Scene #5229: The World Unveiled

Owner	Pose
Kain	The Haven was a little quieter than usual... but that was likely due to the fact that everyone was out training or doing stuff with their 'real' lives and whatnot. But that was perfect for Kain, since he kind of wanted the privacy with the topic he wanted to talk to Yuuki about... he was waiting in the main area for the recently liberated Imp. Near him were a couple of... rather odd items. A pair of crutches and a wheelchair. Both of which looked like they were personally customized. When Kain sent Konno Yuuki that radio about meeting him here, she sounded a little... apprehensive... he sincerely hoped that she didn't think something bad was going to happen... this wasn't for that... but... He'd run through that night a million times in his head since it'd wound down... getting through the door and seeing... her... in that state... and knowing how she is when she's Zekken... it was almost too much to really process properly... and he felt like he'd done something that only one action could possibly make up for... and that's the reason he wanted to meet her in private... he also sent an invite to Kirito but didn't know if he'd get it or not... but since he was the only other one who really understood what was going on for both sides, it made sense to have someone there to make sure things didn't get out of hand... The red-robed Avatar was pacing at this point, the moment he sent out the invite to Kirito and radio'd Yuuki... what he was about to do, he hadn't ever done... and it was making him nervous.
Yuuki Konno	Of course Yuuki doesn't fear any physical danger. Not from one man, even a huge Salamander, not even from one giant. Her apprehension was due to worry of a more personal nature. Of the sort of things that are likely to be said only in private, whatever they happen to be. Questions about personal issues, private confessions, anything of the sort is likely to cause discomfort. At the same time though, there's friendship. Private discussions are worrying BECAUSE of being close to someone. Keeping everyone at arm's length keeps you from worrying about having your feelings hurt, but it's not something you do with friends. It's certainly not something you do with someone who risked their life to save you. True to her word, Yuuki shows up quick, bounding down from some upper floor taking the stairs in a reckless charge that belies her exhausted state of the night before. She shows up in avatar form, of course. If Kain were to remember her other form particularly vividly he'll see some resemblance of course. Similar hair, similar bone structure. Zekken is what Yuuki'd look like if she were fully healthy, filled out, and had her hair dyed. Plus pointy ears of course. It's just the differences get even more exaggerated by the base similarity. Smiling to see the Salamander, she shows none of her voiced apprehension. "Hey Kain, what's up?" she asks, all bubbles and cheer. Maybe to set the brooding Salamander at ease... or maybe this is just how she by default.
Kain	Kain looks up as Yuuki arrived. "Ah. Konno-chan... thanks for coming... I must have sounded like some extreme weirdo over the radio for inviting you here privately and whatnot... I really didn't mean to-" He stops himself and clears his throat. "There I am rambling again... I really need to work on that..." Kain takes a deep breath... here it goes... "I wanted to talk... about last night... about... well... you know." He let his deep breath out before inhaling and speaking again. "I realize that... what I saw last night... it wasn't you. It wasn't who you are, I know. Believe me, I know... but nevertheless, I saw a side of you that I don't think you wanted many people to know even existed... and for that, I can never be sorry enough." He bows his head before her in shame. "Please forgive me, Konno-chan..."
Yuuki Konno	What Kain saw, Asuna also saw. It's much the same thing really. In both cases Yuuki accepted the possibility well in advance, and set it up so the possibility was there... but in neither case did she actually make a personal invitation. And like with Asuna, she finds it a bit of a relief now... and something much easier to talk about once that first shock's out of the way. Even so she makes a face. "No, it's me." she claims. "Just not the me I wish I was. Being like this, it's like living a fantasy." She grins abruptly, spinning around, her kimono-like coat flaring open below the waist like a skirt. "I can't exactly complain right? I mean, you guys saved me! And you set me free! I don't mind that you saw my other side, so don't worry about it!"
