Description: After his date with Juri, Vikram sits in the park a few days later to study and enjoy the weather. A cat finds its way to him followed by another strange woman...
The sun was just past its zenith indicating it was heading toward the early afternoon on a fine Saturday. There were hardly any clouds in the sky, though the sun wasn't so intense as to cause anyone outside to swelter in its heat. It was just the kind of day that children in school longed for to go and cut loose. So, what was Vikram doing?
Studying like any other bloody day.
Though this day was slightly different. Deciding that he needed to get out of the library or he would scream, the young Indian man had decided that it was better to try to get some fresh air. Hopefully then he would be able to survive the incoming mental bomb of medical terminology. There was an exam coming up that he didn't particularly care about but knew his father did that he had to study for, and the potential fallout from not studying was far worse than if he just bit the bullet and did it.
So, there he was. Studying in the park under the shade of a pleasant elm tree. Sitting cross-legged. With three books opened to various pages around him, one of them in his lap. Trying to maintain some sort of interest in the subject matter and failing.
As a breeze sent grass stems into the air, Vikram glanced up from his books and raised his right hand to his face in order to ward stray locks of his jet black hair away from his emerald green eyes. When the wind subsided, his eyes made their way back to his studying to realize that in those few seconds a cat had scampered up to where he was sitting and was perched over his book looking at its pictures. His mind began its analysis in the library of his mind before he could stop it, identifying it as a British Shorthair. White in color with gray stripes and yellow eyes. Its nose was a cute pink. Utterly adorable.
"Hey there, little one," he spoke to the cat in a soothing tone. He wasn't a cat lover, but he was friendly enough with animals. Plus, it was a good distraction from his work. However, he refrained from closing the books. After all, this was just a short break. He wasn't /stopping/ per se. At least, that's what he told himself. Reaching over to the cat, he scratched it behind the ears which caused it to scrunch its face up in pleasure before Vikram picked it up in both hands, letting it sit on his lap after he shoved his book forward off his legs onto the grass. Then, he busied himself checking it for a tag of ownership while idly scratching it.
For pale skinned test tube babies, the sun in Japan right now is quite hot enough. Especially when you're clad in an all encompassing red cloak, which hangs about her thin body like a tent. But even warmth and brightness like this can't really do much to warm a dolls plastic heart, especially given how due to recent events she's been particularly given to melancholy lately.
However, thats not to say nothing moves Cammy, as walking along next to her on the grass pads a cat, not leashed, not even belonging to her, just keeping pace next to her, occasionally brushing against a leg past the cloak. Cat and Cammy seem to have some sort of unspoken understanding.
...At least until the feline decides to hare off. The doll, who up till now had seemingly not been paying attention to the cat at all, promptly comes out of her reverie, and apparently liking the cats company after all, pads after it, at a somewhat slower pace.
Rounding a bend in the path, she advances towards the tree the cat fled toward - and stops. Rather blank eyes fix upon Vikram, and then the cat, who seems to have moved on to find affection elsewhere, mercurial creature that she is. She pauses, to ponder a few possible courses of action - not exactly one for spontaneity after all. And while the brain is working, she just stands there, staring, as if the light is on but nobody's home.
"Hey," came the warm-toned greeting when Vikram realized that he and the cat were no longer alone. He fixed Cammy with the same friendly, soothing smile that he had given the cat when he had realized she was next to him, somehow understanding with his strange insight that the animal and her companion were similar creatures. Glancing from the cat to the blond-haired woman once again, he tilted his head in a questioning manner. "Is she yours?"
It was a simple question, but one that probably held a slightly deeper meaning. Realizing that he now probably had company, the young man set about closing the books near him with his left hand and stacked them next to him. He had been raised in a household that was very strict on manners. Half the time he did things unconsciously. His etiquette teacher had taught him that it was impolite to have half-finished work in front of him if he was going to hold a proper conversation. It sent the message that he was not properly invested in the dialogue.
After a few moments, he cleared up the space around him and gestured to the now open grass next to him wordlessly as he kept his eyes on Cammy. His other hand played with the cat in his lap.
"No. I found her over there." Cammy replies to him, and half turns, to point in the direction from whence she came. When she turns back to him she says nothing for a moment, silently watching as he gathers up all his things and tucks them away. "She was walking with me, but cats do as they will in the end.". Naughty kitties. Her voice isn't exactly monotone but it's hardly full of life, and in Japan, rather foreign, though thats hardly unusual in a melting pot like this.
