Scene #7681: The Shoe On The Other Foot

Owner	Pose
Hibiki Tachibana	There's something ironic about all the recent hospital visits. First Muramasa, then Featherman, and now Hibiki herself, all in such short succession. Though she's not in any condition for that to really click. Like when the Servant was put up for recovery, she's in a private room in the medical ward of the Lydian campus, with only the best medical technology that SONG has to offer responsible for getting her back up to snuff in record time. All things considered, she could have been injured far worse after the events of that night - though there are still gauze pads marking the portions of her face that got a particularly severe beating, keeping residual swelling down. Though none of that matters to her as much as the right arm resting limply at her side in bed, bandaged over at wrist where hand was severed from limb. Occasionally, her head shifts to stare at it for a few seconds, only to return to staring up at the ceiling blankly. She's been like this ever since C paid her a visit, stuck in her thoughts between what he and Chase has told her. All the more at times like this, where she really is alone. Miku has been the only one she's let inside, and she's only not here right now because she went to go try making something to cheer her up. "...I really...didn't want to win as badly...? And now I..." She mutters to herself quietly, glancing off towards the wide window going across the edge of the room. The view out onto the grounds, while nice, doesn't really make her feel any better.
Captain Hook	The map has an X on it. This is the place. There's an image of a towering machine outside a sketch of a door, but that's hardly a problem. As he rolls up the map, the blue-haired young man concludes that he had never intended to go through the door anyway. The map vanishes into his coat. There's a flick. A Concord grappling hook falls into his hand. He raises it, fires it, latches it onto the windowsill, and climbs. He's no stranger to climbing tall things. A pirate with a fear of heights? What a preposterous notion. Even if he had never been able to fly, he would still never fear the sky. So the blue-haired young man ascends onto the windowsill and sets his eye on the young woman in the bed. There's a broad smile on his face. "I should not have expected, after our encounter, you to play the role of Sleeping Beauty so flawlessly. And yet, here you are, a beauty in a tower trapped in a bed, stricken and awaiting someone to come from the waking world to rouse you from your misery." He hops off the windowsill. He doffs his hat. There's a wide, sweeping bow. "Captain William Hook, at your service, Miss Tachibana." He walks over to a chair and sits down next to her. This close, without gunfire and lasers, Hibiki can tell that he's young - no older than twenty, no younger than seventeen. And yet in his eye is an age that defies his appearance, as if he had been journeying for so much longer than his physicality would suggest. "Tell me." "What might this humble pirate do for you, now that he has come from the waking world to rouse you from your misery?"
Hibiki Tachibana	If there's one thing you never expect to see wallowing in your own feelings in bed, it's a dashing rogue swinging in through the window. The princesses never see it coming. Hibiki even less so. Much less so. So when that exact thing happens, her hollow expression shifts to one of muted surprise, only not as dramatic as it deserves to be because she lacks the energy to show it. "Captain--" Her elbow is used to prop herself up enough to sit up, just a little bit. There are a lot of people she might've thought would find a way to come see her. "...Captain Hook...?" He wasn't one of them. But here he is all the same, and she's really not sure if she believes it until he so casually takes up a chair and seats himself. No, she didn't get as good a look at him as she'd have liked back then. He doesn't look that much older than her, but even in the state she's in, she can tell how much appearances are deceiving. Why is he...? Her disbelief slowly makes way for a small grimace. "I thought...you were going to go live your life. You're free of everything back in Neverland now, aren't you...?" Hibiki glances off to the side, off towards some empty corner of the room. The question apparently gives her a lot of pause. "...I wish I was a sleeping beauty," she murmurs. "Then I wouldn't need to deal with...everything that happened from me screwing up..." There's a tiny, hollow chuckle. "...But I guess this is reality..."
