InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I love you, you love me."

Faye Valentine (poker_alice) wrote in indarkness_logs,
@ 2010-10-05 01:47:00

Entry tags:

!dropped, 2032 10, faye valentine, rock lee

RP: Discovery
Characters: Faye, open
Time/Date: Morning, October 5
Location: Faye's room, Lobby, Roof
Warnings/Rating: Language, some angst, Faye being stressed
Summary: Faye finds a relic from the past and wonders just what its presence might mean.
Status: Player drop/Closed

It was far too early, according to the clock, and Faye was disinterested in this whole concept of being awake. She rolled to the edge of the bed and groped lazily at the bedside table in search of her lighter. An unlit cigarette hung loosely between her lips, and the important life lesson about bedsheets and fire was the furthest thing from her mind. She just needed a smoke and didn't feel like being more than one step away from returning to sleep.

Eventually, her fingers wrapped around a long, thin item which felt close enough to a cigarette lighter. She brought it to her face (though her eyes were closed with drowsiness), running her thumb along the top, but she couldn't find the roller-button. All she felt was the same, slick material that its body was made from... which, of course, meant that something was wrong. Maybe she was holding it ass-end-up?

Faye fumbled with the lighter as she lifted her head to observe the predicament, took a second or two to truly notice what was wrong, then flailed her way onto the floor in panicked realization.

The lighter remained tightly gripped in her hand, though the sheets were half-dragged to the floor with her, nearly mummifying the lower half of her body. She held the item out at arm's length as if it were poisonous, twisted it in her grasp, and shook her head. This was... very much not her lighter. It was the wrong style, the wrong color, yet disturbingly familiar in its own way.

It was almost funny how these things worked. Faye couldn't remember a book she might have read in her youth - a book which very well could have implanted the idea of evil clowns in her mind for the bet with Jaime. She couldn't remember her father's name or her mother's eyes. And if one were to ask if Jayne had any scars, she'd draw a complete blank even though she had rather vivid memories of the night they'd spent together. But one item - one, stupid item which she'd only seen for a minute at most - was etched as a detailed image in her mind... and, apparently, existed as a tangible object within her grasp.

"You saved me," the blonde said, tucking her lighter away in its usual resting place.

Though it wasn't quite a 'thank you,' the meaning was obvious. Neither of the women seemed keen on showing their emotional side, but perhaps doing so would have been out of place, anyway. There were people back there, bleeding and crushed and likely even dead by now all by the grace of a good get-away driver and a vixen who knew her way around a handgun. This was the sort of situation that required subdued pride... or something like that.

"And you saved me back," Faye replied, unable to hide the gratitude in her tone.

She wondered for a moment why this all seemed so peculiar, so... familiar. An old movie, perhaps? No. She doubted that. Maybe it was a side-effect of the strange kinship she felt with the unnamed woman. She knew nothing of her, but it felt as if they could be great allies. Comrades, even. Had she found her niche as this mysterious blonde's backup?

This wasn't just any, gold-colored lighter. It hadn't come from the gas station and it didn't belong in Faye's room. It belonged in another world, tucked away with its owner and everyone else who contributed to Spike's demise. It belonged... far away from him, and - preferably - far away from her, as well. Which, of course, meant that it belonged exactly where it was. The sick and twisted logic of the sadistic bastards (and, perhaps, bitches) in charge of this island demanded as much. If it didn't belong, then it would eventually arrive.

What was next - Julia herself?

Faye heaved a frustrated sigh and flicked the lighter open, staring at it as if she could will flame into appearing without the effort of her thumb. The worst part was that she didn't hate the blonde, the woman whose name alone could send her heart plummeting. In fact, she'd rather liked Julia. Maybe not as much or in the same way as Spike clearly had, but...

She couldn't finish the thought, because it was replaced by a much darker one. If Julia were here, then her lighter wasn't likely to be tossed into Faye's room. So, if something of Julia's was laying around on the island, it wasn't a good sign. At all.

