Description: After a major run-in with some bad folks, Yuri visits Rust in the hospital and learns some unsettling news...
Howard Rust is really lucky to be alive. Significant blood loss, severe poisoning, couple fractures here and there... really, if it weren't for the whims of fate in the form of a young girl who seems to be clinging to faith after their encounter, the newspapers would have something tucked away about his untimely demise on Gedo Street due to mysterious means.
It's a day or two after that ill-fated evening, and Howard's just gotten out of ICU - but he needs to rest, and get plenty of it. He's still hooked up to an IV and being fed full of really exotic medicines to counteract the poisons and infections he's in the middle of suffering.
Typically, nearly everything aches in any given instance. Let's just say that, by his standards, he's currently really, really sore - and trying to watch random bits of news pieces - for lack of anything better he can do - just to see if Antoine's popped up in the news lately. So far, nothing. Conscious, yet miserable, the forty-year-old man lays in his bed as if waiting for the next in the latest bit of bad news in his life.
There has been a whoooooole lot of them.
Meanwhile, Yuri Sakazaki has been looking high and low for Mr. Rust. When she heard about what happened to him, she was very furious. She couldn't believe that someone could do that to him. She dashed around Southtown, looking for information regarding what had happened for real, as well as trying to find where he was. "If he's dead, I'll find the punk who did this and give him a Kyokugen Spanking so hard, he'll never sit down again!"
Eventually, Yuri found her way to the hospital where Mr. Rust was, and almost immediately her anger was replaced with concern and sadness. When she was shown to Mr. Rust's room, tears began to well up in her eyes. "Mr. Rust, are you all right? What happened?!" She asks, sounding like she's on the verge of bursting into tears.
That's a voice he hasn't heard in a little while - a void that, by no fault of its immediate own, fills him with a sense of dread. The thought that Takuma might be looking over her shoulder and ready to beat him within an entire inch of his life yet again. The hold he has on the remote control tenses in his grasp as he struggles to sit up, feeling sore and especially weak all over to the sight of the teary-eyed Yuri.
"I, uh, I got messed up," he summarizes it best he's able, given the circumstances - he can kind of figure out where this is going to go if he doesn't choose his words carefully, "lookin' for... for Antoine, ah... you remember him, right?"
"Antoine?" Yuri seems to calm down a little. "I remember him, but I don't know where he is." Yuri takes a seat in a nearby chair, folding her arms. "But still, who would try to do something like that to you, huh?" Yuri scowls and narrows an eye.
"That, ah... that, that makes the two of us." No fooling. With Antoine escaped and now with at least a 48 hour head start, he really could be anywhere. The older man's eyes seem more focused on the TV than on Yuri, as if waiting for some sort of breaking news about the latest thing erupting in flames or what have you.
"Yuri, I'd, ah, I'd like to tell you, but... part of me, part of me thinks that... I, I really don't know," he stumbles around what might be a half-truth as much as the matter of what - not who, what - he encountered.
Yuri starts to open her mouth in protest, but then shuts it, oddly enough. "All right, Mr. Rust." She looks a little closer, looking more concerned. "Are you gonna be OK, though? I don't want you to die on me!"
"Look, I'm... I'm stable," he clears his throat as he turns his gaze back towards Yuri, nodding his head briefly while holding up his right hand (which still looks as badly scarred as ever), "I just... I just need, y'know, rest."
And to know that he's not being fired from Pacific. Nobody from his workplace has given him a call or visited him or anything of the sort yet, and that in itself is an extremely worrying thing for him. These worries may very well be lost on Yuri, though, who has yet to join the world of the working adult.
"I'm just... tired," he says as he leans back, "it's like... every, every li'l step of the way, Yuri, something's just... just gotta go wrong."
Yuri's concern now looks like sympathy. "Mr. Rust... That... that's not fair! Nobody should have to undergo something like that!" She clenches her fists as if in frustration not being able to help more. "I... I don't know what to say..." The tears start to form again, and Yuri has to step back to wipe her eyes. Then she looks up again and smiles, "But you can't give up! No matter how hard things get, it never pays to give up! You gotta keep at it!" Yuri grins enthusiastically.
That night, Rust was shown a miracle and, in a way, got one when he nearly got himself killed out there looking for Antoine. A brief flash of light and wonder in a long, long string of darkness and despair, a brief reprieve from the depressing state of his life as things are looking.
"Yuri," he speaks up as she starts grinning, "I'm just gonna tell ya, right now, it's, it's not easy for me to smile like that." He starts trying to sit up again, one of those trademark joint creaks in his elbow as if it were a reminder that it's really him and not just another standby with bad hair.
