Stand Alone Complex

Mentioning how she liked his face without the mask, Seigi would blankly look at her, but very obviously blushing. Turning around quickly, he would face Ren, just as Ren would stick his hand out to shake Zoe's hand.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you miss, I'm sure that Mr Sei-"
"We've got work to do, let's get to it." Seigi would command, now also frustrated that Ren just about gave up his actual name to Zoe as well. Ren would simply smile and wink at Zoe as he walked past her, moving towards the camp.
"Wake up, citizens of The Land of Earth, I'm here to save you...!"

Seigi would sigh again.

"He's a good kid, just kind of whacky sometimes..." Seigi would rub his temples with one hand before quickly stopping to look at the blood on his bandaged hand. He needed to change these, but it could wait until they were on the ship. "We should get to work." He would say, walking over towards Ren as he spoke to the now gathering crowd who had come to see the airship.

".....And that's how it moves! Pretty cool, huh?" He explained to the crowd. Seigi would step forward.

"This airship can only take 20 people at a time, so we need to ferry everyone out in groups. There's just over 60 people located here, so we'll start with the seriously injured groups and send a few doctors with them. Then, Ren here will come back and pick everyone up. I'll stay here until the last people have boarded. Zoe, can I trust you to go with the shuttle to help organize everyone getting off and sorted?"

Zoe just beamed up at Baku as he blushed. She couldn’t quite tell if he appreciated the compliment or not, but he at least hadn’t told her it was inappropriate, so that was something. She could tell that Ren had very nearly said something he shouldn’t have as he was quickly cut off by Baku, this raised her curiosity considerably and she would raise an eyebrow while giving a questioning look to the both of them. Receiving only a wink from Ren, and not knowing whether it was at all related to her silent question of ‘what were you going to say and why is it so secretive?’, she would shrug again and giggle at the wink.

Zoe would grin as Baku sighed. Again. He seemed to do that a lot and she was starting to see a certain amount of chagrin in the man which she found delightful. “I like him, I don’t know what you mean by ‘whacky’, but he seems friendly. I didn’t know you had an airship, that’s pretty amazing, you’re full of surprises Baku. I like you too, you know. Just in case that wasn’t obvious.” It was probably obvious, but Zoe appreciated clarity and so she imagined that other people did too.

She noticed him looking at the bandages on his arm and she gave him a questioning look again, this time her voice laced with concern. “What happened? I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but if you’re hurt I’d like to help.” Again, Zoe had just about zero medical knowledge. But her heart was in the right place, more or less. She didn’t much like the idea of Baku being injured in some way, and while his constant sighing was amusing, the possibility of an injured arm was not.

So she was to be seperated from Baku again. This time Zoe sighed. She wanted to stay where Baku was, but it did make more sense for her to help organize people, since she wasn’t really a combatant or a doctor or anything. With much regret written on her face she would nod and resign herself to corralling injured humans. “Yes, you can trust me.” It wasn’t exactly an answer to his question, more a statement of general fact, but it was probably close enough. Turning to look at Ren she would put on a smile and gesture towards the airship. “Just you, me, an airship and an audience of twenty. Sounds fun.” This time she would wink at Ren and grin at her own, mildly inappropriate, joke. Truth was, it did sound fun when she put it like that. “We’ll be right back Baku, I’m not leaving you here.” And then she would get on the airship and start helping other people on and getting them settled.

Zoe liked Ren and Seigi both, which felt like a relief to Seigi. He KNEW she liked him and they were getting along well, but hearing her say it gave him a slight relief. He was very quickly building up trust with her, despite her being a Kiri-nin. She didn't act like most Kirigakure shinobi he knew, and at first he thought she might be deceiving him, but now... something felt authentic about her. She wasn't showing loyalty to her village by being here, she was simply existing. He was grateful that she was here.
She would comment on his bandaged arm, asking if he was injured, to which he would shrug. "Kind of." He would slowly remove the bandage to show his arm to her. From his fingertips to his shoulder, the arm had a purple tint, as if it were bruised, and his fingertips were black, as if they had been crushed.
"A long time ago, my old mentor and I were training. He wanted to teach me how to use one-handed seals and figured the best way to do it was by crushing my right arm." He would clench his fist, showing her he still had perfect use of it. "I have full range of motion and use, but the coloration just never properly returned. I hide it because it kinda of grosses people out." He would explain. He hoped it didn't do the same for her. He had tried every single Medical technique available, but something about his arm just thought that how it was was right. It still ached on cold days, all the way down to his fingertips.

