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 Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 2:36 am
It was a bright and beautiful Friday morning, and Ursula's attitude was just as bright and chipper as anyone had ever seen it.
Humming to herself, she pushed her way past the various visitors and nurses congregating within the hospital lobby and made her way towards the south end of the first floor. She'd tried to insist on getting Khaldun a room on at least the second floor (it would so be like him to try to escape), but the doctor had insisted he be on the first floor for whatever nonsensical medical reason that Ursula had failed to hear or care about as she'd been too busy staring at Khaldun's bald head.
His bald. Shiny. Dome.
The nurses at the station directly across from his room shot the flame haired woman odd stares, but Ursula ignored them as she pushed back on the hospital room door, shoving herself and the large brown box in her hands into the dreary patient room.
"Khaaaaldun, sweetie, I brought you a present!"
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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 3:43 am
When Ursula came in, Khaldun was lying in the hospital bed facing the window. He had a fractured leg, cracked ribs, and a new scar on the side of his head where he'd been subject to some emergency brain surgery. So, naturally, it was serious pain meds for the first week. At least he wasn't in the Glasgow ward any more - he'd come out of the coma entirely at this point, but he was far from 'all better'. So he lay there in some sort of stupor, not even clearheaded enough to do anything but stare at the window and the small patch of morning sky not devoured by buildings.
There was a chair near the bed from the last time someone had been by - Audrey? Killingworth? - and crutches leaned against the wall unused. Khaldun didn't look over at Ursula even despite her words.
"Morning," he mumbled absently. Both hands instinctively gripped at the pillow and slowly pulled it around his head more, as if this was some miraculous way to hide the state of his hair (or lack thereof). It wasn't.
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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 4:03 am
She frowned as one foot nudged the door close, sealing them into privacy and away from the stares and listening ears of the nearby nurses. It pained her to see him like this. It had broken her heart to watch him lie there when he'd been in a comatose state, but even after waking up, he was still a sad sight to look at. Pitiful, hairless, and it usually took a heavy amount of cajoling to get him to even look at her. Just sad, really.
"C'mon sourpuss, cheer up!"
Black heels clicked their way over to his bed, where she unceremoniously plopped the giant brown box onto his stomach. It was only afterwards that she considered perhaps the landing had been a bit too close to his chest area, and she let out a meek "whoops" before quickly lifting the box and settling it gently at his side.
"I figured maybe you'd like one to wear while you're hanging around here. You can pick any one of them you want. I went to like, four different stores, including the one in the mall you like, you know, the one that has those kids in it that paint their nails and wear the heavy metal shirts like you do?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 4:45 am
"I can't cheer up. I can't go on, Ursula. I'm bald! It's worse than dying. Let me suffer in peace," he lamented. His face was still away from her, she could see deliberately. But there was a humorous streak in his slow voice that Ursula of all people ought to recognize. After he'd had time to think on Killingworth and Ursula staying with him during his coma, he'd become a lot less antagonistic to them both. Being fairly doped-up probably didn't hurt his disposition either. But then again, no one had brought up any... touchy subjects just yet.
"Wear what? Please tell me you got halloween masks; I'll be able to feel all pretty again." Khaldun grunted when she dropped the box on him, and finally turned his head to look over at her with a tired grin. Slowly, carefully, he pulled himself into a sitting-up position without setting off his bad leg. There was a pause while it seemed to take overly-long to process what she was saying to him, and then, "Hey!" And a few seconds after that, "I don't paint my nails."
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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 4:59 am
"You may as well start, if you're going to be so damn emo about everything," she gently teased back, doing her best to avert her stare from his head. It was hard not to stare, the baldness of his head, the mark where the incision had been... god, it was just horrible. His long dreadlocks were gone, those silly little dreadlocks she used to tug on and tease him over. He really wasn't Little Dreads anymore.
"And you will cheer up, once you see what's inside."
As if he wasn't moving fast enough, Ursula pulled back the flap of the box, revealing a dozen or so different hats in all sorts of variety, both silly and serious.
"Pick one, and I'll have the rest put in your dorm room. I figured you could use one to keep that bald head of yours warm while you sat around here. At least you're getting your wish for some time off, huh?"
