Of Milk and Cookies

Dancing Through Life

And here's yet another chapter I forgot to add here! This one is heavily inspired by my background in musical theatre. Hope you enjoy!

"What on earth happened to your face?" Nya gasped, when she found Lloyd in the Bounty's infirmary, nursing the beginnings of a particularly nasty looking black eye. She had just returned from a self-designated samurai x mission and was on her way to the kitchen in search of a snack. His skin was already starting to turn a yellowy purple color; this was going to leave an impressive bruise. A really impressive one. It had been several days since their trip to the mall and the others had begun attempting to get the blonde back into the habit of training with them. Had someone punched him a little too hard? Because, if so, they'd definitely be hearing from her about it.

"Uh... I fell into a doorknob?" She stared at him in stunned silence, questioning whether or not she'd heard him right. If there had been a cricket nearby, this would have been the perfect time for it to start chirping.

"Could you repeat that?" The samurai asked after a moment.

"I fell into a doorknob." He replied resignedly. His lack of coordination was really starting to get old.

"You fell into a doorknob?" She repeated, eyebrows raised. His face reddened.

"See? It even sounds stupid when you say it..." He groaned.

"Sorry... I just. How did you even?" Nya inquired, admittedly concerned by the revelation.

"Don't ask..." The blonde mumbled, looking away momentarily.

"Okaaay? I won't. So, how did training go – or is that off limits too?"

"Better than it could be, I guess." Lloyd told his adoptive sister, "Getting pretty tired of my current relationship with gravity, though." Not for the first time, images of clumsy golden retriever puppies filled Nya's brain. She almost laughed. Oops. That probably wasn't the best thing to be thinking about just now.

"Will I ever get back to being normal?"

"Because normal is a thing we have so much experience with, huh, green bean?" She reminded him teasingly. He rolled his eyes. Coming to stand next to the youth, the girl continued with a sigh,

"Hey, try not to stress about it so much. You're not the first clumsy person to walk the face of the earth, and you definitely won't be the last. It takes time to grow into yourself, and you know I'll dropkick anyone who teases you about it. Now, lemme take a look at that eye?" The green ninja complied with the request and slowly lowered the (mostly melted) baggie of ice from his face. Ouch.

"Hm... I think you'll live," Decided Nya as she carefully inspected the injury.

"Good to know. I was super worried about dying. Cause what would the others think if I got taken out by a door?" Lloyd deadpanned, "It would be so embarrassing. Just imagine the headlines – Local Green Ninja Murdered Viciously During Run In With Inanimate Object." His companion giggled. It was good to see him joking around again.

"How about Favorite Baby Brother Becomes Ridiculous Drama Queen, you goof? But you are gonna be a bit sore for a coupl'a days. And you'll probably want more ice, while we're at it. Try not to get yourself into any more trouble while I grab some, okay?" She commented, leaving him to brainstorm even more ridiculous newspaper titles – because, what the heck? They were brilliant and entertaining. And... Maybe it was also distracting him from the constant throbbing of his face...Okay, yeah, that too...

As Nya wandered down the hall, towards the kitchen, where she knew she would be able to locate more ice, she found herself in the company of her brother and boyfriend, who had just exited the training room.