Zoe seemed slightly unhappy about being separated again, and Seigi would frown. He didn't like the circumstances either, but he couldn't trust Ren to pilot and organize everyone and these Iwa-nin weren't doing a good job of doing it themselves. He would do it, but he wanted to make sure nothing happened to the people here, still under threat of the falling island. As Zoe told him she wasn't leaving him there, he would smile at her, nodding.

"I trust you Zoe!" He would say, the engines of the airship firing up and drowning out his voice. His hair would flap wildly against the wind as he would take some steps back.

"Alright, help me get these folks on board!" He would yell to the Iwa doctors. They would get straight to work, with Seigi joining them, and in only a few moments they had everyone on board.

"Take care of them!" Seigi would yell to Zoe over the engines, taking a step back from the side doors. It was a waiting game now.

In the air, Ren would raise up the airship, looking over his shoulder.

"That giant rock is messing with the air currents, so hold on!"

Zoe was genuinely horrified as Baku explained what had happened to his arm. Not about the arm itself, that she would gently take in her hands, if he allowed her, and study it. What was horrifying was that someone Baku named a mentor would resort to such. . . barbarism to teach the white haired fox man a skill. She had always felt compassion for those she observed, but it was such a distant thing as she was so separated from those she watched. The feeling she had now was something else though, compassion definitely, but also a tiny bit of. . . anger? That’s a new one.

“He never should have done that to you. That’s not how you teach people things.”

There wasn’t time to truly unpack how she felt about it and so she hurried to the airship, waving at Baku as the engines fired up. She thought she heard him say something, but the noise was overpowering and so she just smiled. Whatever it was she was certain it was good.

Once everyone was on board she would look out one last time, and yell her reply as the side doors closed. “I will!”

She didn’t know what she was supposed to hold on to, so she went to the front and held on to the back of Ren’s chair, since all other seats were taken up by the passengers. Despite the grim situation, Zoe couldn’t help but smile and laugh as the wind buffeted the ship around. Ren was a capable pilot and she didn’t once feel as though she were in danger, rather she found the experience thrilling and sadly over too soon.

In no time they were landing at an outpost that one of the doctors pointed out and she began assisting to unload the passengers. Which basically just meant that she stayed out of the way and picked up dropped items, returning them to their owners. She was ridiculously small even by human standards and she didn’t have the strength to compensate, so mainly she relegated herself to small tasks and being an unofficial ‘morale officer’. The trip back allowed her to sit and she whooped and hollered as they flew, now that it was less tactless as they weren’t carrying any victims of the war.

As they flew, Ren couldn't help but fly the ship a little erratically, nothing too crazy to put them in danger, but from the way Zoe seemed to be enjoying it, he couldn't help but indulge her. From his seat, he would yell to her.

"I don't know how you and Mr. Seigi met, but you're the first Kiri-nin that's got to set foot in ole Bessie." He would say, slapping the dashboard of the airship. It would almost sound like something inside would rattle around. He would just grin slyly.

"Don't worry about that."

___________________________________________________________________________

Back on the ground, Seigi had organized the people who still needed to go, getting them ready for the airship to come back. He would pace around, his hands behind his back, his mind lost in thought.
"It's been way too long, something must be wrong..." He would mutter to himself, frantically worried about Ren and Zoe. It hadn't been longer than 20 minutes, but it still felt like ages to him. He didn't get any kind of real relief until he could see the Airship in the sky, flying back towards them. As it landed, he would ready everyone up, beginning to load them as soon as the door opened. Everything seemed fine, so far, and Zoe's spirits seemed to have shifted since when she left, giving him a bit more relief.

