Floor 1

A man looked around, before taking a brush and attacking his neat hair, before it was sticking up, just as he liked it. He walked, no, pranced around his building, with a careful eye checking the shelves to make sure that everything was still there. Humming a catching tune, he glanced around at the commotion that was going on before his shop front. Sensing that it had little to do with him - he looked up, catching the weak blue gaze of his favorite friend! Whose name was… A-Achy Every Dude? That sounded about right. He continued to prance around his shop, before a light tinkling bell caught his attention.

Now where did that nauseating sound come from…

His irritated eyes glanced up at the golden object that the officials of this Soggy Roll had forced him to put up, ignoring his beautifully innovative pots and pans that had been there before. Maybe he should get rid of it - it was a democracy after all. He could do anything whatsoever he wanted. Hmm. Yes, as soon as he had gotten rid of the bell, he would be able to get back to the way he wanted his shop to be portrayed.

“Excuse me. We need help!” called a young student, whom he had missed coming into his building. Ignoring him, and his favorite customer, Achy Every Dude, he continued to look thoughtfully up at the bell. A slight silence followed the dramatic entrance of the student. “Yes, that’s it. A hammer. Or a baseball bat.” Then, finally turning in the direction of the new boy, he smiled at Achy. He looked a bit paler than usual, but that was just to be expected. Red splotches were all over his body.

Maybe he had turned into a vampire.

Or the red stuff was ketchup.

Seeing at the student was in such a hurry, he should hurry up and help them. But he wanted to do whatever he wanted. Only those who mindlessly followed the orders of other people would have helped him immediately. Vault, for, yes, that was his name, looked at the boy, and with purposely elongated vowels, started to drawl out his opening speech. “Arturia,” his speech was indued with a slight accent, “is a heavenly pharmacy that exists in a mall named Soggy Roll.”

He peered around at Achy - he seemed to not be cutting him off as usual. How droll. It was only fun to watch him try to hurry him up with his irritated glowers. Fine, then, he would continue. “Now then - if you should be suffering from some unknown disease, you might have some knightly help here.” With an over-the-top gesture towards the fully stocked shelves, he made a mock knightly bow before standing upright. He had never gotten to this stage before in front of Achy, but it didn’t seem as though he was throwing a fit as usual.

He paused again, before realizing that his favorite customer’s head was lolling, and didn’t quite seem to be alive. Then, with an indignant frown, he turned towards the other student. “A body? You bought me a body for my birthday? I used to like that kid... Do you think he’d make a good advertisement? Something about zombies would be good, no? Maybe if we made him more purple-colored?” He dug in his pocket, and took out a handful of smelling salt. Placing the strong-smelling concoction under Aki’s nose, he waited there for a few moments. “I’m not going to work with a smelly body - especially if that’s ketchup I spy all over him,” he muttered as though trying to explain his actions.

Vault continued to stand there, watching the salt with interested eyes. Then with a cough, the limp body of Achy suddenly started to move. “You gave me a zombie?” Vault’s dark eyes brightened as he walked closer to the student, before opening his arms wide. “You’re so nice!”

WIth a sudden intake of breath, Aki gingerly removed his arm from Lucas, and stood by himself, albeit a little shakily. “Shut up, Vault,” he muttered. “Your annoying voice woke me up.”

The man only gave a shrug in return, before a wide smile arranged itself over his features. “It talks too!” Then, he bounced over to his shelves, and pulled out a large red hammer. “Now, zombie, take this amazingly beautiful thing and wander around Soggy Roll -.”

“Sagaro.” If Aki had the energy, this statement would have been accompanied with a rolling of the eyes and an irritated sigh.

“Soggy Roll and scare the living lights out of everyone, so they’ll run around amok.” Ignoring him, Vault continued on with his thoughts, before trying to shove the red hammer into Aki’s hand.

Ignoring Vault’s strange fixation on handing him a ostentatiously colored hammer, Aki brushed past him before collapsing on the bright orange armchair in the center of the room. He winced slightly - he had forgotten all about the wound on his back. Gingerly sitting back up, he looked at the boy who had helped him. This Kingpin continued to stand in the doorway, his blank eyes taking in the strangeness of the pharmacist in Sog - Sagaro.

It was true that Aki would rather have someone else in charge of this pharmacy, but it was the only place in Throme with the cherry-flavored pills that he so favored. Plus, strangely enough, Vault served his purpose in getting him to ignore the pain and aches that came with his injuries. Vault turned around and started to fiddle through one of his cabinets, this time pulling out a large cooking pan. The strange old man turned to Aki, before shoving the hammer back in his direction, and the pan held loosely in one hand.

