Room 515, Thursday Evening

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine hadn't seen Namine about in a while and thought that perhaps it would be a god idea to check up on her. So, there he was, outside her door and knocking.

It was the thing to do.

(For Namine. Sorry about backdatedness- availability sucked.)

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[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

From inside the room was the normal sound of someone approaching the door, and then an odd thump as if a hand had flopped against the doorhandle uselessly, and then some muttering in an undertone.

"Just come in," Naminé snapped, in a very un-Naminé tone of voice.

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine stared at the door for a moment in shock.

"Alright," he said, somewhat put-off. He opened the door and peered inside. "Bad day?"

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"You have my apologies," she said curtly. "It's been a bad sort of week and I seem to be nearing the end of my rope. I have no right to take it out on you, obviously, but I don't appear to have the capacity to be civil at the moment."

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine was torn between shrugging it off entirely - onwards and upwards and all - or asking what was the matter.
He finally decided that perhaps it was the better option to show some sort of concern.
"Is there anything I can do?"

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

Naminé took a long breath, and then turned to face him. She held her hands aloft, fingers hanging uselessly. "I don't know," she said calmly. "Is this something that you can reverse?"

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine's jaw dropped as she showed him her hands. "I don't think I can do anything about that..." Her hands. She was an artist, and she couldn't use her hands and he couldn't imagine being without his own and this was cruel and unusual and-
"How did... Who did that do you?"
Valentine was angry. And surprised that for the first time in a long, long while, he was angry over something that hadn't happened to himself.

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"Our acting principal," she said coolly. "It appears she was displeased that I attended that party last weekend. She expressed her displeasure in a slightly different way than you did."

She closed her eyes for a moment, the veneer cracking slightly. When she spoke again, her voice was softer. "It's been two days."

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine was practically beside himself, now.

"That pompous, overstuffed, overbearing prude," he managed, trying not to be too obvious that he was seething. "Two days without hands now? She can't get away with this. This is... it's... Bad. Like a bad thing."

His hands were his livelihood. He knew well enough that this was not to be stood for. He had to do something. Something, anything. Not doing things was catastrophic, after all. And this... this would not do.

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"She has gotten away with it," Naminé said, lowering her arms again. "I have no idea if the effect is temporary or permanent. It's awkward and embarrassing and I've never longed for my crayons so much in my life."

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine nodded sympathetically and wrapped his arms around her in a hug. Hugs were good, he'd come to realize. They helped ruin his intent to kill (not that he had it in him do do such a thing anyhow), and perhaps hugs might help make her feel better. Better was always good.

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

Naminé stood within his arms for a long moment before pulling away slightly. "I'm horrible company at the moment," she said softly. "You have my apologies. If you want to leave, I'll understand."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"I happen to think that you are still rahter excellent company," he protested. After all, he didn't know many people who could be more unpleasant to be around than himself. He could certainly handle her company when she had a perfectly valid reason to be unpleasant, he was sure. "I think I should like to stay here, actually, if you'll have me around."

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

Naminé nodded curtly. "Remember that, should I become unbearable. That I said you could go."

Anger flashed in her eyes. "It doesn't hurt. It might be easier to bear if it did. It's just inconvenient and humiliating and that damned woman is laughing at me."

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine found himself growing angry again. It obviously went without saying that the woman had no right to do this. "I understand," he said carefully, "what it's like to not be able to do what you'd like. And I don't like this, what she's done to you. Not one bit."

It was entirely possible that somewhere in the back of his head, he was formulating plans to bombard the nasty old woman with exploding juggling balls, or something.

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"She laughed. I nearly dropped my sketchpad - my sketchpad, I've created worlds with it, castles, memories, you, all pulled from there and I nearly dropped it in her office and she laughed and I would have found a way to burn it before I would have left it there, for her to flip through and amuse herself." Naminé was seething now.

[dark_slippy_thing]

There was a growing feeling of nausea in Valentine's gut, now. He hadn't any idea that seeing Naminé so angry would rub off on him like this. It was... humbling, perhaps?
"If I had known, I might have..." Have? Have what?

He decided to hug her again, if only so that she couldn't see the slight curl to his lip as he tried to hold back his own growing anger. He was vaguely aware that he was being protective, now, which was certainly new... And he decided then and there that he'd have to do something. If only it would momentarily make That Woman's life a little more difficult. If it meant that she'd take his own hands away. Something had to be done.

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

Naminé was shaking, and again she nearly let him hold her before pulling away again. "I can't," she said abruptly. "I'm too restless. Too infuriated. If I could hold things I would smash them to pieces. I feel caged." She was pacing now. "I hate that feeling. I hate that woman. If this continues much longer I swear I'll go mad."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"It can't possibly go on forever," Valentine said, his hands retreating to his pockets. "People will get angry.. they'll do something. She won't be here for much longer, I'm sure. The students would lynch her or something."

His fingers brushed against the Really Useful Book. 'Remember what your mother told you,' its little page would remind him. And then his brain filled the rest in. 'It's a dog-eat-dog world, son. You get them before they get you.'

Indeed.

"Someone will make her regret even showing up here in the first place."

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"I am starting to wish that could be me," she said shortly.

[dark_slippy_thing]

"With any luck," Valentine stated, "perhaps it could be. Stand for what is right, you had said on your specials sign that day? You don't need fingers to stand, really. You can still speak."
Like he was really one to talk.

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

Naminé laughed bitterly. "I didn't mean by speaking out. I was rather thinking of something more direct."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"You could always kick her in the shin?" Somehow, Valentine figured that this suggestion might have been helpful. Actually, he rather wanted to kick the woman in the shin himself, so why not suggest it and share the idea with someone else who might appreciate it?

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"I've had useless fingers for two days," she said, giving Valentine a sharp look. "If I start with violence, I'm unlikely to limit myself to shin-kicking."

[dark_slippy_thing]

When a look was sharp enough that even Valentine knew he was being looked at sharply, it was time for Valentine to make more useful suggestions.
"Nobody would blame you," he said seriously, his own tone dropping a little lower than usual. Somewhere in the back of his head, he was thinking up cruel revenge. Still. Sometimes it took Valentine's mind a while to come up with suitable means of attacking things.
'You get them before they get you.'
Sometimes, apparently, his mother had said useful things, too.
"I've got half a mind not to limit myself to shin-kicking, as well."

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"I don't think I'm very skilled at violence," she said, her face inscrutable. She looked at Valentine uncertainly, her voice catching. "Yourself? What did she do to you?"