doggone

[repeatedprayer]

[In the time following his departure from Tabito and Manabu's company, the alias "Grey" has wound up sticking.

Not that everyone calls him that, he's used a few other aliases since then, but it's what he's wound up thinking of himself as. If Grey had taken the time to think about it a bit more he might have picked something with a little less connection to Rezo's name, but it's still leagues better than thinking of himself as "Rez- wait, no, just a copy." And maybe that's why he's felt significantly calmer since he left Sairaag.

By his own standards, Grey has been laudably well-behaved; sure, he's been mostly doing under-the-table psychic work, often on behalf of criminals, but! He's been trying to keep a low profile so it's usually things like clairvoyant spying rather than anything violent, and he's been making a point of not doing anything that directly impacts the galaxy railways.

It would be extremely awkward if Manabu Yuuki had to try and arrest him, after all.

He's found himself frequently thinking about Manabu, much to his annoyance. He has no serious expectations of ever seeing Manabu again, so it's simply a waste of mental bandwidth to find himself wondering what Manabu is doing right now or where he is, or to reminisince over their incredibly brief acquaintanceship. Grey can only suppose that because Manabu was the first reasonably normal person he got to know after leaving Sairaag that Manabu is going to stick out in his mind for a while.

And it's probably because of the real estate that Manabu is hogging in Grey's mind that he's been very aware of every mention of the SDF that crosses his path. He hasn't exactly been tracking the SDF's activities deliberately, but he does pay attention to the news and the SDF frequently winds up in there, even if Manabu's name in particular isn't normally dropped.

Until the day it does.

SDF Officer Taken Hostage By Pirates]

* * *

[It's taken several weeks of investigating, but Grey has been able to track down The Huntress's client, a Dr. Parish and associates. It must be a small galaxy, because Dr. Parish is someone Grey knows. Sort of.

Rather, Dr. Parish was a colleague of Rezo's who collaborated with the man on chimera research (and other unsavory things) in the past. Not only that, the man was an ardent admirer of Rezo's superior psychic prowess, and desperate to improve his own meager abilities.

He'd had quite a shock when Grey approached him in town, but after the initial surprise it had been sickeningly easy to convince Dr. Parish that he was the real Rezo. Grey can only surmise that the man wants to believe too badly to let himself be properly suspicious. It had only taken a day for Grey to be invited to tour Parish's laboratory.

The lab's located on the grounds of a former Marquess's estate, a ways out of town and secluded by trees, a high wall, and a long drive. Grey's done a little recon before, but actually being here is different, especially since he has to navigate by cane at the moment. Grey is doing his best to politely nod and smile as Parish guides him from room to room, explaining their work and occasionally handing him things to examine himself.

But evidently Parish realizes that "Rezo" isn't entirely interested, because he stops partway through an explanation of some stem cell experiments he and a few others have been working on to say "Of course, the really interesting specimens are kept in the basement floor."

Grey already knows this. He hopes his expression seems the right sort of eager.]

Interesting?

["Something along the lines of what we did in the past. Would you like to see them?"]

Nothing would please me more.

[Grey can practically hear Parish's delighted grin. To soothe the surge of irritation, Grey reminds himself that he's going to kill this man before the end of the day and allows Parish to guide him out into the hall and to the basement entrance at the back of the building.]

Comments

[repeatedprayer]

[At least four months? Grey wonders what they were feeding Manabu while he was in the lab, but of course this isn't the best time or place to ask something like that.

Grey takes a long, thoughtful sip of his tea.]

You know, I don't think I've ever asked. What foods are your favorite?

[siriusly]

Sanuki udon! [Manabu answers without really thinking, chipper.] Or yakisoba. But the udon first! Okonomiyaki with pork or steak...or both, but that's expensive...

[repeatedprayer]

[Grey smiles slightly from over the top of his tea cup.] Is sanuki udon the kind we had the night you brought me to Tabito?

[siriusly]

[he shakes his head.] Mn-nn. That was kitchen sink ramen. [said like that was the most obvious thing in the world it could've been.]

[repeatedprayer]

Is that so? [Well excuse him for not knowing his noodles!] Then kitchen sink ramen is my favorite food.

[siriusly]

Eh-? Really? [the tail would be wagging if it could.] Aa-wait, are you just saying that? Or was that the only noodle dish you tried before then?

[repeatedprayer]

I've had others. [Every now and then since then, and he has Rezo's memories to go off of as well.] But I don't have to become an expert on the subject to decide it's my favorite, do I?

[Besides, it isn't as if his preference is down solely to how it tasted.]

[siriusly]

Mmrhhh, I guess not... [he mulls on that for a beat, looking at his empty cup.] Though I guess it's fair, since it was my mom's cooking. It's hard to compete with a meal made at home.

[repeatedprayer]

I'm glad you understand.

[Grey finally drains the last of his tea.]

Are you ready to leave?

[Grey's already gathering together the garbage left over from their meal.]

[siriusly]

Yeah! [talking made him forget how full he was; he'll remember it on getting up, but he's not at old-man-grunting-while-standing-up stage at least. he does a final double-take at the dog that's been watching with passing interest before following Grey outside.

the food helped, for sure. a second wind!]

Let's go! [to the konbini!!! for the honor of Tabito tea!!]


Eeehhh...

[tea that...isn't stocked on this planet!

Manabu makes a face at the drink fridges and its rude lack of the best tea. there's a bunch of other options, though. what would he pick in the interim...?

maybe this one. black tea. he'll grab one can before straightening up and looking around to see if he can spy where Grey's preusing.]