Thankfully, Lucas stopped him from launching into some convoluted statement by speaking. “Excuse me, could you please give him some medical attention? You said this was a pharmacy right? If you need money for the supplies, I can pay at least part of i-” The Kingpin started to dig through his pocket, when he took out a cell phone. Looking at the screen for a few moments, he then gave them a small smile. “I’ll just take this call.” Aki wondered what exactly could have prompted such a reaction, but decided to ignore it. It must be student council duties or the like - everyone knew how Lucas was ever so busy. Anyways, it was better for him that he left, dealing with Lucas’ clingy attitude was so much of an annoyance. The call couldn’t have picked a better time to come in, as without it, Lucas would have insisted on staying for quite some time.

“Vault,” he called out, taking the offered hammer with one hand. It was awfully heavy for his weakened state, and with a muffled curse, he dropped it on the ground. The old man shot him a glower, before picking up the garish object with one hand. “I might need some help with the treatment. So there’s no point in any more of your pointless idiocy.” He figured that since he was already seen traipsing around Sagaro on the shoulder of the Kingpin, his pride may as well go and disappear into a hole: for now. “The highest quality bandages, and the cherry painkillers. You know I have the cash for it, so no complaints.”

Vault gave a smile, ignoring the comments. “Zombies don’t need to get medicine.” He tossed the heavy bat in one hand, catching it neatly. Aki frowned slightly - somehow, being with this man was akin to being tortured... he lacked any self control or even a mild sense of decorum.

“Vault,” Aki’s voice was cold in annoyance. It was just like the old man to do such an act when time was of the essence. At times, he couldn’t tell if Vault’s strangeness was an act or his real personality. “just get on with it.”

Vault gave a loud, and overly dramatic sigh. “What do you mean ‘get on with it.’? And if you’re turning into a vampire, could you please send me a picture of your fangs? That one forum…”

This is when Aki’s finely-held temper finally snapped. “I’m warning you. I need to get patched up, and immediately. I don’t care about your little forums or your strange taste in accessories. Just give me what I need, and then, I’ll leave and stop intruding on your Arturia.” His voice, while not necessarily loud, was firm, and with a burst of willpower and energy, he stood up, albeit a little shakily, and strode towards the closest shelf, and attempted to pick up a roll of bandages.

When his fingers slipped, Vault was immediately there with a mocking look shining through his dark eyes. “Now, that was the Achy that I was looking for,” he muttered, before picking up the bandages for him. “Get back to the couch - I don’t have time to be helping little kids who can’t even pick up objects properly.”

Aki sighed once again, but remained standing there. “I’ll be needing a few more of those for personal use, and painkillers.” His hand swept to the left, to the large pile of pills. “And of course, you’ll have to disinfect the wounds and everything.”

Vault frowned in his direction. “Now, now, Achy. I can realize that even when you’re so useless, you don’t want to admit it, but I’m too kind.” He gave a cheery, wide smile that stretched until it almost didn’t fit on his face. “You don’t know what I should do. So just go back to the couch and rest up. Let the intelligent people deal with the thinking. Humans know how to do stuff, you werewolf.”

“I thought I was a zombie.”

He flapped one hand nonchalantly in Aki’s direction. “Same thing, same thing.” Grabbing a mountain of objects and strange boxes with one hand, he grabbed Aki from his less-injured arm and almost forcibly dragged him into the back, where a large room, with a medical table stood in the middle. Far from the sterile appearance of hospitals, there were mountains of pans and boxes everywhere, even piled into the smaller sink on the opposite side of the room.

Aki untangled himself from Vault’s grasp and walked over to the medical table, before sitting on it with a sigh. “Glad to know that you’re still on Earth, Vault.” Casting an askance look at the mess, he muttered under his breath, “I thought the authorities told you to clean your storage area a while ago.”

Vault turned and looked at the full sink with a sigh. Placing the objects he was carrying on a small cart next to them, he started to work on cleaning it up, somewhat. ‘Achy would make such a big fit if he didn’t see me watching my hands.’ He stuck two calloused hands into the mess, and picked up a large dented pot. Frowning at himself, he dropped the objects in the sink, three pots, two pans, a fake sword, and a dented pail, on the ground, and proceeded to turn on the water. Now, where had the soap gone…

Ah, over there. He strode, as quickly as he could, across the room, and pulled the bottle of liquid soap from on top of an empty flower pot. He peered into the transparent plastic bottle, before smiling again. “Hey, Achy, it seems like I’m out of soap.”

“… Don’t tell me you’re serious.” Aki sat up even straighter, and started to peer at the near-empty clear bottle with worried eyes. “You’re not touching me with dirty hands. Who knows what you do in your free time.”

“Hm. Maybe there’s still a little bit left?” He shook it up and down, before peering at it some more. The minute bit of soap was a milky white, and difficult to see.

“Go and get more - and a brain, while you’re at it,” retorted Aki, irritated at the delay.