Kain	Kain straightens up as Yuuki finishes saying all of that. "But... that's just it. I do worry about it... because... I know the kind of pain you must be going through at this exact moment... and... the only thing I can think to make up for seeing that side of you..." He reaches down and picks up the crutches, setting them under his arms and preparing as if he were going to walk with a broken leg or something. "is if I show you that side of me. I don't let many people see this... it's... it's been a huge part of why I... why I got so heavily into VRMMOs... it was an escape, much like for you... and even though it's nowhere near how you are... I can say for certainty that I know the pain you're going through right now..." He reaches at his right eye and pulls off the AugMa that was camoflauged into his Avatar so that it didn't even show up. As he did, the transformation that was him started breaking apart. From the head down, the pixels split apart and revealed the still young boy behind the Avatar. While it looked about the same height, the kid, for at this point there was no denying that this was still a kid, was in his mid-to-low-teens as opposed to the more elder-looking Avatar face. The pixels broke down from top to bottom, revealing normal young kid clothing... but when it got to his waist and down, something was missing... the right leg that began to pixellate wasn't being replaced with any leg at all. The pants the kid wore were sealed and hemmed up at very close to the pelvic bone. After the de-transformation was complete, there 'stood' a kid of 5'5", short brown hair with very small patches of white, carrying himself by the crutches under his arms as he looked rather wobbly on his left leg. "Because even the AugMa can't mask pain from the body..." He did have a slightly wince-y face every now and again.
Yuuki Konno	Yuuki's no stranger to injury or illness. Besides the Sleeping Knights over the past four years, she's also spent a lot of her life in and out of hospitals. Though the last four years have been spent within the Medicuboid, she'd been in hospitals well before that as well. Still she wines to see Kain's transformation. A look of sympathy and compassion more than pity, considering her own state. "The Medicuboid was designed to block pain." Yuuki notes. Her only comment on the pain, in this case. They obviously felt the need to put her into the program to manage her pain, and now that she's out of that device she's surely feeling the pain again, but apparently it's not something that gets her down. Besides she's had other treatments since first entering the program. Offworld treatments that repaired some of the damage that was killing her. She might not be in debilitating pain any more even if she's feeling more of it than she would have within the medicuboid. Yuuki frowns slightly, looking a bit uncomfortable. "Ah, thanks for showing me." she says, respecting the gesture and appreciating the trust. "If you're more comfortable the other way you can change back? Or, you know, sit down or something. I guess I see what you mean about understanding..."
Kain	Kain put the AugMa back to his eye and said the usual phrase: "Link Start" which kickstarted his transformation back into Kain. Once the transformation was complete, he set the crutches aside. "Pain has been a friend and foe with me for a long time. On top of my right leg having been amputated to save me, my entire body still got hit badly by the disease that would have killed me..." He taps his head, which currently is a long flowing silver... but the boy underneath had white splotches in his hair. "My hair... my left leg... and my entire body. All of it still in pain, even though I can move just fine in the AugMa. It's why I fly more often than I walk. I suspect that'd ring true for you as well... even with you transformed into Zekken... your body's gotta still be feeling the pain your body normally felt..." He then gestures to the wheelchair nearby. "That... used to be mine. I've gotten more used to using my Avatar and crutches to even think about it lately... but I found it recently, and I was wondering what I was going to do with it... but... recent events have given me cause to know exactly what to do with it." He inhales and exhales calmly. "Konno-chan, would you like my Wheelchair? I know you'll probably not use it often... probably remind you of those hospital times... but... in the instance of when the pain becomes unbearable, you could just... you know... take a breather and... I dunno, sit down... wheel yourself around with your wings... something of the like." He shrugs. "Yours or not, I don't really know what else to do with it..."
Yuuki Konno	Yuuki grins. It's a little forced, but there's still some genuine warmth and cheer behind it. "I love flying." she says. "And running and jumping too!" she adds. She loves all kinds of movement, from dramatic twirls to bouncing up and down on her toes to acrobating fighting and sky ballet. "Too much to let a little pain stop me." she adds, somewhat more seriously. She's almost floored by the offer though, and it gives her a visible pause while she considers. Yes the wheelchair would be an admission of her weakness and she doesn't like that, but it's also a sincere offer. And besides what WILL she do if she collapses, like she kind of did the day before? After a bit she slowly shakes her head. "If I need to take a break I'll sit down. Or sleep, or something." she says. "It's not my legs that hurt. My whole body's hurt, so if I'm too weak to walk I won't even be able to use my arms to push me around. I ... I really appreciate the offer, but I'll have to figure something else out." she adds. "I'm really not good at figuring things like that out though..." she says reluctantly. Planning for the future, after all, is something she leaves to those who can actually envision having one.
