Description: In the wake of Antoine's savagery upon Kazuki and the resulting news cast, Howard Rust barges in on his new fellow hospital patient to try and get a handle on the hows, whys, and most importantly, wheres of Antoine Huang.
Southtown General Hospital
3:30pm Sunday
Kazuki Kirigana has had a rough weekend, what he remembers of it at any rate. He was recovered from the Harbor District by what was described as a concerned citizen. Kazuki does not recall that at all, however. He remembers encountering Antoine Huang, and then waking up in the hospital room. His parents were there, as was Yuki. A bit frightening, at first, but not as much as waking up alone would have been.
Currently, Kazuki is asleep. Or at least as asleep as one can be with an arm in traction and both legs in casts, along with numerous bruises and cuts all over his body. Yuki Kagami, Kazuki's friend and dojo-sempai, sits by the bed. She is clearly worried for Kazuki's health; he has never been this badly beaten before in his life.
If nothing else, it is a novel experience for him.
Howard Rust's still hospital-bound. A couple of blood tests have come back 'inconclusive' for a number of potential diseases from being in contact with... well... that pumpkin-headed guy's filth-encrusted blade and person, and he's now in lighter physical therapy.
It goes without saying that his rescue through uncanny circumstances was by an exceedingly narrow margin - the same narrow margin in which he is unsure about his continued employment. Nobody's come by to ask him anything or check up on him. One thing's for sure, though, his insurance provider is being extremely stingy about some of the things he needs here.
He's literally bleeding what savings he has at this point, with the guarantee that he's not being paid for this leave. Assuming he's just not fired outright.
Of course, he's not just on his feet because of the demands of PT. Nope, he saw the news report - Kazuki Kirigana was attacked. They say the description matched the rehab escapee Antoine.
Only one thing left to do.
Literally staggering along the entire way towards Kazuki's room, a pop in his knee might give his presence away well before he gets his hand on the door towards where Kazuki's injured, resting self lies. Hunched over from stiffness and stress, his voice calls a bit louder than is polite, given the circumstances.
"Hey." He says from outside. "Hey. Is, is, ah... is Kirigana in here?" He coughs once.
It is not Kazuki that moves upon hearing the voice but the young lady, who gives a frightened little start before regarding Rust. She blinks once or twice to gets things settled in her mind before speaking. "H-He's here, Howard-sensei," she says, ever polite, "He's sleeping right now." She looks a right mess; she has probably had a few good cries over the course of the weekend.
She is about two seconds from informing the Kyokugen fighter that Kazuki is sleeping when the prodigy stirs a bit. He groans a bit from discomfort. "...hey," he says weakly, "...thought I heard you around here." He tries to sit up a bit, causing Yuki to fret a little before helping him with the adjustable bed.
"When... when's he gonna be up," this is a really childish question to ask, but there is a certain urgency in the older man's voice, because damn it, Antoine's gotten a head start on running off to wherever it is he's going to - and this incident he's heard about on TV may very well be his only lead to finding out where that young man's gotten to!
Of course, Kazuki's awakening kind of renders this question moot as the older man all but stumbles in, the door making an accidental slamming sound as he gets both hands on the doorframe.
His combover is still in top form, which is to say, as abominable as ever. There's almost no conceivable way it could get any /worse/, as it is.
"I, uh... I, listen, I'm, I'm sorry for just, uh, for just... bargin' in," he catches himself as he stumbles in, "I mean, ah, y'don't mind me just... droppin' in, right?"
Kazuki lets out a chuckle, then winces. "'Sokay," he says, making a note not to laugh for a while. Antoine must have broken those ribs after all. His voice his quiet, but clear. "Ran into your friend on Friday," he says, as if explaining pretty much everything. "He... sounded /awful/. I hope someone can help him."
Kazuki grips his bedsheet with his free hand, trying to fight down the shiver that runs through him as he recalls the fight. It was something out of a nightmare. "He was... driven to /fight/," he says. "I'm not sure how else to explain it."