Vault pursed his lips in irritation, but continued to peer at the soap. “Nope, nope, it appears I spoke too soon. Some pixie or whatever must have borrowed it, and decided to return it just at this minute. There’ll be enough~.” Walking slowly back to the sink, he ran his hands under the still-running tap, before applying a small dash soap to them, lathering for a few moments, and then rinsing them again. “Now my hands are all clean, where shall we start?” Picking up a washcloth from the cart, he dried his hands fastidiously.

“You clean the wound.” Aki continued to watch Vault’s preparations with unflinching blue eyes. There was no knowing what the strange old man would try to do while his back was turned.

“What does a banshee know about healing people anyways? Achy, you need to get some friends,” he stated in a matter-of-fact manner, but with a grin plastered all over his face. He turned around, before picking up a plastic bottle and another clean cloth.

“Excuse me?” Aki could do little more than stare at the man with confusion in his eyes. Friends had nothing to do with anything - and they weren’t even necessary in the least.

“If you had friends, you wouldn’t have gotten beat up so badly.” Vault walked closer to the black-haired boy, before pushing him down on his back. Picking up the bottle, he uncapped it, and dropped the white cap on the ground. Aki gave a start towards the lid, before Vault used his now-free hand to push him back to a reclining position. “Stop moving, Achy.” Placing the cloth tightly over the opening of the bottle, he turned it upside-down. As the liquid soaked through the bottle, he tilted it back right-side up, and placed it on the ground, carefully so as to prevent spills.

Then, folding the white cloth into fourths, he rolled up Aki’s tattered clothing with a sigh, before unravelling the now red-bandage from the wound. Even though he had treated Aki before in the past, he sucked in his breath when seeing the wound itself. “Achy, I thought I told you that I wanted a zombie that wasn’t injured. What did you do to my wish?”

There was a period of irritated silence, before Aki finally deigned to shrug. “Whatever.”

Taking the cloth in one hand, Vault frowned irritated. “Now get yourself over here. I can’t simply wipe such a large injury. I would have expected better from you, Achy, even though you’re this zombie.” He pulled Aki up, a little roughly, before walking to the other side of the room, and picking up a pot, and putting it under the faucet… which was still running.

Aki stumbled closer, before standing halfway between the bed and the sink, balanced awkwardly on one leg. When the pot was full, Vault picked it up, strong, despite his age, and sloshed it over Aki’s leg. Aki winced when the cold, almost freezing water, hit his leg and soaked his pants as well. Vault then looked more closely at the injuries, and unravelled the other bandage, on Aki’s upper arm. He walked back to the sink to refill the pot, before heading to his little cart with a few more objects laying around on it.

“Do you want stitches or not?” he called, over his shoulder. “Zombies look better with stitches… so you’d better want them.”

Aki shook his head. “I’ll be fine without them.” He looked down - although severe, it wasn’t as bad as to necessitate stitches. Maybe. He didn’t think that Vault had the necessary training to do so either.

Vault pouted, before walking back over to the overflowing pot, and carried it over to Aki. This time he remembered to turn off the water. “Hold out your arm, Achy,” he grumbled, before pouring the water over the wound. “Now that everything’s all clean…” His voice trailed off as he dropped the pot on the ground behind him, and continued to manhandle Aki back to his medical bed.

Then, as Aki laid down, Vault took a look at the various wounds all over his body. Smirking slightly, he picked up yet another washcloth - this one was pink, and then started to pat Aki dry. After a few minutes of this painstaking action, he took out a few strips of sticky skin-closure tape and secured them firmly on the edges of the leg wound to keep it closed. Vault’s dark eyes narrowed in concentration before he turned his attention to the wound on the arm. All of the other wounds could wait until later. Repeating the same action, he, then, reached out with one hand and lifted Aki up from his prone state. “Achy - anywhere else that aches?”

Aki nodded, before turning to lay on his stomach. “Back,” he murmured, as Vault’s hands pulled up his shirt. Taking the white cloth that he had wet with the saline solution, he ran it over the blotchy skin there. Taking more of the skin-closure tape, he taped over the wound, almost with a hesitancy in his action. Then, leaving Aki alone on the bed, he left the storage room for a few minutes. His hands reached into his pockets, there had to be enough money to pay for Vault. His searching fingers met nothing but air and water, and he mumbled some irritated words under his breath.

When Vault returned, holding a roll of bandages, Aki opened his mouth to speak. “Forget this, Vault.” His cold smile showed a certain bit of pride, before he made ready to leave.

To his greatest shock, Vault simply gave a smile. “Are you an idiot, Achy? If you don’t have enough money now, I’ll just charge interest~ Plus, your little friend offered to pay for the supplies. I’ll just ask my pixie friends to collect it for me later.”

There was yet another awkward pause as Aki debated how exactly to answer this man. In his confusion, the old pharmacist managed to cross the distance between them, and tossed the roll of bandages towards Aki. It hit him squarely on the chest, and rolled off the bed, unravelling as it went. Picking it up, he started to roll it around his leg, winding it around and around…