Blood - 11

Vinny's bored

Days and nights seemed as bad as each other, melding into one, long, extended session of total boredom. Vincent sighed, leaning against the window frame. Even the view left something to be desired. There was only so much stone a man could stare at before it all started to look the same. 'If I'm so bored, why am I still staring out of this dammed window?'

The answer to that was simple – Vincent Valentine was bored. So bored that this was the most interesting thing to do. Playing with the crossbow had been yesterday's activity, and like staring at stone, had got old quickly. 'I suppose I could ask Professor Gast for some paint. I could paste it on a wall and watch it dry.'

This was ridiculous. Shaking his head hard, Vincent tore himself away from the window and strolled back to the landing to lean on the banister. For possibly the thousandth time that week he found himself wondering what Marlon and Veld were doing back in Midgar. Even filing would be more interesting than this. If Heidegger and the President were trying to kill him with boredom, then they were succeeding spectacularly.

Guarding Perimeters, keeping an eye on uncooperative scientists; it was enough to drive a man back to the evil weed. Giving up once had been hard enough. 'A bad habit I can do without.'

Every day was so repetitive, but yesterday had been the worst of all. Yes, he was supposed to 'oversee' the experiment, but acting as Hojo's personal slave was asking too much. It was an insult to spend the day holding things, fetching and carrying – the good Professors had been good enough to give the pack mules the day off – listening to that man's scientific drivel was enough to kill any man with boredom. Never had Vincent met a man so in love with himself and his ideals. The only saving grace of that day had been Lucrecia.

She was more than happy to exchange looks, murmur a quiet joke in passing. Hojo had looked at him as though he were mad, all those times he snorted for no apparent reason. That had almost made all the pointless toil worth it. Yes, Lucrecia was one special lady. Up until now he had never really had a chance to get to know her, and truthfully, he was glad of this time.

He spasmed suddenly, flinching back as his knee connected with a banister strut. He choked, squirming uncontrollably as he struggled to get away from the feeling running up and down his ribs.

"I knew it!"

Vincent turned, suddenly able to control himself again, leaning back against the banister and staring at Lucrecia with wide eyes. She grinned at him sweetly, leaning forward on tip toes, her hands clasped behind her back.

"Lucrecia?" Vincent croaked, wrapping his arms tightly around his ribs as she brought her hands from behind her back.

"I knew it." She repeated herself, wandering by to lean against the banister beside him. "You ARE the ticklish type!"

Vincent relaxed, turning to lean front on the banister, somewhat confused. "So," he began, frowning down at the lobby carpet below, "that was the reason for your merciless attack on my ribs?"

Lucrecia nodded, taking a second to blow her bangs out of her face, "You looked so solemn. I thought you needed a smile on that sad face of yours."

"Thank you, but I assure it was not necessary."

"Of course it was! Don't be ridiculous." She looked round at him, jabbing her finger against the end of his nose, "You always look so unhappy. Aren't I entertaining enough for you?"

"What?" Vincent faltered, unsure of what she meant by that. Lucrecia rolled her eyes, feigning annoyance,

"I try my best to stop you looking so downhearted all the time. If I didn't know better, I'd say you didn't want to be here." The lack of answer brought her hand to her mouth in sudden realisation, "You don't, do you?"

Vincent was silent for some long minutes, aware that he shouldn't voice his feelings on the subject, but, she was asking, wasn't she? "Not really, no."

"Then why did you take the assignment?"

"The Turks do as we are told. If I am given this assignment, I must see it through to the end. That is how it is."

"I see." Lucrecia frowned, scratching her name in the banister patina with one fingernail. "That would explain why you always look like a kicked puppy."

"Excuse me?" Vincent looked round at her, "I do not look like a kicked puppy."

"yes you do." Lucrecia insisted, throwing her ponytail over her shoulder and wandering away towards the stairs. "You do this thing with your eyes."

"What 'thing'?" Vincent trailed after her, quickening his pace to catch up and fall in step with her. She didn't answer until they reached the lobby, where she slid the tails of her lab coat forward and sat down on the bottom stair.

"You get this look, like you're lost and about to cry. Its heartbreaking to see. I'll bet you could always get your way when you were little."

Vincent sat down beside her, reclining on the stairs and looking up at the ceiling. "Me? Never. Acting or speaking out of turn was not allowed." He closed his eyes, already sick of the unchanging ceiling. "My father believed children should be seen and not heard."

"What about you?" Lucrecia began, interested, "Do you subscribe to that too?"

"I don't know. We are all allowed to express ourselves, I suppose children should have that right also."

"You're not very opinionated."

"My opinions generally stay where they cannot be challenged." Lucrecia chuckled at that, Vincent sitting up and looking round at her in surprise. "What?"

"Let's go outside. It's too nice a day to be stuck in here."

Vincent was about to argue, well aware that he was supposed to stay indoors, where he was meant to be that afternoon, but the pull of fresh air and natural light was too much to resist.

"Come on." Lucrecia took his hands and leant back to pull him to his feet,"stop lounging around." He did as he was told, getting to his feet and starting for the front door, only to be stopped by Lucrecia's hand on his chest. She stood on tip toes, staring into his face and frowning thoughtfully. "You have very unusual eyes." She concluded at last, settling back on her heels. "I never noticed before."

Vincent rubbed thoughtfully at his left eye, "Yes." He murmured, leaving it be and grounding his 'unusual' stare securely on the floor, or more appropriately Lucrecia's ankles. "When I was born, most of the village thought of me as a 'demon child'."

"Really?"

"Yes."He seemed lost to his thoughts suddenly, cradling his chin in one hand. "It was about then my grandmother started wearing her hair back."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"She is albino. With it out of the way, people could see where I got it from. Nobody would say anything to her about it, so she saved me from ridicule."