Yeah, that sounds definitely like Antoine, all right, to the older man's understanding as he staggers along further in, his scarred right hand leaning up against a wall as he works out another pop in one of his shoulders with a low, prolonged grunt while Kazuki explains what he saw.
"He wasn't... he wasn't tryin' to, to... board a boat or, or anything, right? I mean, ah, y'know, if... if you noticed."
Kazuki frowns, trying to confront what he dealt with that night. "I..." he says quietly. There's something in his voice, a slight tremor. "...I don't think he was trying to board a ship or anything like that." He takes a slow, cleansing breath, wincing slightly with the pain of the thing. "I..." Kazuki pauses. He's told Rust about his hearing, but he doubts that the older man really has an appreciation of it, how it colors pretty much everything the prodigy perceives.
"...it... it was like everything, every song, every note in the Harbor was messed up somehow," he finally says. "I... think he might have been there for a while," he says. "I don't know how to explain it better than that."
Rust does remember, some time back, of an underground fighting ring thing he stumbled across so long ago - was Antoine there because it got rowdy? Man, he'd have... probably torn the entire crowd apart, if so.
The harbor is generally no place to play at all as it is, even in (slightly) more peaceful post-invasion Southtown.
The older man stumbles forward a bit more - it may soon come to the point that maybe Kazuki's friend may have to restrain him, considering how unsteady the older man looks on his feet. "St-stay with me," he says, as he places a hand up against a nightstand for support. "For a while, was... was... was anything there that, that you think... he might've been after? I... I really need your help here, if, if I'm gonna..."
Yuki is, in fact, on her feet pretty quickly. She tries to guide Rust into a free chair that is near him. "You should sit down, sensei," she says quietly before casting a worried glance Kazuki's way; this is the first she has heard anything about what had happened.
Kazuki watches, listens as this is being done.
Kazuki thinks for a bit. "I... think he just..." the young man frowns a bit more, uncertainty clear on his face. "It... I think maybe..." Kazuki shakes his head slowly. "Like maybe he was looking for a place to hide, or something. Or a place where he could live, without being bothered." The dead birds sticks out in his mind suddenly. "He..." Kazuki shudders. "He was... scrounging around for food when I found him."
Howard offers very little physical resistance to being guided to a chair by Yuki. Even if he was resisting, it would be child's play for someone of her talent to sit his butt down in a chair. At least this go around, the older man is largely amenable to being guided somewhere to sit down.
Even if there is a certain urgency that is guiding his every clumsy movement. A strong bit of desperation, among the total uncertainty of his current position in his life.
The only thanks he really offers to Yuki is a raised hand, as he listens to what Kazuki has to say on the matter. A place to go be on his own, without being bothered?
"Scroungin' for... god damn," the older man's left hand balls up into a fist, slamming it down on his thigh for lack of an armrest in said chair to slam said fist into.
A wince later codifies his regret in this choice of action.
Kazuki watches the display of temper caused by concern. He studies the older man for a very long moment. "There..." he starts. Yuki whirls to look at Kazuki with surprise. "There's a good chance that I would be able to find him again." The young lady's eyes go wide at this. "I know what I'm listening for now."
The young lady is speechless as Kazuki drops his minor bombshell. She stares at him for a long moment, and Kazuki simply stares back. Nothing is said for a moment before Kazuki regards Rust again. "And even on the chance that it isn't Huang-san," he says, "It may provide leads on how to help him, or who is behind all of this."
Kazuki seems like he is either unaware of, or not caring about, the risks that such a thing might entail. Those same risks scare the hell out of Yuki, from her speechless reaction.
The older man looks up when Kazuki mentions possibly being able to find him again, his shock matching that of Yuki's - and that reminder of how, for Kazuki, it all just comes off as... sound, somehow, in a way. That he can hear out this sort of thing?
"Listen, I, I don't mean to... to drag you into all this," the (possibly ex) shop teacher says, shaking his head as one of his elbows creak loudly, "my team's just... just met one disaster after another, while, while we were takin' part in King of Fighters, it's," it's what? His voice trails off there without ever really finishing the sentence.