Kain	Kain gives kind of a weak smile. "I was there too... not able to figure out what to do for the future... because let's face it... we were both told we weren't going to live, or had a very low chance at life... all I know is... VRMMOs didn't change it. I still don't know what I'm going to do for the future... all I can do is live in the present, accept what's there and forget the things I can't influence. My life... my body could just give out at any moment. Give me so much pain that I just cannot move anymore. That's a reality for me. And even if I were in my AugMa, that pain would still be there. It'd be a constant thing, something I can't change. So I learned... to accept it. But since I can't influence it, it's also been a huge contradiction for me... I very well can't forget it and accept it at the same time. So... I don't. I realize that... this is something I can't influence. So... I forget the future. I live ONLY for the present. I fly, I fight, I have fun with my friends, and in the moments when I'm in pain... I sit, I reflect, I focus on the now. Sometimes, I'll even go back to my body and just... humble myself. Realize 'Hey. This is who you are. You cannot change it.' It sounds rather sad, but... when you're in a mindset of forgetting the future, looking at who you truly are is a huge blessing. Because you can look at yourself and go 'I'm alive. I am here. And nothing can change that.' Now... I'm not saying you should go out and do that... I... figure you were in that clean room because of bacterial stuff... and if you aren't in your Transformed state, you could probably get even sicker... so... probably not a good thing to- have I mentioned that I'm absolutely terrible at this?" He's just started uncontrollably chuckling at this point...
Yuuki Konno	Yuuki's demeanor goes more serious as Kain continues, though she listens attentively. She even stills, her everpresent twitches and little bounces vanishing as she hears things so very familiar to her. Finally she nods. "You understand. Truly." she agrees. She feels the same things for the same reasons. Of course Yuuki feels that. She was ready to die. She's lived a year now past the time she was told she'd live. For all she knows she may never die, or she could die tomorrow. "But you missed one thing." she says, then smiles. "I'll never regret leaving the hospital like this. Even if it kills me, it's okay. Because right now I'm alive! And in this state I haven't given in. I don't know I'll survive, but I don't know I won't either." She's afraid Yuna doesn't understand, or perhaps some of the others. But Yuuki figures Kain would understand. He's lived through what she has, at least in part. "Right now I'm alive. Really and truly alive in a way I couldn't be inside the hospital. And I'm not planning to die. Maybe I'll get sick again, but I'm not going to let myself worry about that. Right?" she beams.
Kain	Kain can only smile at that. "Yeah. I did forget that. All the hospitals I was in as a younger kid... I was glad to be rid of them... they all told me I wasn't coming out of this unscathed... well... I'm scathed, but I'm here. I'm alive. You're alive. We're..." He jumps into the air and spins around as he flies! "Alive! And more free than we've ever been in our entire lives! So yes... the bodies we're using... they are us... but this... this is us as well! That's the present! And I'd sooner forget the future than spend the entire rest of my life worrying and trying to plan around it!" He looks at the wheelchair. "If you're not wanting it..." He swoops down and grabs the chair, tossing it into the air as he quickly chants out a fireball, blasting the chair into smoldering pieces. He smiles. "Present. There's a warm fire. It helps soothe my aches. Wanna join me?" He goes and sits down near the fire he's created with his old wheelchair.
Yuuki Konno	Yuuki bounces up and down once again, cheered as much by Kain's return to humor as by having a fellow someone who understands. Like the Sleeping Knights, in fact. Her oldest and some of her truest friends. She spins and flourishes, though she doesn't join Kain in the aerial ballet. Remaining grounded, at least outwardly, she merely celebrates life her own way. She nods, and joins Kain at the fire. She wrinkles her nose though. "Okay, but no roasting food. The smell's kind of nasty." she claims. "If we want food we gotta go somewhere else. Okay?"
Kain	Kain just laughs. "Oh, trust me. I know. I'm a pretty damn good chef, if I do say so myself... I would never use this kind of fire for cooking. Only Cedar, Pine or Holly would do for cooking fires." Listing off logs acquired from the forests on Floors 42, 57 and 58 respectively, that's probably pretty average... "Maybe others, but those have been the best I've used so far with great results." Stretching a bit, all his limbs including the missing right leg, he then gets into a position that allows the most amount of heat from the fire to reach his body. "Ahhhh... even if I have to ignore the smell, the feeling of a fire's warmth helps me feel better. The pain's not even all that bad anymore." He hmms a bit. "I suppose that's the main reason I took up cooking in-" He stops... well... as long as secrets were out in the open... "in SAO..." He winced slightly as he spoke the name.
