melodiesoflife | (no subject)

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Who: Sparks Nevada & Rukia Kuchiki
What: He dead. Well, not anymore. Today Sparks roused from crystal stasis after getting instagibbed by the Reaper last week.
When: 10/26
Where: the hospital

The moment the stasis wears off and Sparks is conscious again, his mind is still in last week, in the fight with the Reaper. It takes him a moment to shake that away, and notice from his surroundings what had happened. It cast that death spell, the one that spun like a roulette wheel over the party members, and it stopped on him. The next thing he knows, he wakes up in the ward that's wall-to-wall crystallized Heroes.

"...Oh. Right."

Before he leaves, Sparks might as well check on something. He's a frequent visitor to this ward, stopping in to see if the Red Plains Rider was still in stasis. Of course, she was still there, with her hat brought to her and placed on her head, and that goofy fat chocobo toy at her feet. Her statue was even placed next to Cactoid Jim's. Just because. Sparks sighs quietly before turning to leave.

Time to find out what happened, and find out how long he was like this. Turns out, though, that he wasn't alone in the room.

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Rukia bobbed her head with a smile. "He's fine. Mercury is fairly popular, it seems. He had no shortage of attention." Rukia was likely included in that fanclub. One of these days, she would be allowed to ride him.

Someday.

"Any time tonight or tomorrow morning would be wonderful. You have my sincerest thanks," she grinned, pleased that Zelda would at least be able to return to her home without fear of being bothered by spirits any longer.

Finishing off her bread and stew, Rukia wiped her mouth and waited for Sparks to finish. She was eager to fly up, but she didn't want to pressure him. He'd only just awakened, after all.

Sparks was just about finished himself. "Tomorrow's fine. Let's go 'n get this flight over first, though. Now I'm wonderin' what's up there too."

It seems like being in stasis wasn't about to slow him down at all. If anything, he would be working harder to catch up.

"Besides, I just spent a week standin' around, doing nothing. Like, literally. Probably got a lot to catch back up on at the precinct, too."

"That's possible. But I'm certain your assistants took care of things in your absence." If not, then he needed to hire different people. Law enforcement was one of those jobs that didn't really allow someone to take time off, much like soul reaping.

Wiping politely at the corners of her mouth with her napkin, Rukia rose from her chair and picked up the bill. He wasn't going to pay for this particular meal. "Let's meet just outside the city gates at ten tomorrow morning. Until then," she smiled, and took the bill to the register before he could complain or protest.

Honestly, after all that had happened, this was the least she could do for his sake.

He really did want to protest, but after a moment of subtle pouting, he'll just thank her instead, and promise to be outside of the gates on time with Mercury the next morning. The rocket steed seemed very happy to have his cowboy back as they trotted up to Rukia. Sparks tipped his hat in greeting.

"Mornin'. Rukia, meet Mercury. Mercury, Rukia. And this is Mercury's sidecar."

The voice command is enough to have it activate. A hatch opens from the metal haunches of the horse, and out pops a sidecar that attaches to his side.

"Hop on in."

Rukia came this close to informing Sparks that they'd met before. This close. But before the words left, she remembered the nature of that meeting. Yes, best to remain silent on that regard, lest she spoil the trust and respect they were building. Perhaps later, when she was sure he would laugh about it, as she wouldn't have done something like that under ordinary circumstances.

She watched as the horse...spat out a sidecar? Rukia blinked. Well that wasn't something she saw every day. Nonetheless, she didn't boggle. Instead she stepped forward, petting Mercury's nose (BECAUSE HORSE!!!), then gripped the edge of the sidecar to leap up and into the seat.

"I am ready," she informed him, grinning with excitement for the adventure soon to come.

Sparks "hiyaa"s Mercury into motion, who breaks off into a run before the rockets kick in, and they're airborne. He moved fast, but not unpleasantly so. Despite being part horse and part sophisticated futuristic technology, though, it seemed like he still needed Sparks to do the steering. They were quickly making their way up through the sky. If she looked below, Rukia could spot a few spectators watching them soar.

"Whatcha think? Pretty cool, huh? Y'all can stick with yer big, weird, flightless birds. I'll stick with a rocket steed."

"It's marvelous!" Rukia was holding tightly to the edge of the sidecar, peering out as she watched the ground shrink away beneath them. As a shinigami, her leaps and jumps often carried her a great distance, and she could stabilize reishi under her feet if necessary. But flying was definitely a new experience for her, and she was enjoying it immensely. Heights had never bothered her. If anything, Rukia constantly sought them out.

She looked back over her shoulder at Sparks with a smirk. "We're not quite so fortunate as you, remember. Would that I had a mount that could fly like this!"

As for chocobos, she still meant to get one, especially before she returned to Esdham. It was just a matter of finding the time to do it, that was what proved to be the largest difficulty.

"Yeah, not everyone can be as lucky as me." Far be it from Sparks to let a compliment slide by, no matter how mild. "Maybe someday this world'll get caught up, and there'll be rocket chocobos instead."