"Just one more after this one!" He would yell once again. Ren would stand by the door, helping people aboard, this round of survivors moving faster now, as they weren't as injured. Once everyone was on board, Seigi would step back from the side, watching as the ship took off once more.

"Please be safe." He would mouth.

Zoe was having the time of her life flying in the airship. Every time Ren would make a quick turn she would laugh while trying to stay in her seat. She only fell out once or twice. Probably gracefully. “You get to do this all the time? That’s amazing! You’re so lucky!” Luck had nothing to do with it, of which Zoe was well aware. But it seemed like the thing to say to express how fortunate she thought Ren was. If she could fly all the time, she doubted that she would be able to be convinced not to.

At the mention of ‘Mr. Seigi’ Zoe would pause and look over at Ren. “Is that his last name? Or, how do you say, family name?” She knew little of the naming conventions of Earth, only that usually people had two of them. It also took a second for two other details to sink in; first that she was the ‘Kiri-nin’ and that the ship also had a name. And it was apparently Bessie. For a moment it had Zoe questioning whether the ship was somehow alive, since it had a name. Living ships were not outside the realm of possibility, she’d seen them before, just never on Earth. “Kiri-nin, huh. How about that. I hadn’t really thought of myself as that, but I guess that’s how everyone knows everyone else here. Well Bessie, I’m happy to be your first.” She would gently pat the dashboard as she spoke, giving Ren a grin as she did.

Once they had landed again Zoe would jump out, smiling excitedly as she saw Baku and trying to help load more people on. She was probably far too cheerful about the entire event, but she was genuinely happy to see Baku again. Mostly she just followed him around as he moved, speaking of the flight while beaming from ear to ear. “. . . and her name is Bessie! And we swooped and turned like this!” She did her best to mimic the movements of the trip back, using her arms and making quiet and not very accurate airship noises. “It was wonderful, oh and we got everyone there safely, no issues. I’m surprised you don’t fly in the airship more often Mr. Baku Seigi. I’ll be right back! Be safe!” She would dash off towards the airship as soon as she’d finished speaking, eager to fly again and slightly more comfortable with being separated from Baku, as she knew that he would still be here when she returned. It made leaving less awful, the promise of coming back.

"....What did she say?" Seigi would think to himself as Ren would lift off the shuttle, taking himself, Zoe, and 20 more injured citizens and doctors with them. As they hurled across the sky, to a safer spot from here, Seigi would blink. "I really need to tell Ren to stop telling people who I am..."
Seigi would think, only blaming himself for this happening. Ren didn't really know any better.

__________________________________________________________________________


Ren knew better. The way he saw it, Mr. Seigi was way too serious. Always sulking, always quiet, always alone, especially ever since Moonspire. That was supposed to be the beginning of Ren's career, hoping to someday pilot those giant Airships Damien Darhk once flew over the city. Now, he was still trying to figure things out, but he would be damned if he let Seigi fall down too.

"To answer your questions from before we unloaded," He would begin, "Yes Ma'am! I get to fly wherever Mr. Seigi needs me to, and then some. It's a helluva job!" He would say, both hands on the flight mechanisms. He would look back to her, grinning once she mentioned his "family" name.
"And uh, his name is Seigi Chinoike but everyone just calls him Seigi. He told you his name was Baku, didn't he?" Ren would have no issue spilling the beans on his new employer. He didn't sign any kind of NDA. "Guy is terrible at secret identeties."

Flying in the airship was just as fun the third time. Zoe would move up to the front and sit with Ren, on a seat if there was one, or just precariously perched somewhere she would fit if there wasn’t. She enjoyed sitting and talking with Ren, it also gave her the opportunity to learn more about the mysterious and handsome fox masked man.

“You really are lucky, I could fly in this thing all day. On the way back, do you think we could do more, you know, exciting flying?” She laughed as she spoke, she was having way too much fun, and Ren seemed to be the fun having type as well so that suited her just fine.