Eventually she decides to slowly advance upon him, though she's focused more upon the cat than on him, and carefully settles down on the grass next to him in the offered spot, taking her time to make sure she pats down the cloak properly so as not to expose any leg. "Maybe she will decide to continue our walk soon." she declares, apparently happy to wait, at least for now.
While mostly staring at the cat, and very silent, she is actually quite attentive to other things, as well. She looks him over, and then looks over all his things too, gaze going from book to book, taking note of all the titles. "You are a doctor?" she eventually asks, making some effort at pleasantries.
Her attempt at conversation is met with an easy smile that turns into a grin. "Doctor? No," he began, one hand coming up behind his head in a sheepish expression. "More like an overworked medical student. Part time scholar." The last was tacked on as a bit of an afterthought as he remembered the martial arts research--one thing he actually liked doing. "And that explains why I didn't see a tag on her." Vikram picked up the cat in his lap with both arms and deposited her between the two of them, scratching her on her head and behind her ears for her trouble.
His eyes moved from the cat to Cammy once more. "Have you named her? If she followed you from a distance like that it's likely she's attached to you. And she doesn't seem like she has an owner. Maybe you should take her? Life's pretty hard for a cat on the streets." His attention went back to the cat as she flopped over and rolled onto her back in a plea for more attention. The antic was met with a grin and a tummy rub in response from the Indian. "Poor thing. Most people don't care about the plight of these creatures around here. If she followed you, maybe she sensed some kind of similarity between the two of you." His emerald green eyes seemed to stare through Cammy for a moment as his mind make a quick analysis.
"I'm Vikram, by the way," he said with a wry grin as he introduced himself politely, extending her a loose hand to shake politely. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
Cammy reaches out for the cat as it sits there between them, but the reaching hand freezes at his suggestion, blue eyes widening slightly, before she snaps the hand back. She remembers what happened to the last cat she adopted. It ended up half a cat.
That thought rather obviously then segues into thinking about Juri, the cat murderer, and that fist clenches, and her expression manages to sour visibly while still keeping a mostly blank expression on her face. "Life is hard for kitties everywhere." she eventually says. "She will be better off here, in the park, where she can chase the birds and the rats.".
When a hand and a name is offered, she hesitates, before eventually gently wrapping her hand around his. "I am Cammy." she admits, hoping that he will not suspect the surname. "Politeness costs nothing.", she adds approvingly, as she increases the pressure on his fingers to the appropriate amount and shakes his hand gently, then letting go.
"Politeness costs nothing, huh?" he spoke haltingly as he planted his palms behind him on the grass to lean back. "I have a feeling my father would like you. He always was big on decorum." He glanced at Cammy sidelong, catching her reaction to his words. "Cold feet, Cammy? Come on, isn't she adorable?" The young man picked up the cat, putting his hands under the creature's arms to wave them around as a means to make non-verbal communication. He ducked down and hid his head behind her white and gray-haired head.
"Take me home!" he began in a higher-pitched voice to imitate what he thought a female cat would sound like. "I'm so cute and cuddly! You know you want to!" The impression was bad. Laughably bad. After a few moments, he stopped moving the cat's arms, and poked his head out from behind the cat. With a playful smile. "Did it work?"
Obviously not, he knew. With the fist she had made there was definitely some sort of reason. And it wasn't something so common as 'parents have allergies' or something like that. It piqued his interest, which made him stop short. Last time someone piqued his interest it had resulted in a crazed woman who had left him with a rather high bill for damages to an upscale bar. It was another crossroads and the response in his mind was the exact same one that he had that night:
Well, at least I won't be bored.
With a sigh, he sat back straight once again. "Well, fine. But do you at least /like/ her? If you can't keep her then maybe I can take care of her, and you can come by and see her? That way you know she's being well taken care of and can play with her when you'd like. Plus, it would give me the chance to see you again. It's not often I get to meet a sweet woman like you who likes cats. It's a meeting I wouldn't mind having again." His friendly grin never faded. "What do you say?"
Cammy assumes a pained expression at the cat cuddling, and the mewling and paw stretching which it encourages. She silently stares at the cat longingly for a long moment. But no. She knows if she does something foolish and impulsive the adorable kitty will end up half a kitty, like the other one.