It wasn't long before they were reaching the cloudline. Sparks's thoughts about the air had been right, though. Getting this high, over a mile up, the air was getting a bit thin. Once they broke through, he slowed Mercury down so that the wind wasn't making things more difficult for the three of them. Sparks looks around before turning to Rukia.

"So, uh. What was it we were lookin' for again?"

Rukia made a face of discomfort. Somehow, she didn't really like the idea of chocobos and rockets being combined. They were birds; it was a shame they couldn't fly. Perhaps their wings just weren't large enough for the task.

"Anything unusual," she replied, looking back at Sparks over her shoulder before she returned to scanning the skies. "So far, I see nothing up here that should not be here in the first place." Just clouds and birds. That was probably for the best. If there were some sort of hidden meeting place floating along, it would be quite the chore to ferry heroes back and forth, one by one, via Mercury's sidecar. Besides, Sparks was right about the air being a lot thinner this high up. The gathering clouds that threatened rain were relatively low, but still, her breathing was somewhat labored and shallow in her ears.

"What about you? Have you spotted anything?"

Sparks looks around again, even turning around backwards, but nothing really jumps out at him.

"Uh, that bird over there's kinda weird lookin'. But I don't think that's what ya mean."

Before he could ask anything else, something starts to beep on Mercury, a warning sign. The marshal turns to see his horse looking winded. He was starting to feel the same way.

"Uh oh. Dunno 'bout you, but I think Merc's at his limit here. Take yer last look."

He'll start Mercury on the decent, slowly at first.

"I'm growing winded as well," she admitted, putting a hand to her chest. And given that there was nothing unusual around, she could be satisfied knowing that their suspicions as to the location of their enemies' meetingplace was confined to the city below.

As such, there was no disappointment. Besides, she'd rather enjoyed the sights. She'd never been so high up in the sky before, not even on an airship. She smiled and folded her arms beneath her chin as she rested against the sidecab's edge and admired the view.

"You have my thanks, for putting my mind at ease regarding this matter."

"Hey, no problem. 'S the least I owe someone for free breakfast. Reckon too that any security we can get in this place is kinda my business anyway." And besides, Sparks's curiosity got piqued as well. Mercury seems pretty leaved as they speed faster out of the clouds, taking a sigh of relief.

"Plus I never get much of an excuse to bust out the sidecar, neither."

"Owe me?" Rukia blinked back at him with a frown. But she'd bought him breakfast because her foolishness got him killed. If anything, she was the one who owed him a favor, several in fact. Surely he hadn't forgotten this.

She looked down at the sidecar thoughtfully. "I've kept you away from your work for a week. I imagine there's a lot of catching up to do. As such, I would like to offer my services to make up for that lost time, once this current nasty business has been dealt with." She nodded slowly. Yes, this was a better idea. "Should you wish for a week of vacation time, or assistance with your work, please alert me. I think it is the only fair thing to do."

Sparks hasn't taken more than a few voluntary days off since he started working in Aqures Ixen, and he wasn't about to take a vacation anytime soon. He shot Rukia a raised eyebrow.

"Last I checked, it was that Reaper's fault I was out a week, not yers. Ya didn't force me into that fight, Rukia. Stop thinkin' you owe me cuz of it. 'Sides, there's always some kinda nasty business we gotta deal with. Just worry about that instead. Plus about the only thing I'll have to catch up on is paperwork. Which is the best part, thank you very much." She wasn't going to take paperwork away from him.

She wanted to protest that it had been due to a lack of preparation that the fight went so badly, something she should have corrected, but looking at the stubborn set of his face, she could see that it was useless to argue. Strangely enough, his conviction eased her guilt a little. It even coaxed a little bit of a smile out of her.

"If you truly insist," she relented. And the wind must have caused her to mishear his words, because she thought he said the paperwork was the best part of his job.

"...What did you say?"

Sparks clears his throat somewhat awkwardly, and looked ahead.

"Said the paperwork's the best part. I like it. It's relaxing."

He tried to sound proud of this fact, but everyone always finds it strange. He was the same way back on Mars, too.

Rukia studied his face thoughtfully. He seemed sincere, and it wasn't as if she had cause to mock him for his preferences. If anything, she was surprised more people didn't like paperwork, as there was a far greater chance of not being shot or stabbed in the office instead of fighting criminals and monsters.

"That makes sense," she said, after she'd mulled it over. "I'm working on a report to submit to the military as well. I'm looking forward to it."

More accurately, she was looking forward to providing the illustrations for the events that took place. That was definitely her favorite part, and she was sure they would be helpful.

Rukia gets a nod in appreciation. A friend of paperwork is a friend of his.

"Reckon I shoulda guessed that, what with the letters 'n reports you send out. With those, um, drawings." Right, those bunny doodles. Unprofessional? Maybe. Forgettable? Not at all. Whatever worked.

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