She took a moment to process what Ren had just told her. “So his name is also Seigi. . . which one is his secret identity? Seigi or Baku? I’m very confused. They’re both pretty names though. Does he like one better?” It was a fairly naive point of view to have, but the concept of keeping secrets was still not something she fully understood. At least not from personal experience. On Hala there were quite literally no secrets. Unless you counted the group that had helped her escape; The Shadow. “What other things can you tell me about him? I’m really interested in learning more about him.” She would pull out her notebook as she asked her question, intent on recording her newfound bits of information, but quickly realized that doing so while in flight would be near impossible and put the book back in her boot.

Ren would laugh at her further questions as a bit of turbulence rocked the ship. "Oh I can definitely make that happen."

"His real name is Seigi, so I'm sure if you call him that, he'll appreciate it."Ren would say as they approached the site where the rest of the refugees were. Landing down gently, Ren would hit a few buttons to put the ship in standby mode while he opened the side door. He kept talking. "He's a secretive fellow, that's for sure. He isn't close to anyone except his sister." He would begin to help people off the ship as the Iwa medics approached to help as well.
"Truthfully, I think he's lonely and doesn't know how to talk about it. The Ninja Life really messes with your head and your emotions and your connections to people. It's why he's developed this saviour complex, ya know? He's always trying to save people but doesn't know how to save himself." Ren was wise beyond his years, but didn't know how to shut up half the time. "That's kind of why I stuck around. Our meeting was supposed to be a one-time thing, but when my home was destroyed, Mr. Seigi opened his home up to me and even employed me. He's a bit rough around the edges, but he's an alright guy."

Once they finished up getting everyone off and back into the air, Ren would buckle his seatbelt, and pointed at the copilot seat for Zoe to get in.

"Buckle up, miss, it's gonna be bumpy!" He would yell. Once she did, he would drop the airship into a nosedive before coming back up to normal about 200 feet off of the ground. Rising up the airship again, he would begin to swoop it back and forth, whooping as he did.

________________________________________________________________________



As the airship approached the last group of surviviors, Seigi would be sitting on a small crate, his arms resting on his thighs, his attention on the large rock overhead still.

"We're almost done..." He would whisper to himself. Catching eye of the airship, he would wave it down, getting the last group together. Helping herd everyone onto the ship, he would hop on too this time, making sure everyone was seated properly. It was cramped, but they would lift off without issue. Making his way behind Ren's seat, Seigi would stand, holding on to some netting to keep standing. "Ren, remind me to never tell you anything personal ever again." Then looking to Zoe, he would frown.

"I apologize for lying to you." He would say. "My real name is Seigi."

The ‘exciting flying’ part of the second trip back was filled with squeals of delight from Zoe. She had done as instructed and buckled herself safely into the copilot's seat, and she laughed as the ship went into a nosedive. She had received a fair amount of information about Seigi from Ren, and she was determined to use that information for good.

As they landed again Zoe would jump up and help, though this time around less help was needed as the people with the most serious injuries had already been taken. Once everyone was on board she would scurry back to the copilot seat and buckle herself in, turning to smile up at Seigi. She was surprised at his apology, and at the fact that he thought he was lying. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for. You can call yourself whatever you like, and it doesn’t mean you’re lying. Or well. . . I guess if it does then I owe you an apology as well. My name is Zor-El, Zoe is a name I gave myself when I came here.” She was smart enough to leave the comment about Ren handing out personal information well enough alone. That was between the two of them and she hoped she’d have time to further talk about her and Seigi’s origins.

With their secrets out in the open, Seigi couldn't help but laugh.

"Well, Zor-el, it's very nice to meet you." He would say, smiling to the woman.
"Well, if yall are done flirting, we're coming up on the refugees!" Ren would say with his usual grin. Seigi would nod, looking out of the window at the rest of the people they had helped. It looked like there was more people than they had dropped off, and on closer inspection, a group of Iwa-nin looked as if they had found the people they had dropped off. The airship would once again set down gently, the side doors opening up on both sides to allow everyone to get off. This group was mostly uninjured adults, so they could help themsevles. Hopping off of the ship, Seigi would raise his hands and wave down the Iwa-nin.