It makes the doll feel upset, which is an unpleasant feeling, and causes her to narrow her eyes at Vikram. "You should not torture me so. I cannot take the cat home. Your efforts at persuasion just make me unhappy, as they remind me of what I am missing. So. Stop it!" she commands, the thus far placid Doll somewhat animated for the first time, reaching up to brush her long strand of blonde hair out of her face, as it waves around a bit with her no longer sitting stock still.
But she soon calms, and shrugs. "Of course I like her. Everybody who isn't evil likes cats. If she needs looking after maybe you should look after her. Or take her to a shelter maybe. But no...". She shakes her head. Lessons have been learned, hard lessons. "I will not visit her. Nothing good will come of it. Maybe a lot of bad will.".
Picking up the cat and depositing it back in his lap to make it feel appreciated again after being made to move around at his whim, Vikram's brilliant green eyes stared at Cammy for a few moments contemplating. When he spoke it was with wisdom of one twice his years. Wisdom he had gained from traveling the world more times than he could remember despite his young age.
"I don't understand, Cammy. Why do you persist in making yourself unhappy? You treat yourself as if you are a parasite set loose on the world." He shook his head slightly, dark locks of hair moving with him as he did. "It's not good for one's psyche to be so hard on oneself. It is true that being hard on oneself is necessary for learning from mistakes, but if you are too hard the sense of self starts becoming damaged."
His eyes diverted to the side as he remembered the events of the previous week. This pain was similar to the pain he had felt from Juri. It was an almost odd feeling to realize that he had met two women with the same pain in the span of a week. Though, maybe not surprising at all: this was Southtown.
"You two really /do/ smell the same," he mused softly, just loud enough for Cammy to hear though it was obviously not intentional. "The same sense of pain and suffering. That the good in you isn't worth it. It makes me sad for you both."
Being reminded of how she can't have a pet cat is annoying, but sympathy is even more annoying! "I am not unhappy." she maintains, an edge of anger in her flat voice. "I am not anything. And I do not want or need your pity." she grates out, fists clenching, body tense beneath the baggy cloak.
For a moment it looks like there might be shouting and yelling, as her volume has been going up throughout, but with an apparent exercise of willpower, she calms, looking away from Vikram to a point ahead of her, somewhere in the middle distance. Lord Vega would be upset at his Doll acting so. His favourite Doll, at that. Going quiet, she slowly relaxes, face reassuming it's normal peacefully blank expression, happy to let the silence build for a moment.
Eventually she speaks again, voice back to being flat, and slowly turns her head to focus upon Vikram once more. "Who smells like me.". Her secondary task at all times is reconnaissance, and while Vikram hasn't seen like someone important thus far, possibly this piece of information may be.
Actually shook his head in response. "Who said anything about pitying you?" he asked rhetorically, his voice still warm but more firm now. "I make it a point to not pity anyone. We are in control of our own actions. Seeking to understand why is different than pity, Cammy." With a sigh, he continued. "I should probably also point out that pushing yourself so hard to not take the cat or even visit it if someone else takes care of it even though you obviously wish you could play with it is an example of what I was talking about."
Glancing off into the sky for a moment, Vikram's eyes glazed over in memory then refocused once again on the blonde woman before him. "It's more like the two of you give off the same feeling rather than the same smell. It's just the best way to describe it. I met a woman earlier this week. She carried a similar pain to yours. Constantly trying to suppress the good within her. I offered to take her out to get a drink. Several times throughout the night she accused me of being kind to her in order to get sex from her. Obviously, I had no such intention. I even explained how that made no logical sense. It ended with her smashing a phone on the wall with her fist. She started bleeding, so I offered to patch her hand for her and she almost cried." Shaking his head at the memory, the Indian man sighed. "When she realized what she was doing, she got upset with herself. Upset that something good--remorse--was starting to show. So angry that she blew straight through a reinforced wall and left." During the course of his dialogue, he his eyes had wandered from Cammy, to the grass, then to the cat in his lap to pet her idly. Making eye contact with the woman next to him once again, he finished his thought.
"Her name was Juri."
It was hard to say whether Vikram's luck was extremely good or extremely bad to have met two of the top Shadaloo assassins in less than a week and not have been on the receiving end of something terrible. Equally strange was his level of insight which bordered on psychic. He had been able to piece together many of Juri's reactions simply by watching her facial expressions and muscle tensions. It was a skill he had learned from his father and etiquette originally which he had honed into a potent tool over the course of time.