Yuki, perhaps surprisingly, is the first to speak up. "No!" she blurts out. "You are /NOT/ going after him again!" She looks terrified. "If he wants my help," Kazuki responds calmly, "I will." He considers. "Someone /did/ this to him," he says, glancing at Rust for some kind of confirmation before continuing, "It's not... I don't like it."
Yuki stands upright, bracing her feet. "So /now/ you have some sense of justice?" she demands incredulously, her voice shaking with a mix of anger and fear. "No," he replies. "I've had it as least as long as you've known me." That stops her cold, causing the young lady to reconsider a few things as she sits back down.
Kazuki looks to Rust again. "I don't know much of anything about your team," he supplies, "But I'm sorry to hear about your troubles. If you don't want me to help you, I can accept that."
How Mr. Rust would be so happy to just charge out of the hospital building with this new information in tow... but he can't go anywhere until they get a blood test that confirms whether or not he's picked up some serious diseases thanks to that encounter out in Gedo Street. It's gotten in the way of the one thing he really can do any more, folding a bunch of cranes and hoping for the very best.
Nobody's given him any paper here.
Poor Clay must be still trying to escape his apartment via the fridge, unaware that fridges are not doors to the outside. (Chi-enchanted paper cranes, for not being technically alive and thus incapable of proper reason, sure are dumb.)
He looks off to the side to consider all these facts as Yuki and Kazuki argue about sense of justice this, going after someone who is more or less a perfect stranger to the lot of them... first, there was that mysterious girl whom he recalls carrying far, far too much for her lithe frame to realistically be carrying (let alone, uh, conceal?).
His hands are, as they say, tied.
"I'm not, I'm not... sayin' that," he finally speaks up as he looks back towards the lot of them, "I mean, ya... ya got me a good lead. I dunno when they're, when they're gonna let me out of here."
The man leans back in his seat, taking in a deep breath as he scratches away at his side. Man, this chair is so incredibly uncomfortable!
"There's... there's a lot of... really dangerous sorts out there. I'm, I'm... really kinda lucky to be alive right now, too." No foolinh!! If that pumpkin head figures into any of this at all, there's something crazy serious going down here. To say nothing about that large guy with the hammer and that other guy who was turning the air some very worrying colors.
"You're also fairly tough, sir," Kazuki says. "So you might have made your own luck in that regard." He goes quiet, thinking about things. "What happened to your team?" he asks. Rust looks like he /might/ want to talk about it, but he's not certain. Then again, what in life is?
Yuki, in the meantime, is watching the conversation in silence. She is currently reconciling a few things in her mind, so she may be a bit.
The older man would like to share Yuki's silence on the matter, in some ways... but, with this young man possibly being able to help in some regard...
"It's... it's, ah, it's really complicated." The handy go-to excuse for any self-respecting adult when speaking to a minor! The timeless verbal handwave of yore.
"Most of 'em... they're in deep with some... some really dangerous people, not... not all the same, but," he really, really does not want to drag Kazuki or Yuki into the Shadaloo end of things, and he's pretty certain FREAKING SAGAT does not want to have to deal with their protection either, "some, they're just... lettin' things get the, get the better of 'em, and... and we've no idea how or why."
It's a really generalized summary.
Very general. Also really unhelpful to Kazuki.
He doesn't press, however. There is, he figures, very little point in questioning further. "Life presents challenges to everyone," he says almost sagely. "How they are handled is just as important as the fact that the challenges are handled."
He turns to look out the window. "I would like to help you more if I could," he finally says. "But I am not sure how long I'll be here. I was beaten pretty badly." Massive understatement.
Life does present a whole lot of challenges to everyone... and now, here he is, in a scenario where he's watching (or hearing about) his various friends and teammates being unable to overcome them, and his increasing inability to help them within what few things he's able to truly understand - even with his eyes opened up to some truly wonderful (and soon after, absolutely terrible) things.