Her eyes narrowed at the object and she flicked her wrist as if to toss it aside, but her fingers forgot to release. Instead, her gaze followed the movement of her own hand, continuing to stare at the lighter. Apparently, its presence was offensive. Intrusive. Inherently evil.

Faye knew that Julia was dead. She knew bits and pieces of the story, knew that she didn't completely believe Spike's tale of not committing suicide-by-proxy in reaction to his pet obsession's murder. But Spike... the one who existed on this island... wasn't likely to know as much. The discussion had never come up, and she couldn't tell his usual "I'm a dead man" banter from potential knowledge of his literal death, but she doubted he knew. The whole thing with Vicious taking over the syndicate was likely before his time.

As far as he knew, Julia could still be alive. He was likely the same man who chased after a drug deal on Callisto all because its code name was the same as that mysterious blonde.

Somehow, though she'd spent over a week attempting to ignore the jerk, her heart ached for him now. She didn't quite understand why Julia's lighter hadn't been placed within Spike's room, but she worried about what it might mean. It probably didn't mean that Julia was on the island. So what, then? Was it a hint of things to come? Was it a sign that they'd be going after Spike with whatever means necessary to break him?

Or was it shallower than that - an attempt to see if she were cruel enough to taunt him with the little piece of his lost love?

Faye didn't know the reason, didn't feel like figuring it out on her own, but also knew that she couldn't share the discovery with Spike. Now that she had a deeper understanding - begruding as it may have been - of the shit he'd been through, she couldn't just walk up to him with the "by the way, Julia's dead, but you can have her lighter as consolation" line. Nor could she offer him the false hope that Julia would show up on the island at some point. He was delusional enough without that added into the mix.

Besides... What if he tried to wander off on another suicide mission? Faye couldn't handle losing him again. She just... couldn't.

After double-checking and triple-checking the directory, Faye finally convinced herself that Julia hadn't been entered under some other name or written in invisible ink. She wasn't here, which meant the lighter wasn't likely to be a 'good' omen. And instead of attempting to figure out what was meant by the item's presence, Faye decided to find a suitable means of distracting herself.

Not surprisingly, this led to the roof... this time with a book 'borrowed' from the library. She wasn't much of the 'reading for the sake of it' type, but it was something to do while attempting to clear her mind.

Or it would have been, if she had better luck. As it turned out, the novel she chose was about a beautiful, blonde spy who fell for her best friend's love interest. Faye highly doubted that was the story behind Spike and Julia, but... Well, the 'love interest' was very close to him in personality and the 'best friend' was a petite woman with a love for guns. It was like a topsy-turvy version of what could have been if only she and Julia had become partners in crime.

She preferred not to think about the fact that, technically, her love was unrequited and - if anything - she'd attempted to steal Mister Apathetically Cool from the mysterious blonde. Not the other way around.

Faye had shoved the lighter inside a pocket, but it certainly hadn't left her mind just because it was out of sight. Every time the story reached a lull or one of those dreadful moments of being ridiculously predictable - which was sad, considering she had only reached the fourth chapter - her mind would wander to the lighter. She kept trying to figure out its purpose, to place a reason for its existence; and whenever she couldn't come up with something, she mentally kicked herself for being dense.

Funny that she was so close to being pushed past her stress threshold - so close to caving and telling Spike about the item just so that figuring out its purpose could be someone else's burden - yet generally looked relaxed. She was stretched out across a lounge chair by the pool, socks and boots abandoned on the floor beside her, with her face buried in the book. The latter kept the outside world from easily seeing her expression or the fact that she was clearly focused on something much more important than some novel or another.

Really, what she needed was a better distraction. Perhaps someone to come along and spark a nice, unrelated discussion...

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green_beast
2010-10-08 01:45 am UTC (link)

Swimming had never figured into Lee's training regimen in the Hidden Leaf, but that did not mean he could not swim. It only meant that he had not thus far had the opportunity. He did not wish to swim in his bodysuit, so he had gone to something called a 'mall' where he was told he could find clothes. There he had found some biker shorts -- in green, of course -- that looked as if they might work.