Captain Hook	The pirate crosses his legs. His hook hand taps gently against the chair. The blue hat upon his head, the blue coat slung across his shoulders - though his arms aren't currently through the sleeves, so it's more a fancy cloak over a fancy white ruffle shirt. There's a slow look in his eye as he looks over her, looks over her state, looks over the hospital bed. Then, he reaches out with his good hand and gently pats her good hand, so that she can tell with certainty that it's not a dream. He is in fact here. A wry smile crosses his face. "My dear lady, the first thing I did when I was free was attend something of a wake. And then I put on my coat, put on my hat, and walked back out into the streets of London." "I am free to live my life as I see fit." He leans back in his chair. "Unfortunately, I am a tremendously greedy adult, and the way I wish to live my life is indeed as a pirate. And, I thought, since William Fitzgerald had already been buried, William Hook was as good a name as any." "It's a certain flair, don't you think? 'Captain Hook.' I never liked the name when it was thrust upon me, but when I looked at the coat on my way out the door, I thought, 'yes, William. This is yours. Now and evermore. You made the choice before, and now you've made it again.'" "And so, here I am. Now and evermore at your service, o Princess-in-the-Tower." Hook leans back, his eye watching hers. His smile is surprisingly gentle, surprisingly genteel. The air of gentlemanliness about him is undeniable. No rough-and-tumble pirate this but an educated man, a gentleman's gentleman, the sort of man who wouldn't be out of place at a fancy ball clad in fineries or a high-society party full of the well-to-do. "But enough of me, Princess. Tell me your sorrow, that I might extend to you the same kindness you and the others extended to me. I may not be able to free you from it alone, but I know all too well the power of the kindness of strangers in the depths of trouble." He settles his hand on his chest a bit overdramatically. "And alas I abhor seeing a beautiful woman cry. I'm afraid I really must insist.." He's most certainly teasing her there. Trying to make her smile. The melodramatic tone in his voice makes that very clear.
Hibiki Tachibana	Hook places his single remaining hand over hers. Hibiki, still looking away, locks up briefly, and there's a subtle shift in her expression. Another moment of surprise, and her mouth briefly falling open, before it goes back to normal. ...He really is right there. "So the 'wake' was..." She says quietly, when she finally manages to make her eyes meet his again. She looks exhausted. There's no doubt she hasn't gotten as much rest as she needs. "...I'm glad you managed to make all of that your own. You really are free now." The smile he's looking to get out of her isn't there, but her tone is genuine nonetheless. Even now, she's happy for him." But there's a moment of silence, when he asks that. She keeps her gaze on his, and then there's a small sigh. Her eyes shift away again at the tease, maybe to make it easier to brush off. "...You don't owe me anything, you know. I didn't do that much compared to all the others." Hibiki slowly shifts herself to sit back against her pillows, resting her hand and injured wrist in her lap. That's where her attention stays, too. The look on her face is someone trying very hard to find the right words. "...I wanted to protect someone important to me. I thought I was doing the right thing. I wanted to--...give Muramasa a place to belong." With a bitter tone in her voice, she lifts her right arm just a bit, then lets it fall limply back down. "...But I wasn't strong enough. He believed in me, and it didn't mean anything. All it got me was...this. Now he's gone." There's a heavy swallow, and her head dips further down. "...I hate it. I thought these hands could protect things, but what does that even mean when I can lose them so easily...? I'm supposed to believe in myself, but how am I ever going to do that now? How does anyone find the strength to do that? ...Maybe I really am just a stupid little girl..."
Captain Hook	Hook listens. He's a tremendously good listener. He's patient and quiet, nodding at the right moments. He's a man starved for conversation with other, real, genuine people, and so he is as quiet as a churchmouse as Hibiki spills her thoughts. She tips her head down. The hook (well, the back of it) presses against the underside of her chin, to tilt it up and meet his eye. It's cold metal, the kind of metal that shocks you awake when you touch it in a sleepy December morning. "Is that what you think? That because you failed once, your effort has no meaning? That because you tripped and fell, you give up?" And suddenly the hook is under her hospital gown's collar, dragging her forward to look at him closely, an aggressive motion that brings her perilously close enough to his face to smell his (rather pleasant, reminiscent of tropical fruit) warm breath. "Look at me, Hibiki Tachibana. Look at Captain William Hook and tell me if you think that you did nothing. Tell me if you think you did not do 'enough'." "You were present. You extended to me the kindness of a stranger that I had never experienced. You dragged me forth from a hell of my own making, a grey and endless dullness where there was nothing to believe in but the inevitability of my death." "That kindness is a strength all its own. No matter how miniscule." He releases her and lets her fall back into the pillows. With his good hand he adjusts his collar. "Do pardon my selfishness, won't you?" He sits back in the chair and drums his hook against the chair thoughtfully. Hibiki, a musical student in her own right, can tell that he's not doing it idly but playing a quiet tune. It sounds vaguely like 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.' "Then you must grow up, mustn't you?" He waves his hook in the air. "I know far better than anyone alive, I think, how invulnerable children believe themselves to be, how greedy they are to expect everything to go their way. How they expect themselves to be able to overcome any obstacle, climb any mountain, sail through any stormy sea." "So, then." Hook leans forward and continues tapping his hook on the chair. "We have established the root of the problem, hm? That you are a stupid little girl - or so you yourself claim, and who am I to gainsay you? You know you better than anyone else." "How do we help you grow up and rectify your error?"