"I dunno if you heard, Yuri, but... but I'm in a position where, where a lot of my friends... our teammates, ah," he clears his throat again, "are in a lot of trouble. And... I, I'm in a lot too."
He's not really sure if she'll get what he means, considering her overall dedication and views on life as a result of being raised within one of the most famous martial arts families in recent times.
"I might've... I might've lost my job."
Yuri does a double-take. "Lost your job?!" Her scowl returns as a sign of disbelief as well as disdain of whoever wants to fire Mr. Rust. "That's ridiculous! What did you do to lose your job? And what is up with our teammates?" Yuri clenches her fists, almost like she's trying to control her anger.
Once again, the older man is raising his hands as if to try and motion to Yuri to calm down, slowly lowering them up and down. "As, as you know, Yuri, I'm a schoolteacher at Pacific." It may be /was/, depending. "That's, that's my job, and... and let's say, it asks a lot, and... and in some ways, I wasn't... really givin' it what they were expecting of me."
He relaxes his arms again, wincing at the pressure he puts on his left forearm. Maybe stopping that scythe blade cold was not a great idea to begin with!
He's also not sure how much he can, or really should, be telling Yuri about their individual problems. Quon is being stalked by a crazy assassin who seems to be in love with him, and now he's not on speaking terms with him following a misunderstanding. Antoine has gone nuts over corrupted chi or some such. Zach is now a murderer, straight up.
"A lot," he figures out to say, "but, anyway, listen, Yuri, I... I know how you feel, but--"
"OK, I get it," Yuri says, now on the verge of tears again. "There's really nothing we can do... But Zach being a murderer? I can't believe that!" She stumbles back to her chair and begins crying. "I can't believe this... I thought I had bad luck, but it seems everyone in the group has had a stroke of bad luck! I never should've joined the team, because I got us eliminated before we even had a chance!"
"Wait... Zach a murderer?" Yuri stops crying abruptly. "Wait, no! I'm thinking of that movie I saw last night!" She slaps herself, smiling a little. "I got my teammate confused with that movie I saw! I don't believe it!" She then looks down again.
Whoa, that's... that's a real coincidence, the old man thinks - even looking towards Yuri when she makes that outburst. He's not sure that he wants to correct her that, in fact, she actually has it right that he's a murderer.
"You, you didn't get us eliminated," Mr. Rust tries to speak up, although his voice is still a bit weak yet to really be easily heard above her bawling. He himself couldn't take Zangief - it took everything he and Zach had in order to defeat the Russian behemoth, a truly powerful and terrible foe unto himself.
"I mean... Yuri. You, you got your shot in King of Fighters... right?"
"Yes... I... I got my shot... but then dad found out..." Yuri says, still crying. "He ruined it for me! Something ruined it for all of us!" She bends her knees to her chest. "It's almost like this was some kind of a jinx! I mean, pitting me against that fighter who was much better than I was?!"
Christ, the older man thinks as he brings a hand to his face... but then he thinks, you know, maybe this one, maybe this one stretch here... this one, he might be able to do something for. Everything else is mired under layers of complexity and factors of things he has yet to truly understand the scope of - if he ever will.
But this one, this one falls under his more mundane scope on life.
"Yuri," he speaks up, trying to bring a little bit more intensity to his sore, dry throat... he could go for a glass of water now, actually, "listen... how old are you, aren't you, uh... seventeen, or?"
"I'm almost seventeen, yes..." Yuri says as she stops crying, and hears Rust's throat croaking. "Wait right there," Yuri says as she steps out into the hallway for a moment. She then comes back with a pitcher of water and a cup full of water. "Here, drink this..." Yuri says as she hands the cup to Rust, setting the pitcher near his bed. "I... I think there's only one thing to do... go home and train some more... I need to practice more!"
"Uh," he's not sure where she's going to, though his mind can think of a lot of things he'd love for her to check if she were able. It's too late, though, she's run out and he sure as hell couldn't keep up with her even if he was in perfect health.
Good thing she comes back with the most immediate need! Water!
"Oh, thanks, you, you shouldn't have," he coughs once before he drinks the cup. Oh man, does it feel good. It lacks that taste of lead he likes so much, though. (WORDS FOR THOSE AT HOME: lead in water is bad, Rust gets away with that because he's a cartoon character.)
As he sets the cup down by the pitcher, Yuri's working herself up to a frenzy. It's kind of amazing - actually, really scary - how she bounces around emotional extremes so much.