Arms folded across her chest for a brief moment before yanking up her handbag. She began to sift through it, her eyes refusing to meet his.
"I uh.. got you another present too, to give you once you pick out your hat."
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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 5:53 am
"Well excuse me, I was only in a coma. Man, like, I thought comas only happened when you, y'know..." He made a gesture of pulling something out of his chest with a fist, which was improvised code for stealing star seeds. "Oh, or in movies. Like zombies. Zombie disease isn't real. I think. Maybe I'll get that next time."
"And damn, Ursula." Khaldun gave a low whistle at the assortment of hats. The teen dug through the box, and came up with one of those ridiculously large decorated wicker sombreros. He turned it around in his hands, making a big show of admiring it, and then quickly pulled it over his hairless head. It wasn't flattering, but it was very distracting. Then again, that was the point. And the look on Killingworth's face the next time he came by would be totally worth it. Grinning wider than ever, he folded his arms and tried to strike a pose with the upper half of his body. "How do I look?"
"God, yeah. Where we work, it's to die for." He'd nearly been killed, very nearly had ended up as good as, and he was joking about it? His look had dimmed just a little bit as he spoke, but it was back in no time. The teen poked through the box idly even with his choice made, pulling out a gaudy pirate hat to offer to Ursula. Like hell she was going to sit here and not wear a stupid hat with him. When she started getting distant and vague, he peered out at her from underneath the wide brim. "Hey, Pirate Captain, don't leave me hanging here."
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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 6:28 am
She glanced up from her bag and stared at the hat extended towards her. Up to Khaldun. Back down to the hat. Up to Khaldun. Back down to the hat.
Smirking, she continued to grip to her handbag with one hand while the other reached out and received the hat, the floppy black accessory soon making its way onto her head (thank god she'd come here first and set her hair appointment for that afternoon!).
"And an arrrrrr to you, Señor Cilentani."
She took her place in the uncomfortable plastic chair that remained by the bedside (how Khalid had been able to sit in it for so long was still beyond her), and pulled out a simple, plain black baseball hat from out of her handbag, keeping the front and bill faced in her direction.
Ignoring the hat for now, she instead focused on the... beautiful spanish sombrero currently adorning the teenager's head. Go figure he'd pick out something like that. Then again, she had put it in the box to begin with....
"So, aside from being balder than the day you were born, how you holding up, kiddo? And of course comas are real, don't be silly. I expect you to be smarter than Obby, Little D...ude."
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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 6:48 am
"Gracias, Captain." Two-finger salute off the brim of his hat. He closed the flaps of the box one by one.
"Hey, I'm way smarter than him. He's just crazy." The teen looked over at her with his dark eyes, the silly look fading faster now into something more like a forced or uneasy smile. Quirk of the eyebrow, but he didn't say anything about her verbal stumble. He scratched his head nervously, right near the surgery scar. "Well, I can't do much worse than I already was, so, better? I mean, a lot of stuff still hurts but it's the same after I get a sparring detention. But hey, I'm off-duty, can't complain about that. How, uh, how've things been going since that meeting?"
He glanced down at the baseball cap in her hand, not entirely sure what to make of it compared to the more... colorful assortment she'd brought in the box. "Another hat, huh?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 7:25 am
"Breaks are good, at least, now you'll have some downtime for studying, hm?"
She laughed, clearly nervous at this point. And Ursula, thinking breaks were good? Something was definitely up, if her fidgeting and sudden loss of smile hadn't been a tell tale sign.
Her eyes closed and she repeated a mental mantra in her head. She needed confidence, this was her day. He would understand, one day. One day. Not today, but in time, he'd forgive her.... right?
Eyes opened and she nodded her head, finally offering up the black baseball cap to him. "Yeah, another one. But this one's for tonight.... for you."
Across the front was written Best Man in elegant cursive white lettering.
"Khal... you're going to be the Best Man. For tonight. At the wedding."
Her words were slow, but deliberate. She knew better than to ask - asking would provide an out that Khaldun would clearly take. But as Khaldun was apparently unaware, he meant a great deal to both the bride and groom and thus the bride in question was forcing her hand and refusing to give the teenager a choice in the matter. Khalid had wanted him there. Khalid had been far too much of an overprotective guardian to pursue asking. But Ursula knew. Ursula knew and Ursula was going to make it happen.