Following his laps around the island that morning, he went to his room for a quick shower. Then he changed into his biker shorts, grabbed a towel from the bathroom, and went up to the roof. Unfortunately, he had discovered his first day here that he could not remove his leg weights, even to shower. So that meant that he had to keep them on when swimming, too. He was not worried -- he was strong enough now to keep his head above water even with them -- but he was not certain what to answer if someone ask him about them.

His weights, and his speed without them, were supposed to be a secret. He only wished that Gai-sensei were here, as well, so he would know what to do. Lee supposed he could say that they were simply normal weights, all part of his training. He did not think anyone would try to lift one of his legs to see how heavy they were. So that was what he decided to do. He could only hope that his plan would make Gai-sensei proud.

When he opened the door to the roof, Lee noticed that there was already a woman there, but she appeared to be reading. Therefore, instead of introducing himself, he merely walked to the other end of the pool, dropped his towel on a chair, and dove in. She would likely not be too happy with him if he were to splash her book.

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poker_alice
2010-10-11 10:20 am UTC (link)

Faye heard the roof door open and close, but didn't bother turning around to see who the newcomer was. Knowing her luck, it would be Spike. Or Julia - late to the occasion just as in the past. She shifted slightly in the chair, feeling rather uncomfortable with that train of thought, then returned her attention to the novel. It had reached yet another predictable plot point, but by now she'd grown used to these things and accepted them as part of the suspension of disbelief.

Soon enough, however, the newcomer passed and curiosity got the better of her. She glanced up from the book, furrowing her eyebrows slightly at the sight of a young man - or boy, by the looks of it - clad in biker shorts. Given that she knew someone who looked somewhat like a teenage boy and wore biker shorts almost constantly, she just had to do a double-take. The dark hair and lack of a shirt ensured it really was a boy and not Ed (or so she hoped, given that young girls like Ed shouldn't be running around topless). So it was just another captive. In any other circumstances, that would have been enough to convince Faye that he wasn't worth any further attention.

In this case, she was desperate enough for distraction that she decided to take her chances. Besides, unless she had suddenly gone crazy, she was fairly certain she'd seen a glimpse of weights on the boy's legs before he dove into the pool. That alone was reason enough to spark a conversation - even if not a particularly courteous one.

Faye dog-eared the page she was on and placed the book on her lap. Had the stranger been someone older, she may have taken the opportunity to shift positions or even walk over to the side of the pool, but given that it was just a kid she decided to wait until she knew whether moving would be worth the effort. For all she knew, he could be anti-social and she would have to return to reading. Or he could be too crazy for her tastes. In prior experience, she'd yet to meet someone sane who wore biker shorts...

"So, are you trying to sink?" she asked, speaking only as loud as necessary to be heard.

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green_beast
2010-10-11 06:38 pm UTC (link)

When his head broke the surface of the water again, Lee shook it to get most of the water out of his hair, and then smoothed his hair down with his hands, kicking his legs to stay afloat. He could not help smiling, just a little, at the woman's question.

"No, I am not," he answered with a grin, just as loudly as she had spoken, but then he started swimming in her direction. "I cannot take the weights off. I have tried." And he would have looked even weirder swimming in his leg warmers, he was sure. But even Gai-sensei let him take the weights off to shower.

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poker_alice
2010-10-12 12:55 pm UTC (link)

Well, Faye supposed she'd heard of stranger on the island. For all she knew, the boy's weights could be the equivalent of Julia's lighter. She found a strange compelling to keep it within her possession... but that could have been born of the fear that Spike would find it. Either way, she wanted a reason not to think of that particular situation.

"That's a first," she pondered aloud, deciding to follow the boy's lead and approach.

There was still the risk that she'd be making the short trek for no reason, but it was better than dwelling on the little 'gift' she'd discovered earlier. She pushed the book aside, placing it in the chair after she stood to carefully walk barefoot to the edge of the pool. Once there, she sat down, allowing her legs to hang over into the water. The gesture was much more innocent than when she'd done the same in Jayne's presence, since she wasn't interested in playing that sort of game with a kid, but still she lightly kicked at the water.