"Remember, Yuri, you're... you're pretty young, you got time," he says as he sits up a little more, a wince from the sharp bit of pain in his back, "I mean... I understand your, your problems with your dad, okay, just... just take it from me, you got time. Don't waste it, but... don't rush it."
There is another subject that comes to mind just as he mentions that! "Listen, though, I'm, I'm sorry I ran right out the, the day after your dad came by - Quon found Antoine, but... but I didn't want to, want to leave him to his own, so, so I had to follow him home right then."
"I know how being thirsty is, my dad used to make me practice for hours at a time with a dry throat, so you don't deserve to be like that," Yuri says. "I know, I've still got time. I'll do the best I can..." She fades off as she hears about Quon and Antoine. "Wait, you say Quon found Antoine? What happened next? Why'd you follow them?"
"If, if you remember, we... we didn't know where Antoine /was/," which is a kind of sore point for one Mr. Rust, "I mean, I, I tried to keep us together through the trip, but... but I guess Antoine... really wanted to train by himself a bit before the, the match."
The (possibly ex) shop teacher looks back up towards the TV. "I didn't want us to, to be out on our own when it might've been... y'know, really dangerous, so... so, when Quon left, I wanted to, to make sure he didn't get in danger either."
He clears his throat again. "Turns out, uh... Antoine, he's... he's got a big problem. Acting crazy, violent, somethin' 'bout... his chi being, uh, corrupted. We had him taken to a, to a drug rehab place but... they never found /shit/," something he's only beginning to wrap his mind around, "we, we don't know how to help him, and... and now he went nuts and broke out."
"What?! That's not right!" Yuri says angrily. "Antoine must have something deeper than just drug rehabiliation! They can't help him! Someone who knows more about chi and how it works needs to help him!" She folds her arms and hmmphs. "This is getting worse by the moment..."
That's only /one/ of the big problems, at that. "A-Anyway, Yuri, I, I need you to know, okay," he starts as he holds up a hand to her as she's harrumphing. "I've, I've had some... some... really bad run-ins, lately, with some... very dangerous people."
He knows exactly what she's likely to ask for. "I mean, King of Fighters, who we fought were... were really strong, vicious, but, but they were there to win. /These/ people... they want to /kill/. I don't, I don't want you to... to run around and try to, to pick fights and, and, uh, claim revenge or anything, because... I'm, I'm not kidding, Yuri, it's some... really, really bad shit."
"What...?!" Yuri stands with her mouth hanging open, like she's unsure of what to say, never anticipating what Mr. Rust would say. "I... I..." Yuri's eyes water up again, then she shakes her head. "All right, Mr. Rust. I'll keep my eyes open and stay out of trouble? OK? Will that make you feel a little better?"
"Yuri, I'm, I'm not sayin' you're weak," he holds up a hand again as he turns to face her while the TV goes to some bizarre commercial about a soft drink starring four strange mascots being chased by a walking vacuum cleaner or something.
"It's just... of all of us, Yuri, you're, you're best off by... by a long shot. I, I know how strong you are, I mean, you... you really got me good, every time we, y'know, sparred."
Of course he can concede legitimate losses to her! It should help illustrate what he's trying to say.
"Just... just keep trainin', and, and focus on your school studies, and... and if the time comes, Yuri, I'll, I'll let you know if I, if I need your help, okay?"
Yuri bites her lip for a moment, then nods. "All right, Mr. Rust. I should probably go and let you rest. And I promise I'll stay out of trouble." She smiles sincerely for the first time since she's been in Mr. Rust's room. "Don't worry about me. Just take it easy."
"I'll, I'll... I'll try to." There's too much tension in the air concerning /himself/ and some of his immediate friends to really rest peacefully, but, some things he's going to have to leave up to trust - Yuri being one of them, for being an extremely impulsive teenager willing to take big risks against the wishes of those closest to her. She does have a very, very fierce will about her, after all.
"I'll... I'll just see you next time, I, uh, I come to the dojo." His dojo visits are already becoming a bit more sparse as of late, which may be a worrying thing - but Howard Rust is in the middle of the aftermath of a failed juggling act, and literally needs to reach down a gutter into disgusting and dangerous depths to pick the balls back up.
At least he can rest easy, in some form or another, that he's able to at least alleviate some of Yuri's fears and unease. That would be one less burden on his shoulders, that's for sure.
Log created on 16:33:30 03/30/2011 by Yuri, and last modified on 18:30:28 03/30/2011.