Hibiki Tachibana	She's not allowed to let her head fall. The sensation of the hook on her skin really is like a jolt of feeling, compared to how numb she's felt since then. Not unsimilar to when C visited her, her eyes go wide and she tries to say a flimsy protest that never actually comes out. Forced close to him, Hibiki is made to look right at him. And she has to listen to him, without the filter of the emotional distance she's put between herself and everyone else in the way. The girl falls back onto the pillows, which are thankfully more than fluffed enough that she just bounces limply on them a few times, and she's left staring up at the ceiling again as the captain continues on. Unlike the way she was doing so before though, the look in her face is more 'there'. Even she couldn't shrug off hearing that so very directly. "...A strength all its own...?" It's a near-silent whisper to herself and nobody else, as she vaguely processes the song he's tapping away at. That song is... Slowly, her still-slightly hanging open mouth closes, and she tilts her head just enough to be able to glance at Hook again. "I..." She starts, and then trails off, returning to the same upwards stare from a moment ago. 'Has she ever hesitated even once?' Trying to find an answer, words from before come back to her mind. "...Maybe, deep down...I never really thought any of that...I was scared. I've always been so scared..." With her good hand, she clutches in on the bedsheets. "...Of being alone...losing the things important to me...messing up and--..." Now it's happened. She trails off, needing a long moment to force herself to look back at him. "...How do I?" She answers the question with a question. "When you believe something...but someone else's convictions are that much stronger than yours, like they don't have any of that fear...how do you match that?" She sounds like she's desperately hoping he has the answer. "...That kindness alone can't match anything like that, can it?"
Captain Hook	Hook is, once again, content to let her speak, merely tapping away on 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' gently. He's mastered that hook, not only as a hand and a weapon but as a tool - even the reverberations of it are splendidly musical. It's sort of like listening to someone play a triangle, except it's his...replacement hand. He purses his lips at the question. "How, indeed." "I can offer only thoughts, my dear Princess-in-the-Tower, only guesses and conjectures, not answers. But my thoughts, though they be worth but a ha'penny, are yours, and perhaps to you they will be worth gold." He looks up at the ceiling thoughtfully, running his fingers along his neck. He probably did this a lot in Neverland - he probably looked up at the familiar ceiling of his cabin, on his bed, rocking back and forth in the waves, and thought. It might have been a last refuge or it might've been a torturous prison, but the way he scratches his neck is almost habitual, ground into him by time and tide alike. This unfamiliar ceiling cannot remove such familiarity. When he finally speaks, it's as slow and thoughtful as the motion of his hand. "Do you really know what being alone is?" "I should think you do not." But it's not scolding, or 'hey my tragedy is worse than yours.' It's a simple, matter-of-fact statement. "Losing what is important to us is part of growing up. We cannot ever get it back. I assure you, I tried, quite desperately, to cling to it. For my troubles I had a crocodile eat my hand." He looks at her own stump, then waves his hook in front of it with a smile. Hook sets a chest down in front of him. It's a beautiful wooden treasure chest, the exact sort you'd expect a pirate to have, lacquered and gold and all sorts of marvelous, and yet simple; not gaudy, not shimmering, something that would disappear under the earth and wait for another to dig it up. From the chest he produces a small doll with a pullstring. He pulls it, and the doll starts speaking. <X-Concord-Chatter> 4 Cantio says, "Hibiki's a good person at heart, even if we've