Before he could say anything (not that he could, as he was looking quite speechless in reaction to her statement), she continued, "Khal, I... realize you don't care for this. And I'm not asking you to care, I'm not asking you to approve. I just... you have to be there. You need to be there. He cares for you, and you should know, from after all of this," her hand waved around, motioning towards the hospital room they sat in, "that he sees you more than just some teenager he promised to look after. He sat here for days. We both did. We... we want you there, badly."
Pause.
"I've known you longer than anyone else, Khal. You mean a lot to me. Hell, you're like a best friend to me."
Her voice had grown soft, her back now pressing against the hard plastic of the chair, "I need you there for me, Khal. I don't want to spend the happiest day of my life without you there to share it with me."
Another brief pause, and she hesitated, deciding to attempt to lighten the mood.
"And hey... at least it'll get you out of here for the night? And there'll be cake? And alcohol?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 8:36 am
He was slow on uptake, slow to think, slow to react. He stared. He stared the entire time she spoke. His expression had become something masklike, unreadable, and even his eyes seemed dulled rather than bright. But he didn't interrupt, just watched her with the baseball cap in his hands, in his lap. And when she'd finished, his eyes moved to the baseball cap, and the sombrero shielded his face.
"The wedding," he began slowly, flatly, as if he had to repeat it to be absolutely sure.
"The Best Man. Your wedding is tonight." Another pause. "To Killingworth."
"I know what he did. What you did. And I... didn't expect it. I don't know." Khaldun deliberately turned the brim of the hat, with its fancy white writing, to face away from him. It was his turn to avoid looking at the person he was talking to, and the sombrero rim was pointed down with his face toward the baseball cap. There was one of those frustrated sighs, a blast of air from his nose. "I'm not going to stop you. But this... the queen thing... I don't like it. I don't like it, and Killingworth said she was going to absorb you and like. What does that ******** mean? I don't like it. I don't like her. What if he's using you? You know?"
"You don't want me there." He seemed to be skirting the issues of attachment. Like a best friend to her. More than just some teenager. He had no way to react. He was never the sort of guy to just confess the state of his friendship with people, ever. Either he made his hatred known, or his lack of it, but admitting to anything plainly was too awkward. And it was so awkward to hear it. Her pleas were entirely girly, and it was like some foreign language he was deciphering. And whether it was frustration or the medicine or what, he was losing his own articulation fast. "It's your decision. To marry him. And if it's what makes you happy. I don't understand love anyway. But I can't... it'd be too hard to... I can't. Ursula, I can't. Don't make me."
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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 9:15 am
It surprised her that he brought up Beryl, out of all the things to discuss. She'd expected he'd react poorly, that maybe he'd yell or snap or fuss, but... his reaction was supposed to be entirely over her wedding to Khalid. Not Beryl.
Out of habit, she'd begun to chew on her bottom lip, her eyes watching the younger boy as he sat there, fingers still playing with the baseball hat in his hand. Her mind was elsewhere, reflecting back on the few times that Beryl had made an appearance. She'd shown herself to Khaldun, when she'd gotten upset over their fateful dinner. She'd shown herself when Khalid had upset her in front of Kunzite.
"I don't like her either, darling."
One hand reached out and gently laid itself atop of his. It didn't move, just simply rested there, as if she was desperate just to feel, just to hold on to someone or show comfort in any small way she could. Deep breath. Exhale.
"I....I don't know?" She finally answered, truthfully. "I assume it means just that. She'll take over."
There was no sense in sugar-coating it; Ursula herself had dwelled on the comment, the idea that the soul within her was going to consume her completely. No more Ursula, only Beryl. Was it really just a matter of time, at this point?
"He's aware of what will happen, and I don't think he likes the idea of what it's going to do to me any more than you do. You saw how he reacted at the dinner." Memories floated back of his solemn expression, the reverence and distress in his eyes, "But...we have to accept things we have no control over. She's the Queen. She's needed, for the Negaverse to succeed, so... it's an honor, to assist in bringing her back. He agreed to marry me, Khal, but he didn't get down on one knee and propose to me. He agreed to marry me because I asked, and he's aware he's going to have to give me up when Beryl takes control. He's not marrying me because of Beryl."