"This should be the last group of survivors from where we were." Seigi would say, crossing his arms as he looked over them, prompting the Iwa-nin to do the same.
"We're just lucky someone was looking out for them." One of them would say before bowing to Seigi, but Seigi would just shake his head.

"Don't thank us. We have to look out for each other in these times. But we're still not safe. My crew and I are heading out, can we trust you to look after these people?" He would ask, the Iwa-nin nodding along quickly. Nodding back, Seigi would return to the ship, and if Zoe was still there, he would close the doors of the ship behind him, or wait until she came back. Once they were back in the air, Seigi would sigh heavily as they made their own way to safety. Moving over to a small first-aid kit that hung from the wall, Seigi would remove it before moving back over to Zoe.

"Would you mind helping me?" He would ask, setting it on one of the seats, pulling out the remainder of the medical bandaging that sat inside of it. His other hand was still fairly bloody from surgery. If Zoe agreed to help badage his bruised arm, he would relax for a moment, letting his shoulders fall.
"Thank you for your help today," He would say, almost in a whisper, "you helped save a lot of lives and those people will remember that." He would rest his head against the metal side of the airship, closing his eyes as the slight hum of the engine rattled his skull gently.
"And I'm not sure if you have anywhere to be, but Ren is taking us to the Heavenly Emporium. We'll reach there in a few hours and once we refuel, I'll take you where you want to be dropped off. You're a good soul, Zoe." Seigi's voice would begin to trail as exhaustion began to take it's toll on him.

"Don't let anyone change that." He would whisper as he let sleep take hold.

From the cockpit, Ren would laugh.

"Strap him down! I'm gonna do a barrel roll!"


[Exit]

Zor-El was happy to finally get a laugh and a smile from Seigi, even if it was due to her admitting her creation name. She found herself laughing along with him, and her face would turn pink as Ren mentioned ‘flirting’, though that didn’t stop her from giving Seigi a wink. She wasn’t embarrassed about the implication, it just hadn’t occurred to her that that was what she was doing.

As they set down for the final time Zoe would attempt to hop up from her seat only to be immediately jerked back down by safety belts that held her. This time she was embarrassed and she would sheepishly unbuckle herself before getting up a bit slower. “Well, that was awkward. First day using a belt.” She laughed at her own clumsiness as she assisted the remaining survivors off the airship and safely to the waiting Iwa-nin.

She was eager to get back to the ship and would already be waiting inside when Seigi returned, a happy grin on her face as she sat on a seat. She looked practically ready to burst by the time the side doors closed and as soon as the rushing air from outside was quieted, relatively speaking, her cheerful voice would ring out. “Seigi, gosh that’s a great name, that was really something. You were so heroic!”

There was a look of concern on her face as Seigi took down the first aid kit and asked for her help with his arm. Rushing over she would look inside the first aid kit and take out a small wipe and a roll of bandages. Carefully she would wipe away any remnants of blood from the surgery beforehand and then wrap the clean bandage around his arm as she’d seen the previous one wrapped. With her memory it would only take two tries for her to recreate the original bandaging. “It was no trouble, and there’s really no reason to thank me. I didn’t actually do much. And that’s not me being humble or self deprecating, I was just here to experience, and I guess help. You did most of the, quite literally, heavy lifting. So thank you.”

She would shake her head and smile, her voice becoming quieter in response to Seigi’s exhaustion. She really didn’t have anywhere else to be, ever. “I’m happy to go to the Heavenly Emporium with you. Maybe we could get dinner or something while we’re there. I don’t have anywhere else to be, really. I just sort of go wherever I’m inspired to go. Which, if you don’t mind my company, I’d like to spend more time with you.” Her face would become somber as Seigi spoke of her soul, and with a gentle hand she would run her fingers from his temple and down across his jaw, speaking in a whisper to his sleeping form. “So do you Seigi, so do you.”

Hearing Ren’s laugh from the cockpit and his call out she would hurry to strap down the sleeping Seigi and then half run, half stumble to the front to get the full effect of the oncoming barrel roll.

[Exit Thread]