about it at this point.
Zach is, if nothing else, patient when he's not in a fight. He waits for the old lady, whose name he has yet to get.
"My goodness! I sure hope I didn't drop it along the way here," she speaks to herself, her voice raised a little as though this were an issue of great panic for herself, something of great concern, "why, if it fell into the wrong hands..."
Something falls to the floor. Something metallic, something that sounds a little heavier than the object its size ought to be. Her hand comes up to her mouth in a small chuckle at her own folly. "Oh... my."
Zach leans over to try to get a look at the object that just fell, his eyes intent on the object. Something sounded, well, /off/ about it.
"Goodness gracious!" The old lady leans down slowly to pick it up. "I was quite worried for a second, dear... don't worry, it's not damaged." She does seem rather, quite relieved - as though what just happened here might have meant the entire damned world and then some, as she takes it in her hand.
"A friend of mine, long, long ago, used this to help focus their power. Or, so they told me," she chuckles, "but... they are no longer with us. I've had this for many years, young man, and I've decided that... perhaps, this could be put to good use."
Zach peers at the oddly colored metal choker. The serpent motif is also interesting. It's... not normally a fashion statement he'd normally make, admittedly. He looks from it to the woman. "I... have to admit, accepting a gift from a total stranger..." Zach shrugs slightly before plunging forward, "I mean, I don't even know your name."
"Oh... I never introduced myself, did I?" She brings a hand to her mouth. "Mmm, how rude of me. I'm sorry, forgive my rudeness!" She promptly bows. "I am Tomoko Kimura... using your Western name order."
She rises back up, and holds the choker out towards Zach. "The way my friend used to see it... the serpent embodies someone who succeeds without the needs of things we take for granted in our lives. Such as... our arms, and our legs. It did not need them. Some say it might have been lacking..."
She bows her head sadly. "They were of such a frail constitution, but yet their inner power was most magnificent! You... you remind me a lot of them. Just as righteous, just as mindful not to abuse what gifts they had. While you don't have to, it would me an a lot for me - and for them - if someone whom truly understands what it means to be in control of one's impulses."
Zach reaches for the choker carefully, taking it in both hands. "I'll accept it gladly," he says honestly. "You'll have to forgive me if I don't try it on just now, it feels like I have some stitches in that area and removing the bandages to find out seems counterproductive."
"Oh, of course, dear... I thank you for accepting it." She bows again. "I do hope you feel better soon... he /bit/ you." She shivers visibly. "Oooh, that had to have been horrible, dear! I've had brushes like that in the past. It's good to know you're getting such good care for them..."
"I... tend to bounce back from injuries pretty quickly. I doubt I'll have them in at the end of the weekend, really," Zach replies. "And I think I got him pretty good for it." He glances around. "Wonder what happened to Rust," Zach says almost to himself. He seems worried about his older teammate.
"Oh, you're young. It comes easy when you're young," Tomoko reasons with her grandmotherly little smile as she waves a hand. "You certainly did get him good! Why, when that round ended the both of you were counted out."
That has to be a real feather in Zach's cap, right there. "I'm sure your friends are all right. Mmm, maybe I should pay them a visit while I'm here and introduce them to one of your biggest fans!" She laughs.
Zach grunts with surprise; he had not expected to hear that he knocked out the Red Cyclone. "I had help from a good partner," Zach replies humbly. "Though I'm not sure where the others might be, to be honest."
"Oh, I'm sure you could ask a nurse," Tomoko smiles, "I'll be sure to let them know you seem to be doing fine, if they ask! But... for now, I should leave you to your rest, Zach."
She bows her head once more humbly. "Thank you for accepting my humble gift."
Zach nods deeply. "Thank you for gifting it," Zach says with the same humility. He thumbs the button on the pager to call the nurse. He's getting thirsty at this point.
Log created on 19:16:59 02/11/2011 by Zach, and last modified on 22:18:05 02/12/2011.