Her hand squeezed over his, attempting to be as reassuring as she could, considering the awkward circumstances. "I'm still Ursula. I still have control. It's only when I get really upset or stressed out that she shows up, if that makes you feel any better? "
And then, the thought hit her. Would she stoop so low as to use that knowledge to her advantage?
Her head leaned forward, eyes searching to meet with his before she dropped what she hoped could be the verbal bomb that would secure his agreement to participate in the wedding.
"Khaldun, I'll be really upset if you aren't there tonight."
(Yes, yes she would stoop that low.)
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Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 1:38 am
Khaldun looked at her, looked like he was going to say something, but changed his mind after a time. He wasn't fast enough in his thinking now to argue about where the line between civilian life and Negaverse life was drawn. All he could do was stare down at Nealite's hand on his while he toyed with the hat some more. He was thinking about the time he'd seen Nealite laid out on the floor of the Negaverse, bleeding and blue in the face, nearly dead. "But you'll be gone."
He looked confused about her Beryl appearance theory. Was that a joke? He really hoped that was a joke. Even if it was a pretty ******** joke. Queen Beryl had scared Charonite into being civil, which said enough. He and Nealite had a history of owing each other favors. Well. Most of them were Khaldun owing Nealite. It wasn't the first time she'd wrestled his agreement to some kind of favor out of him, wouldn't be the last. Being Best Man wasn't any sort of penance - she'd said as much, and in some sense he understood, even if he didn't feel the same way. But she and Killingworth were getting married, and he couldn't just bring himself to feign acceptance, let alone genuinely think this was okay, not this soon. He met her gaze, already looking defeated. She wasn't going to take no for an answer. That didn't mean he couldn't just drug himself into a state of impenetrable apathy when no one was looking, or if he was really lucky he'd just fall back into a coma before or at the thing. Fine. He could do this. He'd just find some way not to be there in spirit, even if had to suffer through biting his tongue while being there in body.
"Well, if he's really not marrying Beryl," Khaldun tried to joke back halfheartedly, but it fell flat when his voice wouldn't cooperate. Neither would his expression. It was a grimace. Leaving the baseball cap in front of him, he pulled off the sombrero and put it aside as well. His hand had escaped her grip by this point, and never once had he offered any sort of reassurance back. "Then I guess I'll have to be there."
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Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 1:36 am
"Thank you, Khal."
Her hand drew back and fell into her lap, resting there for a brief moment before rising to remove her own silly hat. She knew he didn't want to do this. She knew that the wedding was probably the last place on Earth that he'd want to be at.
"Things will only change a little bit, I promise," she found herself saying, her manicured nails toying with the edges of the black pirate hat, then scratching away at the skull and crossbones splayed out on its center, "You'll see. I mean, it's not like I'm changing or anything. Just... you know. Different last name. Joint tax return. That sort of thing. I may be Ursula Killingworth instead of Ursula Johnson, but I'm still Ursula."
It was odd, this strange need of approval. She found herself hating the fact that she found any sort of disappointment in the situation; she was Ursula. She needed no one's approval but her own. That's how it always had been, that's how it was supposed to be. So how was it that this young boy, this child, could pull at her emotions, could make her worry as she did?
"I'm going to have to find you a new nickname, y'know, until your hair grows back. You'd best be thinking about what I can call you, or you may find yourself stuck with Señor Cilentani."
Her laugh was forced, but she was trying to lighten the mood. One hand moved and patted his shoulder, eyes drifting down to stare at the hat in his hands, and then back up to the solemn faced boy. "I'll come back by and drop off your suit, and pick you up before the ceremony, wheelchair and all. I figure we can find a youma or something to replace you for the time you'll be out of bed. I'll talk to Gunn."
Another pat, and then she moved to retrieve the large box from the bed, turning around as she headed off towards the door. Pausing briefly, she turned back and gave him one final look.
"Thanks Khal. Seriously. You have no idea how much this means to me. To both of us."
And with that, she was out the door and off to accomplish a full day of errands.
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