"I'd... I'd like to help 'em more, if, if I could," he says to Kazuki, hunched back over in defeat as he rests his elbows against his lap, a loud, prolonged sigh. "But... but, you gave me a good idea 'bout Antoine."
Kazuki can almost hear the stirrings from Rust. "Well, I am glad to have helped where I could." Kazuki considers the older man in front of him for a long moment. He sees, as well as hears, some things in the Kyokugen fighter. Yuki seems to have settled down a bit; it may have helped when Kazuki was willing to forestall aid for recovery.
"If I could give you some advice," Kazuki says, somewhat uncertainly. "You seem to have a lot on your plate, as the saying goes." He tilts his head to one side before continuing. "Maybe you should focus on one thing at a time, instead of worrying about everything all at once."
"Sometimes," the man speaks up - although he's certainly aware of the sheer number of youngsters who keep going around and giving /him/, someone who in theory has a whole lot more life experience, some living advice. "Sometimes, you don't... you don't really get to, y'know, choose what you got to deal with."
The only thing he can be relatively assured of at this point is that Yuri's at better peace with her family now than she was when they were headed out to Africa. Of course, it's always a bit tense in the Sakazaki household, which... goes without saying when your family is one of the most famous of today's age in martial arts.
"There's... there's stuff I already, already got my mind on... figurin' out once I'm out." Like figuring out if he's been officially let go from his job, could they not have sent someone to call or even speak with him?!
"You do, though," Kazuki rebuttals, "Have control over what actions you take, and the order that you take them in." Kazuki considers for a moment. "Think of it as a fight," he finally says. "Where you have a bunch of people you are fighting. You can try to deal with them all at once," he says. "But odds are, unless you have a lot of training in doing that, the numbers will bring you down, right? Unless you have some kind of technique that can hit a lot of people at once, or something." Kazuki shakes the thought off.
"Anyway the smarter course, usually, is to try to take them down one at a time if you can. It helps if you can create a situation that makes that easier, like retreating to an alleyway or something. But either way, once you take the one person down, the others become a little easier to deal with, right?"
That explanation is a pretty bad callback to where Rust was making a fair number of mistakes in a multi-man melee in so much as being able to handle two guys at once. His neck starts to ache thinking about how that smaller guy nearly choked him out, his hand subconsciously rubbing at his neck while Kazuki talks, a quiet grunt.
"Eh... usually," he concedes that much, "but this one, this one's just got... a lot of, a lot of... problems, just, criss-crossin', and... as I said, it's, it's complicated."
"Of course it is," Kazuki says with a raised eyebrow. "But..." he considers for a moment. "Sometimes you just have to take a step forward, to get things started. The longer one waits to take the step, the longer it takes to finish the trip."
A lot of puzzles in this picture seem interlocked. Zach has that collar that's done weird things to his psionic power. Antoine is possessed by... something, his chi corrupted as he understands it, but how much of his actions are truly his own or that of some greater will, he has no idea. Quon is largely not talking to him and there's the whole matter of Cammy, unaware as to the fullest depths as to how much interest Shadaloo may be interested in him - or what they might do to him.
Where does one start in all of that, aside from just wishing for the best?
"You're not supposed to be out of your room," comes an older woman's voice as she peeks in to see Howard sitting there, "you've got an appointment with your physical therapist."
"Eh... right, 'm, 'm sorry," the older man groans as he pulls himself up out of the chair. "Listen, I'm sorry that, that I just... barged in on you like this, it's... you're the only link I got for, for Antoine's whereabouts right now, 'n... thanks."
He still has to use the wall as a guide to get up and move.
"Take, take good care of him," he says over to Yuki.
Kazuki gives a short wave with his free hand while Yuki stands from her chair to give Rust one of those full formal bows, a quiet smile on her face. "It's no problem," Kazuki says with that odd calmness that he seems to carry with him. "Go get your health back, sensei. You'll need it."
Log created on 14:59:06 04/10/2011 by Rust, and last modified on 17:51:41 04/10/2011.