"She sounds like a special woman." Lucrecia commented, genuinely interested.

Vincent nodded thoughtfully, still cradling his chin, "Suki is very... forceful, when she wants to be."

"Hmmmm." Lucrecia took her hand from his chest, spinning on one high heel and heading for the front door once more. A little confused, Vincent followed.

Lucrecia was certainly a strange woman, her mind never on one thing for more than a few minutes. She had amazing powers of concentration; she must have to be a scientist, but non-scientific matters made her seem almost scatterbrained. Not stupid, by any means. Lucrecia was both beautiful and clever, a perfect combination. Yet Vincent shook his head, running a few steps to catch up with her at the door. "Won't Hojo resent your spending time with me?"

Lucrecia looked surprised, her hand flying to her chest at that, "Why? We're not doing anything wrong, are we?"

Vincent shook his head, "No. Of course not. It's just that Hojo seems like the jealous type."

"What's to be jealous of?" She asked, turning a spirited twirl and leaving him to catch the door, "There's nothing sinister in two friends taking a walk together, is there?"

'Friends'? This was news to Vincent. Passing acquaintances, maybe, charge, yes. Friends? Not his choice of description, though, it did feel right to refer to Lucrecia as friend. "No." He said, sliding his hand up the side of the door so that she could walk underneath and out into the garden, "There's nothing wrong with that at all."

"My sentiments exactly." She clasped her hands behind her back and strolled off towards the fir tree that stood around the side of the mansion, lifting her legs unnaturally high. Vincent followed automatically, unconsciously mimicking her.

The two of them remained silent until they reached the tree, Lucrecia gathering up her lab coat and daintily sitting down, Vincent collapsing next to her with a sort of quiet grace. He looked up at the sky, noting that they couldn't stay outside too long, as rain was on its way by the look of the clouds. Lucreica's voice snapped him from his quiet observations to look round at her. "You know Hojo doesn't like you, don't you?"

Vincent lowered his eyes to the well tended grass and picked a blade between two pale fingers. "I did get that impression."

"He says you're a 'stuck up sonnofabitch'."

"How kind."

"But you know," Lucrecia continued, staring at the wall of the inn, "I don't think that at all."

"Oh?" This was quite amusing. She shook her head,

"No." and looked round at him with a warm smile, "I think you're shy."

Vincent looked away, picking at the grass more vigourously, "What makes you think that?" Lucrecia held her knees, rocking back and forth and looking up to see a crow nesting in the tree above,

"Well, for one thing, you're so quiet."

"Perhaps I enjoy silence."

"And you stutter ever so slightly when addressed unexpectedly."

"I do not."

"You always look like someone's going to kick you in the shin too, when you're not looking."

"You never know when trouble's-"

"Vincent!" Lucrecia exclaimed, turning to face him, "You don't need to pretend to me. If you're shy, you're shy. That's the end of it."

He was silent, examining his grass blades closely, almost in an obsessive madness. Lucrecia shook her head, "Oh I give up on you, Vincent Valentine!" and turned her back on him to look out over the fence at some of the local children playing behind the inn.

Vincent dropped the grass and rested his hands in his lap, staring at them as though angry with them. The last thing he wanted was to upset her. Swallowing nervously, he said, "Yes, I am shy. Some days I curse my social ineptitude, but it's just the way I am."

Lucrecia looked over her shoulder at him, surprised to see his black eyebrows knitted into a worried frown. Did it bother him that much? He continued, "I am sorry if I have upset you in any way, Professor Crescent. I didn't mean to, and I am sorry."

He looked so down. Was this all to do with her jibes? "You haven't upset me, Vincent." She told him, turning back to him and taking his hand, much to his surprise, "I was only messing about. I'm sorry if I upset you."

"I tend to take things the wrong way." He muttered in response, feeling his cheeks flush red. Damn it, why did she have to touch him?

Though he had yet to tell anyone, Vincent acknowledged himself that he had taken a shine to Lucrecia over the past few weeks. No matter what she was doing, whether it be examining samples or experimenting on the grassland animals the science department had brought along, she always looked perfect. Unfortunately, she was with Hojo. Far be it from Vincent to entice a woman into infidelity, he realised that there was no chance of a relationship with Lucrecia Crescent, no matter how badly he wished for one. She had said it herself, they were friends.

"Everyone takes things the wrong way now and again. I know I do." She got to her feet, leaning against the tree to get a better view of what those mischievous boys were up to behind the inn. "It's just part of human nature." Her frown forced Vincent to find one of his own, relaxing as she let it fade and looked round at him, "From now on though, it's Lucrecia. Professor Crescent doesn't sound right coming from your mouth."

Vincent almost flinched at the informality she had just requested, but turned his attention on what troubled her instead. "What is wrong?"

"Those kids." She answered, pointing down the hill for him to see. "I think they're about to try something they shouldn't."

"You mean trespass?" Lucrecia nodded her answer. Vincent got to his feet, watching the four youngsters with a blank expression. "Perhaps I should inform them that children should be neither seen nor heard inside this fence?"

Lucrecia chuckled at that, muffling the sound behind her lab coat sleeve. "Hypocrite." She hissed at Vincent, glad to see him smile in mock cruelty and start off down the hill towards the possible offenders.

One thing she would say for Vincent Valentine; in the past week he had shown her a false innocent sense of humour that made her chuckle. Without fail.

(NOTE: Vinny and Lucrecia sitting in a tree... Seriously, some Vincent and Lucrecia time for us. I don't care what people say, the woman is perfect for him. Yes, I do write Turk Vincent as awkward, but where would be the realism in a confident, overly debonair Vincent Valentine? I like awkward and socially inept any day.)