"So what was it, then - you got curious, put 'em on, and now they're stuck?"

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green_beast
2010-10-12 05:10 pm UTC (link)

Lee's eyebrows rose as the woman said something else that he hadn't quite caught. But he decided not to ask, because just then she set her book aside and came over to the edge of the pool, and he swam over to meet her, as well.

"Oh, no -- I always wear them," he answered, treading water with a grin. "They are part of my training. But. Well. I used to be able to take them off when I took a shower or a bath, but I cannot here. I am not sure why."

Lee was a formidable opponent without the weights, he knew. In fact, he had been the first person ever who had been fast enough to get through Gaara-san's shield of sand once he had taken them off at the Chunin Exams. But why would their captors be afraid of his speed? He would not take off his weights unless the situation was dire...

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poker_alice
2010-10-13 07:55 am UTC (link)

"Your... training?"

Faye's eyebrows arched curiously as she looked at the boy, trying to guess just what kind of training he might have. Really, he didn't seem all that large, so she doubted it involved sports. Or any sports from her world, anyway. What, then?

Her head tilted slightly, and she considered the possibility that he could have some sort of martial arts training. It would fit well enough, considering she already knew one lanky male who could thoroughly kick ass. Not a mass of muscles, but... not a twig, either. Yep. It seemed logical enough. Should he choose not to elaborate, she'd be content with the assumption.

"I guess it sucks to be you right now, huh?" She laughed slightly, but in a manner that was only teasing rather than showing true amusement. "I swear, there's just no understanding these creeps. They're afraid of... What? Being kicked by a teenager? But they haven't..." Rather than go into the dangerous territory of thinking too much about a certain someone who she assumed would be much more powerful and formidable than a young boy, she paused for a second then changed the ending of her sentence. "...Their priorities are skewed."

She offered a half-smile and shrugged as if it didn't really matter. And, really, it didn't. Not as far as she was willing to discuss with a stranger, anyway. Which, of course, led to the point that they were complete strangers by technicality: something which was easily fixed with introductions.

"Anyway..." She wasn't quite sure if the hint of awkwardness was feigned or genuine, because she hadn't exactly made a habit of making friends with or even talking to everyone on the island. "I'm Faye... And I get the feeling you're new here."

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green_beast
2010-10-13 04:35 pm UTC (link)

"I guess that you could say that," Lee answered with a laugh. He had been able to move the weights around, at least, to wash underneath them, but overall? Not being able to take them off did ... suck. Even if that was not a word that he would normally use. Of course, having the weights on did not do much to stop his kicks, so it really must be his speed that worried them. That was the only logical conclusion, in his mind.

"Hello, Faye," he said with a smile. "I am Rock Lee, but you can call me Lee." That was what Gai-sensei called him, after all, and so that was the best thing in the world to be called, in his opinion. "And yes -- I am new." He continued to tread water, smiling, when he realized that he had not answered her previous question. "I wear the weights as part of my taijutsu training. I am a shinobi -- a ninja." Most people here did not seem to know the term 'shinobi'. "What do you do, if you do not mind my asking?"

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poker_alice
2010-10-19 12:46 am UTC (link)

Faye wanted to think the kid was lying, but it made sense that he could be a ninja or something of that sort. He was capable of treading water with what appeared to be heavy weights on his legs and had an uncommon name. That made him one of a few people she knew with strange names and impressive combat skills. Not that Rock would have been terribly out-of-place in her world. There were Spikes and Jets. Why not a Rock or two?

She shook her head slightly at the ridiculous direction her thoughts had taken and smiled softly. "I suppose I should welcome you," she said, "but... it would be a lie. This is one of the last places you want to be. Promise." But that wasn't exactly a topic she wanted to discuss at the moment, so she quickly changed back to her half of the introduction and answering his question.

"I'm a... bounty hunter, mostly." There were a few endeavors into gambling and conning, but that was beside the point. "Mostly boring work, really, until the big ones come along. What about you... Don't you ever get tired of training and routine?"