[repeatedprayer]

Heh.

[It's good to see Manabu looking so energetic. Grey lets Manabu lead the way out the door, resigning himself to having whatever terrible beverage Manabu intends to foist upon him.

Once they actually get to the konbini the two of them part ways, Manabu to go hunting for aforementioned terrible beverage and Grey to just mindlessly browse for anything they might need.

By the time Manabu has settled on black tea, Grey has gotten distracted by a "pharmacy" aisle that sells things like soap, period products, disposable razors, over the counter medicine, various sizes of condoms, and small bottles of personal lubricant. When Manabu finds him, Grey has picked up one of those bottles and is examining the label with an expression of deep thought.]

[siriusly]

What're you looking at?

[Manabu makes his way over, one can tucked in his elbow while he has a second; the finagling was very difficult but far be it from him to do things the right way.] Medicine for something?

[repeatedprayer]

Gh-

[The sound of Manabu's voice gives Grey a little jolt and he hastily replaces the bottle on the shelf before turning around.]

It's nothing important. [He was just contemplating fucking you in the ass, that's all.] How did tea go?

[siriusly]

Here-- [he leans in to push the can at Grey so he can straighten his arm and let the other one fall into his now-empty hand.] Grab whatever else you need, I'll wait up from to check out, okay?

[repeatedprayer]

Ah, of course- [Grey fumblingly accepts the can and holds it up to examine the label. Black tea...] I'll be with you in a minute. You can hand me the other can, if you like.

[Since he's going to be paying for it and all.]

[siriusly]

A-- fair enough, yeah. Here. [he passes it over with a little shrug before starting off ahead of him, already looking toward the windows with a want to keep moving.

he lingers by the doors until Grey's finished checking out, heading outside first.]

[repeatedprayer]

[Grey smiles with relief when Manabu passes the can over, and thus leaves Grey to do his shopping otherwise unsupervised. And he does indeed wind up picking up a bottle of lube and a package of condoms while Manabu's not looking. Just in case!

He heads out after paying for everything, plastic bag in one hand. Once they're both outside:]

Do you want your tea now or shall we save it for when we get ho- back?

[siriusly]

[Manabu hesitates a little, catching that slip-up. it hits weird.]

...Maybe back there. So our hands stay free on the way back. [who knows what nonsense they may have to engage with?!

statistically none, but even so, Manabu's still likely to trip over and eat shit if he goes off-balance...best to not add a spilled drink into the mix.]

[repeatedprayer]

Certainly.

[They just ate and drink recently anyway, it isn't as if either of them are dying of dehydration.

Grey dogs Manabu's footsteps for the rest of the walk back to the apartment, trying to stay near enough to be able to grab Manabu's elbow or something if he does lose balance, but not so near he's actually stepping on Manabu's heels. And while Manabu's energy might have been partly restored by their break, they still have to make it the rest of the way there...]</small.

[siriusly]

[man...can't he just walk next to him?! being loomed behind is weird!! makes him feel like he's being...walked...

like a dog.

sigh.

'home,' huh... well, better to call it that than be in a concrete room. but 'home' is...far away.

Manabu finds all the food-based energy starting to wear off just as the laundromat comes into view, and his legs threaten to turn to lead the moment he sees the damn stairs.

he grimaces, but he doesn't openly complain, just sucking in a breath to amp himself up and start the climb.

it's slow, and it's clear it bothers him that it is, but he refuses to say anything about it.]

[repeatedprayer]

[The final boss of the outing appears, and they begin their ascent.

Their very slow ascent.

After they're about halfway, Grey really wants to just scoop Manabu up and carry him the rest of the way up the stairs. But he's also pretty sure Manabu would be mad about that. Which might not be too intolerable, come to think of it... But would Manabu be angry in the way where he's over it with a pout and a Jeeze! or it would it be in the way where he storms off for at least a few hours...?

Grey could try prodding him about it, he supposes.]

...How are you doing?

[Because Grey's doing a lot of standing right now.]

[siriusly]

Not...not great...

[he can admit that much, though he refuses to elaborate, instead taking the ask as a nudge to hurry the hell up. he grits his teeth and forces his tired body to trudge up the remainder of the stairs, eyes squeezed shut to keep the vertigo at bay.

once he's made it to the top, he slouches a bit against the rail, waiting for Grey to get ahead to unlock the door, head down and fist clenched at his side.

dammit...wasn't i doing good enough? he'd even thought about doing more walking after lunch, but if it was going to end up like this...!]

[repeatedprayer]

Do you-

[Ah. Never mind, Manabu's hauling himself up at a noticeably faster clip now. Which doesn't make Grey feel much better, especially not when Manabu slouches against the railing like that.

Still, once he's got the apartment door open, Grey's sincere when he turns to Manabu and says:]

Good work today.

[Hopefully Manabu won't bristle over that.]

[siriusly]

[his chin tucks a bit more. he doesn't like to be praised for something so simple as walking up stairs, but...it wasn't that simple at all, was it? all things considered. he just doesn't like considering all those things at once.

he doesn't like...liking the praise for something like that. good work should be for something more substantial! more worthy of it!]

It-it's nothing, really. [he pushes a smile on his face as he pushes the rest of himself off the rail and into the apartment.] Not even...the whole way to where we need to go.

[repeatedprayer]

[Grey shuts the door behind Manabu.]

It's still good work. You met your goal for today, and we did make a few detours.

[Such as fighting crime and going shopping. Speaking of which, he'll just go and put the tea away in the fridge. It's supposed to be cold, after all.]