melodiesoflife | (no subject)

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"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.