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]

[squint.]

...Favors for some other restaurant-owner? [is that more plausible than him conning old ladies or swiping wallets? it is to Manabu, because Manabu's only seen evidence of the former!!]

[repeatedprayer]

[Murmured, after swallowing his food:]

If the restaurant were a front, perhaps.

[This topic maybe shouldn't be discussed in public, however, so Grey takes a sip of coffee and casts about for a change of subject.

He absently looks at his plate and thinks.]

...You know I still can't look at a plate of food without remembering the clock reference system.

[siriusly]

Eh-? [blink. blinkblink. successfully derailed!] Clock? Huh?

[repeatedprayer]

It's a method for keeping track of where your food is when you have low vision or are entirely blind. [Manabu may or may not recall Grey mentioning that he used to be blind during that whole tearful "Rezo used me as a lab rat," confession.]

You think of your plate as the face of a clock with the top rim- [Grey picks up a nearby butter knife and taps the top of Manabu's plate.] -representing twelve o'clock and the bottom rim being six o'clock. So if I handed this plate to you I could tell you that your omelet rice is at six o'clock, your salad greens are at eleven, and you have some tomato slices at one.

[siriusly]

[Manabu needs a few seconds to get it, because, honestly? when's the last time he looked at an analog clock and read it? but it clicks fast enough...for him, anyway.]

Ehhh... I didn't know that was a thing. [and, admittedly, he often forgets Grey struggles with his vision! the guy carries himself with such certainty that it doesn't translate.

after munching one of those tomato slices:] Do you use that idea for things other than food?

[repeatedprayer]

No. But one has to eat everyday, so you get plenty of practice.

[He goes back to eating, albeit slowly, so he can demonstrate more:]

Your food moves around as you eat, so you periodically have to use your utensils to check where everything is, and push it back towards the center if anything is getting close to the edges. It can be easy to spill things without realizing.

[Grey's not sure why he's suddenly telling Manabu this, besides not wanting to talk about his dubious career history? He's not sure if Manabu would be all that interested either, it's just... It's a part of himself that's there but he generally doesn't advertise, for many reasons.

And he wants Manabu to know him better. And, hopefully, still like him.]

[siriusly]

[he does still like him! it's definitely not a notion Manabu would've ever come up with, but that makes Grey stand out more in his mind. still bound in his pantleg, his tail twitches for want to twitch.]

I know a few people who could benefit from that trick, heheh...! [definitely not himself. ignore the rice spill at one end of the plate. shush.]

[repeatedprayer]

Oh, do you?

[Grey's expression softens further at the sound of Manabu's laugh, prompting a warm expression that absolutely nobody and nothing else is capable of eliciting from him.]

Why don't you give it a try? After closing your eyes, of course.

[siriusly]

[he only closes one eye, suspicious.] If I mess up, you'll just make fun of me. Why would I set myself up for that, huh?

[repeatedprayer]

And what if I promise I won't? [Because lbr he can always find other things to make fun of Manabu for.]

[siriusly]

[now both eyes squint:] You wouldn't give up the chance to tease me, though. [so that'd be lies!!]

[repeatedprayer]

I'll have you know I hold back plenty. [At least. He holds back sometimes.

A little more gently:]

You can trust me.

[siriusly]

[dammit, you can't hit a sincere guy with the sincerity and not expect all his suspicion to wash away!! naturally Manabu's mollified by the assurance, even if his mouth purses with hesitation for a beat.

inevitably, he does close his eyes - immediately cracking one open to double-check his plate before committing, naturally.]

Okay, so...you said the omelette's at six...?

[repeatedprayer]

[Grey also flicks his gaze over Manabu's plate, as if the food might have suddenly launched itself across the room while neither of them were paying attention.]

A little closer to seven now, I'd say, but yes. Some of the rice is close to falling off the rim.

[siriusly]

R-right...

[attempts are made. they're not bad! mostly because most of his plate was already cleaned of food to begin with, so there's less risk of shoving things off onto the table. the real pain is the tines of his fork scraping the plate here and there in his errant stabs and coasts along to find the other time places.

suffer for sharing, Grey. suffer with your ears. (it's surely fair if Manabu's ears suffer, too)

after a few attempts, Manabu gives up with a sigh:] Okay, I get it...a special skill I'd have to actually practice to make use of.

[repeatedprayer]

[Grey keeps to his promise not to make fun of Manabu, despite the assault on his hearing from the clumsy scraping of metal against ceramic. There's not much guidance he can offer, but he watches patiently while Manabu hunts for the remnants of his meal.

Though after Manabu gives up, Grey does offer a dry rebuttal:]

Isn't any skill like that? Even sighted people have to learn how to use a knife and fork at first.

[Thanks to Rezo's memories, Grey at the very least can recall what it was like having to clean up after every single one of a toddler's meals. Though perhaps that's not the most flattering comparison for a grown man like Manabu.]

Though it's unlikely you'll ever need to use this one.