[open] i wouldn't do this for just anyone.

[whatagoodgirl]

Who: Nakama and anyone who wants to be crashed into?
What: Teaching herself a new skill. Again, badly.
When: Day 143
Where: All over the city!
Rating: Assuming G, will edit if necessary.


Nakama's on a mission. A very cut up, bruised, aching mission.

No, it's not fighting or weapons this time. She's brought so much drama and sadness into Roxas's life lately, and they may have plans for fun times later, but she feels like this needs more. A gesture like the ice cream on the roof, something bigger that's all her.

So she's dipped into her savings and bought herself a skateboard, and the plan was to expand on his one brief lesson until she was good enough to go out riding with him. Unfortunately, that first lesson didn't go very well, and she doesn't know anything about skateboarding other than that. So she's careening around the city, arms waving wildly to keep her balance and legs occasionally flying out from under her and sending her sprawling onto the pavement. But like the thousands of needles she took to her fingertips while learning to sew, she barely feels any injuries left behind.

If you find her early in the day, she'll look alright; later in the day, there'll be a large tear in the left knee of her jeans with a bloody knee beneath, and a limping gait that suggests more bruises and wounds under her clothes. Heck, you might even meet her halfway and have to leap out of the way. It's hard to say!

Make your choice, but choose carefully.

Comments

[whatagoodgirl]

"Yeah, I did." She speaks a bit dully, glancing over at the wall as if to affirm this. "I think I might -"

And suddenly she just sits down hard on the ground, cradling her head. The fogginess hasn't given way, and it's been joined by a throbbing pain. "- I think I might need to go to the hospital..."

[takebow]

Yukari stares for a brief moment before she hurries to try and support Nakama. Which is a little late since she just plopped down on the ground like a sack of potatoes.

"Yeah, definitely. Let's get you there." Pause. "Not on the skateboard, either." She wraps an arm around Nakama's shoulders (is this proper first aid technique???) and tries to rise to her feet again.

[whatagoodgirl]

She's a light load on a good day, so after the illness she's recently been through, she should take no effort at all to lift. To her credit, though, she does her best to push herself up and stand steady once she's upright.

"I just have to go slower..." A low, ruminative murmur. Yes, she's already planning to head out again once she's healed. "... a little slower and I can get out of the way when things like that happen..."

[takebow]

"What you have to do is get someone who knows what they're doing to tell you how to do this, Nakama-chan." God, this girl doesn't know when to back off. Well, in some ways.

She glances around - they're a bit far from the hospital, aren't they? Well, nothing to be done about that now...

[whatagoodgirl]

"The only person I know is Roxas, and I want this to be a surprise for him," she explains groggily. "One guy said he could, and then he rode into a rose bush."

[takebow]

"Hm..." Yukari trails off for a second. "I bet Minato-kun would know. We gotta at least ask him."

[whatagoodgirl]

"Really?" She looks at Yukari hopefully. "Do you think he'd mind?"

It's a silly question - she knows Minato, of course he wouldn't mind. But it's just the kind of thing she has to say.

[takebow]

Yukari has much the same thought. "Of course he won't mind, Nakama-chan." She's not one-hundred-percent sure about this, but he seems to know how to use every kind of weapon there is, so why not...? "If he knows, I mean."

[whatagoodgirl]

"Is skateboarding something a lot of teenage boys do? I don't remember seeing a lot of them at home, but the high school was across town from the junior high."

She's still got hers tucked under one arm, the other around Yukari's waist to support herself when she gets woozy.

[takebow]

"Uh, yeah, I guess it kinda is. I mean, more of them than anyone else, that's for sure." Yukari looks at it with mild confusion. It's not what she thinks of as a very Nakama-like look, if that means anything.

[whatagoodgirl]

"They must start young though, like bike riding. I don't see how Roxas could be so good if he just picked it up recently. If you could learn that fast, I'd be better than this on my second try."

Well, Roxas has inspired her to do a lot of things she would never normally try. It's all in the name of young love, you see.

[takebow]

Yukari's not so sure about that last thought that Nakama expressed, but she keeps that to herself. Because she's polite. And maybe she has a point about the bike riding thing, after all.

"Well, I'm sure if you do things that are kinda like it, you'd be able to just -- have better balance and stuff. Anyway, it can't hurt to check."

[whatagoodgirl]

"I'll call him once I -" She makes a gesture to her head, which is getting foggier by the minute. "- um, feel better."

[takebow]

"Okay." Yukari gazes at Nakama a little anxiously. The girl's wooziness is evident.

"Should I call something to get us there faster?" she says.

[whatagoodgirl]

"No - no, I'll be okay. I don't need the ambulance or anything." She forces herself to stand up straighter and take longer steps, even though each one makes the world spin.

[takebow]

Yukari eyes her forcefully for a moment before shrugging. "Okay, Nakama-chan," she says. She can't tell immediately whether Nakama just needed that to wake her up or what. Hmm. What's that they usually say...?

"Can you count backwards from 100 by sevens? You know, like, 100, 93..."

[whatagoodgirl]

She tries her best, but gets stuck around the 70s and stops walking, a confused expression on her face.

"This is hard..."

[takebow]

Uh-oh.

"Um. That's not good. I'm gonna call the ambulance, okay...?" She stops next to Nakama, her arm tightening around her friend. "Hang in there."

[whatagoodgirl]

"I don't need..." But then her legs waver, and she finds the nearest flat, upraised surface to sit down so that Yukari doesn't have to hold up her entire weight. "... o-okay."

[takebow]

Yeah, of course you don't need, Nakama. Of course. That said, Yukari tries to support her in sitting down before turning to the bracelet and placing the call.

"Might as well give them something to do, right?" She looks anxiously over.

[whatagoodgirl]

She attempts a smile, but it's pretty weak and wobbly. "Yeah, I guess so."

Slowly, idly, she turns the skateboard around in her hands. "I - I guess that was pretty dumb, huh? Trying to do this without help?"

[takebow]

"Umm." Yukari laughs a little. "It was a little dumb, Nakama-chan. You've got to let your friends help you when you need it... and you've gotta know when you do need it, right?"

But she lets her grip around Nakama turn into a tighter hug, trying to convey that the criticism isn't meant to hurt.

Besides... She's a little better at doing that herself, but it's not something she's still super-proficient with.

[whatagoodgirl]

"I know." She hangs her head. "I thought I was getting so much better at that, but when things are really important to me, I still want to do them alone."

She's touched by the hug, though, and smiles a bit more genuiely up at Yukari.

"Thanks, Yukari. For... all of this, and for always being honest."

[takebow]

"That's just the way we think sometimes." Yukari shrugs. "It's hard to ask for help. It's definitely that way for me too." But yeah. Honesty. It's a good thing most of the time; certainly with Nakama, and it's not like she really restrains herself anyway.

[whatagoodgirl]

"I almost got in a lot of trouble that way, though." She glances away, not willing to go any further with that thought. It's something she hasn't told anyone here. "That's what filters on the network are for. I'll definitely ask someone to help next time."

She rubs her temples, trying to chase off a building headache, and wavers a bit in her seat. She's still mostly lucid, when not being challenged to math questions, but she's getting worse.