fought a couple... Several times before. Muramasa's more... Rational, I think, so they're a good fit for each other." <X-Concord-Chatter> 4 Hiromi says, "Hibiki. I know that one. I like her." <X-Concord-Chatter> 4 Hiromi says, "She promised me this: She'll always stand, again." <X-Concord-Chatter> 4 Cantio says, "I'm sure you'll run into more people like her, Captain Hook. Always trying to resolve things with low casualties, pursuing ideals relentlessly instead of working with how painful reality can be... Sometimes, I wonder if things would be easier if everyone thought that way." <X-Concord-Chatter> 4 Persephone Kore says, "Why did you want to know, Will?" <X-Concord-Chatter> 4 Persephone Kore says, "Are you grateful to them for saving you, too?" <X-Concord-Chatter> 4 Captain Hook says, "I am." With that, he drops the doll back in the chest, shuts it, locks it, and disappears it back into wherever it came from. And then, plainly, he says, "If all it took was one bit of kindness to change the fate of a man, to change the fate of a world, to change the stars in the sky, then everyone would be capable of doing so every day on their own, and it would be a right and proper mess, don't you think?" "Fortunately, that isn't the case at all. It takes a great deal of little bits of kindness to match one great cruelty, a great deal of little bits of kindness to push against one certain of victory, a great deal of little bits of kindness to do the impossible." Hook takes off his hat again and bows his head, his hook-hand sweeping outwards. "How fortunate, then, that you have at least one more bit of kindness to add to your repetoire in Captain William Hook, and how wonderful, then, that you undoubtedly can find more. If even those who are not your allies speak of you so, then what does it say of those who do call you theirs?"
Hibiki Tachibana	"What do you--?" Hibiki starts, at the question: does she really know what being alone is? She thought she did, a long time ago. Or at least something very, very close. But the tone that Hook says it in catches her, and she's left staring at him in slight confusion as she follows his gaze, looking down at her own missing hand and his replacement. The illustrious yet simplistic treasure chest he produces is equally confusing to her, as is the doll he produces from it...until it begins speaking. No. Repeating things that have already been said, all in voices she recognizes. And she listens to them all, slowly sitting up again where she lays. Just like a moment ago, it's something that pierces right through the numbness that's washed over her, striking at something deep. Though her wide eyes are on the doll, it's like she's looking at something far beyond it. And before she knows it, after she thought she had already used them all up when she was alone, tears streak down her face. It's not long before she realizes that, and her good arm is used to rub messily at her face and muffle her sniffles. "I-I'm sorry," she murmurs. "I know you said you...you didn't like seeing people cry..." It takes the better part of a minute before she lowers it again, breathing in shakily before letting it out in a husky, dry chuckle. Not because she finds anything funny, it's just something she can't stop. "...Haha...Cantio...I did promise that to Hiromi...and..." She slowly manages to lift her head enough to look back at Hook. "...All of them...and you. Captain, I--" Her eyes lower slightly, only because they drift from side to side, as she tries to find the words to express what she wants to say. In the end, her focus falls down on the palm of her hand. All those little bits of kindness... That hand slowly comes into a loose fist, only for her to run it back over her eyes again. "...It says a lot..." She's forced to admit, softly. "I...everyone..." She sounds like she might start tearing up again, the way her voice cracks. "If I could somehow...if I could be...Chase also said messing up is a part of growing up...but people still believed in me. And if I just...believed in myself as much as they did..."
