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

[siriusly]

I mean, if I could do that, it'd make my work safer and more accurate than just doing scans and surveillance scans, you know? [he gestures - you done with those dishes? gimme.] That's pretty cool. And you were able to stop that purse snatcher in his tracks! And you stopped a cave-in...

[and he...he eviscerated some people...

let's not think about that.]

[repeatedprayer]

[Grey wolfs down the last few bites of his food and hands his dishes over, giving Manabu a thoughtful look.

If Manabu had Grey's powers... He'd probably be even more of an insufferable do-gooder than he is now, of course. But it does give him an idea.]

I might be able to teach you a few things. Nothing advanced, if you had the psychic capacity to do anything on the level of Rez- of myself, it would have made itself known by now. But most people can at least enhance their extrasensory perception with enough effort.

[So Manabu probably won't be eviscerating people even if he wants to, alas.]

[siriusly]

Huh-?

[Manabu looks at him with wide eyes.]

Wait - that, that's a thing that can be done? Really?

[repeatedprayer]

Mm. Outside of the rare exceptions humans don't have a strong capacity for psychic usage, but they do have a little. That's actually one of the primary motivations for chimera research. By combining a human being with the body of a species that has a higher baseline of psychic sensitivity, you can increase a human's capacity.

[Lest Manabu get too excited:] You were combined with a dog, so I don't think your potential would have been affected in either direction.

[siriusly]

Huh... [it really does sound like something straight out of a comic book to Manabu, even with someone with those powers right in front of him. at the very least, his interest is piqued and focus away from being gloomy.

wait. a thought just struck.]

Does...does psychic stuff have anything to do with ghosts, by any chance?

[repeatedprayer]

[Wait, huh, ghosts??? That earns Manabu a mildly surprised look.]

There's a connection, yes, although it's not well understood. Ghost themselves are still mostly an unknown in the field of parapsychology. We're not even entirely sure what a ghost is, besides being the consciousness of a dead person. Why do you ask?

[siriusly]

[in for a penny...]

I, uh...I've interacted with a bunch of ghosts before. Now and then. [his face gets a little pink as he refocuses on rinsing the last of the dishes and washing his own hands; he knows how weird and dumb it sounds, but come on! psychic powers!!] The ghost train's real, for one thing...

[repeatedprayer]

...

[Grey squints at Manabu for a very long moment.]

...If you weren't the most chronically honest person I've ever met I think I wouldn't believe you.

[Really, Manabu seems so... normal, for someone who's apparently had multiple ghost encounters.]

So. This ghost train. What's it like?

[siriusly]

Well, it...it's a regular passenger train. It uses the railway, but the conductor didn't have a final destination logged. And everyone on there... [he grimaces.] I mean, everyone looked like normal people, just...kind of glowy? And cold. Very cold. When they brushed past me on accident, it was...really, really cold.

One of my crewmates and I kind of stowed away, chasing someone who was trying to find his girlfriend... [fiance, Manabu.]

[repeatedprayer]

[Grey's brow continues to furrow as Manabu attempts to explain. It's rather hard for him to picture, even though Rezo has dealt with ghosts firsthand on a few occasions. He does idly note-]

Ghosts absorb ambient energy, such as heat and electricity. That's why they feel cold.

[Grey can make an educated guess as to why Manabu and his crewmate were chasing the man chasing his dead girlfriend, so he doesn't question that part.]

How did that work out for him?

[siriusly]

[Manabu blinks at him. Grey said that so easily...like he knew about ghost-coldness already! what the heck.]

...Uh, he. Well, we got him out of there, and...after a bit, he got some sense knocked back into him. No way he could've stayed on that train and lived, you know? And he has a lot of life to get to living before he can see her again, so...

[so they parted.

it was weird. it was sad. but not...miserable?]

[repeatedprayer]

Quite the romantic story.

[Grey says this in a neutral tone that makes it hard to tell if he's being sarcastic or not. He's not sure what he thinks about it either! Since he's hearing the cliff's notes secondhand it feels rather abstract for what it is.]

What other encounters have you had with ghosts?

[siriusly]

[he feels a little flutter despite the lack of expressiveness with that remark, and he's glad to pivot to other encounters...until he remembers other encounters.]

Er...

[he fidgets, then sees to laying out dishes on a towel to dry.] Well, I'm not...super sure? Since she wasn't cold or anything, but, but there was this old lady... She thought I was her son? Or...pretended she thought I was, it's...hard to say. But...she, uh...basically bossed me around like I was, had me doing chores and things and, and stuff...

[like taking a bath.]

[repeatedprayer]

Pfft-

[Grey doesn't break out into a full laugh, but he does smile at the anecdote, just because "got bossed around by a random old (ghost) lady and did chores for her" does sound like a very Manabu-ish escapade.]

You're very respectful of your elder, aren't you? And how did this particular encounter turn out?

[siriusly]

[his face gets redder. c'mon, of course he's respectful! don't laugh!! he didn't even mention the bath!!!]

Well, it... I mean. I was there to evacuate her off-planet, but...she disappeared. Near the end of the time cutoff.

[she thanked him and then... gone.]

[repeatedprayer]

I see. [It sounds like quite the inexplicable encounter! It's definitely for the best that Manabu didn't mention the bath because Grey would be quite vexed to hear about someone else stripping Manabu.]

People who are psychically sensitive usually encounter ghosts more often than those who are insensitive. The jury's still out on if that's because ghosts are drawn to them or because they're more capable of noticing them. [And not all ghosts are made alike; some are just wispy memories and strange sounds, while others are able to completely take over a place and touch the living.]

[siriusly]

[Manabu scratches at his cheek as he considers that. him? psychically sensitive...?]

I don't know... I guess it's possible. But it's just as likely not, right? I mean, I wasn't the only one who jumped that train. And that old lady did rope the rest of the crew into chores when they found me...

[repeatedprayer]

[Grey nods.] Mm. It might be that someone else from your crew is the psychically sensitive one, or maybe you just coincidentally ran into multiple ghosts with enough strength to make themselves known.

[With a smile he adds:] It's quite the surprise to learn that you're experienced with the paranormal.

[siriusly]

[his cheeks puff up briefly at that.]

Why is that? Y-you told me yourself you don't really talk to many people outside of business or whatever. What if lots of people have interacted with ghosts and you just haven't made friends with any?

[repeatedprayer]

[That earns Manabu a cheek poke.]

It isn't as if I'm a shut in. [anymore] And you were surprised by my powers!

[siriusly]

[he tilts his head away from the poke.]

Ghosts and superpowers are different!

[repeatedprayer]

They're both classified as areas of paraphysics. [Since Manabu's leaning away from the poke Grey will instead set a hand on Manabu's head and squish down.] Which is not an area of study I would have thought you'd be interested in- or rather, I suppose I wouldn't think you'd be interested in studying at all!

[siriusly]

[squimshed.

his tail floofs.]

Y-you'd not have thought I'd had read a book before, either, so!!!

[repeatedprayer]

Really? You have? [Grey grins, and begins to muss Manabu's hair while he's at it.] You're just full of surprises today!

[siriusly]

Tch'-!! [he swats the hand away, ducking his head and pushing off the countertops, wobbly-walking toward the bed.] Don't you have somewhere to go?