"The cat will get hurt. I am being good. Because this way the cat will not get hurt." Cammy doggedly continues, unfazed by his examples or his persistence. "Maybe I will hurt the cat." she muses, philosophically. She has not been blind to how Lord Vega seems to revel in giving her emotionally complicated assignments lately. No doubt to test her loyalty, which is, of course, absolute. "If I get in a mood or something." she adds, to 'explain' why she might do such a thing.
She listens attentively while he answers her question, only actually responding when The Name is mentioned. Which causes her to roll her eyes, and blurt out the fact that she knows (and loathes) the Korean. "Juri. Bah. There is nothing good about Juri. If I were you I'd stay out of her way, as she likes hurting things, usually more important things than walls. It makes her feel better, when she's not feeling sorry for herself. She even murders cats.".
Gasp.
Then she smiles a distracted sort of smile. "You bought her a drink? Like a date?". All the abuse she ever got in the base from her friendship with Quon. Oh, revenge is a dish best served cold alright. There'll be some rumourmongering going on in the Doll Chambers this evening.
Between what Cammy just said and her mannerisms it didn't take Vikram long to put it all together. "Wait," he said, stopping her. "Juri killed a cat. She killed a cat you had, didn't she? And you've been blaming yourself for that. Which is why you've been hesitating about getting close to cats. You're worried that by being around them you will get them killed." With his insight it was like he could see right through her. The hesitation in her demeanor, the muscles that moved previously. It all clicked into place simultaneously.
The young man gave the blonde woman a wry smile. "That's not your fault. Juri is the one who killed the cat. You didn't. If you don't want something to happen to the cat then protect it. If you're anywhere near as strong as Juri, and I have a feeling you are, you should be able to defend something you care about from her. I get the impression that you are the more gentle of the two." That was the feeling he got, anyway. Though it was a bit like trying to compare what kind of oil mixed with water the best. Well, no matter.
Leaning back slightly, Vikram stared at a cloud that had made its way through the clear sky. "I suppose it could be considered a date. As short-lived as it was. So, how do you know Juri?" he asked idly.
"There you go again." Cammy says, with a thunderous frown. "I am not blaming myself. I am stating a fact. Not my fault? Stop trying to make me feel better! I do not need it! All is well, and there is nothing to be done regarding protection, as I said to someone else, there are forces in this world greater than any, and it is foolish to believe that you can intervene." she tells him, quite the fatalist.
"Gentle.". She rolls her eyes at that, not thinking that's something that would go down well at the base either, the Killer Bee going soft. Actually that particular rumour seems to have gone round plenty already, much to her chagrin. "You mistake gentleness for other qualities that Juri lacks. Self control and discipline being the main two.".
"And, she is a fighter. Many know of her.". Exactly how Cammy knows Juri is, no doubt, classified.
Cammy's statement are met with a shrug. "I'm not trying to make you feel better. I'm stating my opinion. I suppose I should remind you that I barely know you. I definitely don't know you well enough to go out of my way to try to make you feel better. You can take it or leave it--though I suppose you have already made your decision on which of those options to take."
With a glance at the Sun's position in the sky, Vikram stood and then bent over to tuck his books under his left arm and scoop up the cat with his right. The creature meowed in response twice. Once to him and once to the blonde woman that they were going to be leaving behind. "Well, I've spent enough time with my break. I should get back to my studying. Possibly a little light exercise." The cat climbed up from where it had been cradled against his chest to prop herself up on his shoulder.
He turned to leave, holding up a hand in farewell with his back to Cammy. Turning his head slightly, he called over his shoulder as he began to walk away. "The offer still stands, though. If you want to visit her, you're welcome to come any time. I frequent this park quite a bit. Maybe I'll see you later."
Cammy decides that there's something about this guy that rubs her the wrong way. He gets to keep the cat, he gets to be sympathetic for her while arguing with her about how he's actually not sympathetic, and apparently he doesn't listen to her either given he really really wants her to hassle the unfortunate cat and thus bring down Juri upon it.
Either that or he's rubbing her nose in it.
She gets up, and gives his back a somewhat malevolent, or at least sour, look, and then wordlessly plods back towards the path, feeling perhaps a little sorry for herself. As even the cats are starting to abandon her these days, it seems.
Log created on 14:14:00 07/18/2011 by Vikram, and last modified on 15:49:08 07/19/2011.