Captain Hook	Hook chuckles. "There's something very different, my dear Princess, between someone crying because their heart is breaking, and someone crying because their heart is mending. I think the first is terribly unsightly, and ought be remedied swift as possible. The latter..." He leans forward with a bright smile. "It's been some time since I saw anyone cry so other than myself that night you all freed me." "Besides. I'm a pirate. It's not as if wailing and sobbing is something new to me." Oh, right, he is actually a pirate. He produces a handkerchief from his coat and offers it to her. It's just plain white. Nothing fancy about it. "You can call me William, if you like. Or Will. Or Mr. Hook, though I think I am not old enough to be called such by you, Princess, or if it takes your fancy, Captain Hook. I ask only that you not call me 'Peter', as I've left that name behind quite long ago." He sits there for a moment, switching tune from Twinkle Twinkle to All Around The Mulberry Bush, listening to her. "Ah, yes. If only it was so easy to simply say, 'I believe in myself' and make it happen." Hook stops the tune and sets his hook against her stump. "Did you imagine that it was some sort of magic spell? It is no less changing the fate of a man - or, in this case, a Princess in a tower - than saving my life. It cannot be done with one little bit of kindness. How could you even know where to start without others to push you forward? How could you even know what it means without those little kindnesses?" "Your friend Chase is quite right. Errors are part of growing up." "So," Hook sits back and raises his hook, swirling it in the air, "We have identified the root of the problem - that you are a stupid little girl - and we have identified the solution - that you must grow up. Then we have begun to put the solution into action - the little kindnesses that spur you towards believing in yourself, and the errors you've made along the way." "Now comes the troublesome part. The part where you grow up every day, over and over. The part where you continue to make mistakes and continue to grow up without fail. The part where you keep touching those little bits of kindness deep in your heart to remind yourself that you can, indeed, grow up, because you do not have any choice if you wish to be anything more than a stupid little girl." "I, for one, think you shall make a splendid young woman." He purses his lips. "More than a bit odd to call you a splendid young woman, considering my apparent age, I suppose, but I stopped counting that long ago. Time is...funny...in that place. A never-ending dream. I could be seventeen or I could be twenty-one or I could be older yet, but I think that it is thoroughly irrelevant, and that you will indeed be a remarkable young woman, even if I am a remarkable young man to call you that."
Hibiki Tachibana	He certainly is a pirate. A gentleman pirate at that. Hibiki takes the offered handkerchief and uses it wipe around her eye far less messily. "...Captain Hook...Will..." She whispers quietly. There's a small a moment later - because if only it were that easy. If it was, she never would have been in this situation. The tenseness in her shoulders is heavy as she listens, absorbs each word he says. So that's not something that could be done without all those kindnesses piling up either...? She sits back as well, and hearing him lay everything out in such straightforward terms...it's almost funny that can even be done, after how muddied up her thoughts have been over more than a day of living here. But making that happen... Her brow furrows, after her face is somewhat dry again. Is that something she can do...? Can she make mistakes, without the weight of them making her buckle underneath them? Can she keep moving forward like that, even when it hurts? When it hurts her, or other people? ...She doesn't know yet. But Captain William Hook sounds much more so confident. Hibiki is solemnly thoughtful as he goes on about age, and she's silent for a short time still after he's finished. "...You really are a remarkable guy, no matter how old or young you are. Thank you," the last two words come out almost too softly to hear. She inhales and then lets it out again, meeting his eyes again while offering him his kerchief back. "...But no matter how much I grow up...I don't think I can stop being 'me'. Is...that's okay...isn't it?"
Captain Hook	"I don't know," Hook admits, "I don't really know who I am. Hard for me to answer a question when 'William' is still just a name for me to wear, don't you think?" He takes the kerchief and stows it back in his pocket calmly. "Do you think it's alright? That seems like something for you to answer."
Hibiki Tachibana	The question being turned back on her makes Hibiki stop and blink. No, it must not be the kind of question he could readily have the solution to. But was she asking it because she thought he'd have an answer, or because she might have heard what she wanted to hear? So there's a long quiet, as she looks back down at her own lap. After everything she's experienced, is it okay for her to be who she is at her core? After everyone else... "...Yeah. I guess only I can do that." There's a small nod, to herself, and then looks back up at him again. Her expression has unchanged - it's still exhausted and solemn - but it's not as tense. Just by a little bit, with eyes that aren't entirely as devoid of light as when he came in. "And...you'll find your answer too. I'm sure you will."
Captain Hook	"Why thank you, Princess." William stands up, and for the third time, removes his hat in a theatrical bow. "I have no doubt." "I should hope, then, that this has helped wake up Sleeping Beauty." Another smile. "Feel free to call on me if you need help. I am at your service, should you require it. I owe you my life, and yet more beside." Then he hops up onto the windowsill, winks at her, and disappears down the grappling hook.