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green_beast
2010-10-19 01:23 am UTC (link)

"That is what I am learning," Lee answered with a slow nod. Their captors did not seem to be nice people, and no one liked it here. His eyebrows rose when Miss Faye mentioned being a bounty hunter. That sounded a bit like the tracker ninja who hunted down the S-class criminals listed in the Bingo Book.

Lee shook his head, however, when she asked if he got tired of training. "Oh, no -- I do not tire of it," he answered quickly, smiling again. "My training is also my hobby. But my squad is sometimes sent on missions, and that breaks the routine."

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poker_alice
2010-10-22 09:17 am UTC (link)

Faye took note of the eyebrow-raise, but decided not to further explain bounty hunting. From the looks of his expression, he'd figured out something close enough. Or thought he knew what she meant, anyway. Why bore the kid with details that didn't even matter in this island-shaped prison?

"Hmm, ninja missions..." She half-smiled, half-smirked, failing miserably at hiding her curiosity. She would have asked, if not for common sense pointing out that ninjas weren't exactly known for being forthright about their business. At least, that's what the fiction she'd read had to say; but maybe that was as far off as some of the space-based fiction.

"You're so... young, though," she said instead of asking outright. She wondered if he would explain that he only did the smaller jobs or... Well, she really didn't mind what direction the conversation took. At least it was taking her mind off the less-pleasant things.

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green_beast
2010-10-22 04:34 pm UTC (link)

"There are ninja much younger than I am," Lee answered, shrugging slightly. He stopped treading water then and swam closer to the edge of the pool, to hang onto the edge. "Some have made jonin as young as thirteen, and I have even heard of one who was a captain in the ANBU Black Ops at that age, although I cannot confirm that because we do not know their identities."

He realized shortly after he'd said that that Miss Faye probably did not know what a jonin was, and ANBU Black Ops was even less easy to guess. "Jonin is the highest ranking of ninja in our village, second only to the Hokage, who is our leader. I am a genin, and then there is chunin, and finally, jonin. And the ANBU Black Ops are hand-picked by the Hokage for special missions."

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poker_alice
2010-10-25 08:56 am UTC (link)

"That's... impressive," Faye murmured, a look of genuine surprise on her expression. She had expected to hear something about how Lee was the youngest ninja or some sort of child prodigy. Hearing that there were ninja even younger who were more skilled than him was... impressive really was the only word that she could think of. When he explained the meaning of the different ranks, it became even more extraordinary.

"But are there any female ninjas?"

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green_beast
2010-10-25 05:22 pm UTC (link)

"Oh, yes!" Lee said excitedly in answer to her question. "A female ninja is a kunoichi, and we have several in my village. One is even on my team -- her name is Tenten. And our Hokage is a kunoichi, too. She is ... legendary, for her powers. The honorable Lady Tsunade."

He was especially grateful for Tsunade-sama's medical ninjutsu, because she saved his life, and with it, his dream of becoming a splendid ninja. Of course, the fifth Hokage also had a bit of a gambling problem, but he decided not to mention that.

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poker_alice
2010-10-27 10:53 am UTC (link)

"A kunoichi, huh?" Faye considered all that he said and smiled slightly. She was actually a bit surprised that there were female ninjas, but in a very good way. It allowed her mind to wander to what it might be like if she were a ninja herself. Not that she was very skilled in the martial arts department - aside from a move or two she'd picked up from experience - of course, but she had fighting skills. And maybe there was such a thing as a ninja sniper. Or something.

"Maybe I should sneak home with you, give this whole kunoichi thing a try. Do you think I'd make it?" She was joking with the question, but curious about his opinion all the same.

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green_beast
2010-10-28 01:52 am UTC (link)

Lee could not help grinning at her last question. "I do not see why not," he answered with a shrug. "Everyone said that I could never become a ninja, either, but I still did."

Granted, he was the only student who had graduated from the academy without having ninjutsu or genjutsu, but that did not mean another person could do so, as well, now that he had set the precedent.

Miss Faye was probably only teasing, and that was fine, if she was. "In our village, we have tracker ninja who do something like what you do, if being a bounty hunter means what I think it does."

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