Yuuki Konno	What feels better to Yuuki is talking to someone who understands. Understands the pain, and about ignoring the future to live now. She flops down with Kain, not needing the warmth itself but taking some comfort regardless. "Is that why you took Salamander then? Because you like fire?" she asks. She winces too when SAO is mentioned. She wasn't there obviously, but she knows a bunch of people who were. Tomoe, Kirito, Asuna, Silica and others. Still, it's not like it's a secret, or an unshared matter regardless. "I didn't join then. That was when I joined the Medicuboid program." she admits. She can talk about it a bit. "It was experimental. It could block the nervous system, even more than the NerveGear could. But it was so powerful, they weren't sure of the long-term effects on someone. I volunteered though. It seemed like... well, like my best way to live?" She laughs, a bit weakly. "I'd barely even heard of MMO gaming, let alone fulldive back then."
Kain	Kain chuckled a bit. "Neither did 10-year old me... but it was advertised as the game where you left your body behind and play as a hero! Ten year old me jumped at it! I didn't get into the Beta... but you can be sure I got my dad to preorder it. And once I said those two words... what was offered was what I was given. So... even though we were stuck... and I was scared of dying... I felt good. I was able to run and jump... I could skip! I had to learn from Sasha... but once I could, I was skipping everywhere I went! Well... unless it was in battle, then I had to be serious or I would have died..." Kain clears his throat some. "Anyway, SAO was in the past. And yeah... I think I chose Salamander because of the fire's warmth. I mean... I'm not exactly a pyromaniac, but the way it burns, provides warmth... it's comforting. That, and it's not exactly a bad way to kill lots of mobs at once." He chuckles a little more.
Yuuki Konno	Yuuki knows the feeling about being a hero, leaving your body behind... even skipping. Of course she had her sister with her through most of this time, but that's still much the same. "At first I wasn't even into the heroic games. I was with others in Serene Garden. Then Jun... come to think of it he's about your age, isn't he? Well, Jun suggested we try some actual games. So we did! Took a while before we settled on Alfheim Online as the one we wanted to stick to above all others." She grins. "Afraid I picked Imp because I like the colors. Jun picked Salamander because he wanted to be strong. The others had all their reasons too I guess." she says softly.
Kain	Kain nodded. "I suppose strength is a plus side of being a Salamander... but... I think the choice was more deep than you'd realize. You pick who you want to be because of how it makes you feel. You like the colors of the Imp. That's a good reason. I like the warmth of the fire spells I cast. That's a good reason. Your friend Jun... he wanted to be strong. That's a good reason. There's no bad reason. Just... go with it." And at that point, a yawn escaped Kain's mouth. "Damn, I didn't realize what time it was..." He inhaled and stood up, placing his hand out and chanted a little more. The fire dissipated and he inhaled deeply. Then he exhaled a gout of steam. "Fire eating... love it... but at the same time, feels weird doing it with my normal body beneath this." He stretched a little bit more. "I should be headed to bed. Oh, has Kirito helped you set up sleeping arrangements at all?"
Yuuki Konno	Yuuki grins at that. "Tomoe looks after me." she says. They've been fast friends for a while now, and becoming teammates at Beacon just added to that. "Mostly I've been living at Beacon Academy because I'm attending school there. We get to learn to fight monsters when we're not learning history and geometry and writing. I... uh, I'm kinda ahead on those lessons, but it's still fun!" she grins. "I have a place here now too. I'm not quite ready to go back to school. Maybe after a few days, once I won't be falling asleep in class. Some of the teachers there are GOOD with thrown chalk!" she complains.
Kain	Kain laughs audibly at that. "Makes me glad I was homeschooled!" He sighs happily... it was the best time he'd had in a very long time... talking with someone that just... GOT it. They understood. They knew what he was going through... and it made him happy! "Anyway... thanks for meeting with me like this. And... I'm glad I opened up to you. It actually helped me feel much better since not really talking about it at all with anyone..." He yawns again. "Anyway... that's my cue to turn in for the night. Seeya around?" His wings formed and started movement, though slow, towards a hall in the Castle, presumably a bedroom he'd be using. He was carrying his crutches with him as he flew.