damned_institute | Day 29: Courtyard

Entry tags:

Day 29: Courtyard

Hiei easily grew sick of the same walls--not to mention the same idiots always within those walls--and while not perfect, the chance to go outside was better than lingering in the boundaries of that damned prison. So when the chance came, the demon was quick to leap on it, heading outside almost quick enough to make a nurse wonder if he was attempting escape.

Almost.

But there were things Hiei had to take care of before he left this place, and first came sorting through his thoughts. Kurama was gone; the demon was sure of it, even without the use of his Jagan. The fox was one of the people Hiei was closest to, one of the few Hiei would admit being close to, and his presence weighed heavily on the demon, nearly as heavy as his absence.

It made him angry, that Kurama had vanished. Be it by escape or some other circumstance (which Hiei barely considered possible, only by his own refusal), the fox should be there with him, fighting with him. That was how they worked, supposedly. As a team.

Now Hiei would have to do without. And he would be fine with that, eventually. For now it was annoying, but that would pass. Perhaps quicker with a nap, and the demon moved under one of the trees. He didn't care that it was colder in the shade; his contrasting origins mixed with his stubbornness kept the weather from bothering him too much. Closing his eyes, he relaxed against the bark, as much as he could given the circumstances, and hoped for a lack of bothering.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ritsuka was glad to get off the topic of family, considering he'd lost his brother and just seen his mother. The cookies she'd given him were still in his pocket and he wondered if he'd like them if he tried them. Something told him he wouldn't, but he'd cherish them all the same. Now that they were on the topic of ears, Ritsuka felt like he and Leon should be on the same page.

And yet, they weren't.

"Felpool? No, I'm from Earth. ...and I've always had human ears, but they took my cat ears from me," he said slowly, his confusion evident. Maybe this is what Ashton meant by they were similar, but not quite. "So you only had the other ears? They changed them completely when you came here?"

"There are people with cat ears on earth?" Leon asked incredulously. "Claude never mentioned that..." The again, with all the multiple worlds this place seemed to take people from, perhaps one included an earth that had people with feline ears? But to have those ears and human ears... "You had four ears?!" The young mage was at once leaning closer, as though he could pick out where the other pair of ears had been sitting on Ritsuka's head.

"Could you hear from both of them at the same time? Could you listen from two directions at once? Wouldn't loud noises absolutely deafen you? Did they make hats and earmuffs to cover both pairs? What was it like?" At this point, answering the other boy's last question would have been rather pointless.

"Yeah, in my world, everyone is born with cats and they--" Ritsuka stopped himself before he said anything more embarrassing and turned a light shade of pink. It sounded so weird to only have cat ears, like something was missing. It sounded like the manga that people read, it was just so out there. Imagine, someone only having one set of ears! Leon's reaction wasn't exactly what he was expecting, however, and Ritsuka moved back when the boy leaned in, staring at his head. "Uh, yeah, we have four, but as you grow older, the cat set comes off."

That seemed like a good explanation. 'When you got older' sounded heaps better than 'when you became an adult, now let me explain that one.' Ritsuka was tired of the looks he got when people found out he had lost his ears at the age of twelve. It felt weird and he hated how they all looked at him with pity.

And then the barrage of questions started and Ritsuka could only stare at Leon. He wouldn't have thought of any of those questions, but it did show what sort of person Leon was. His curiosity was something Ritsuka could understand, even if it was a little weird.

"Um, yeah, I could hear out of both. Listening to two directions at once was a pain so not really. Loud noises hurt, but maybe I'm used to a different level of noises? The cat set didn't hear extremely well, so they weren't very sensitive," he said, trying to answer each question the best he could. Ritsuka remembered learning human anatomy a little in class, and the one time he was bored and read a textbook, but he couldn't explain the exact hows and whys. "And the other pair kept themselves warm since they were covered with fur. ...I sort of miss having them. But what about you? You seriously only had one pair? What about a tail?"

They came off?? Leon had a disturbing mental image of his cat ears simply falling off of his head, and his hands flew to his scalp for just an instant as he tried to force himself to believe that wasn't what happened. The answers to his questions soon drew his attention away from this though, and he sat listening with his mouth forming an intrigued 'o'.

"Only the one pair? Of course I only have one pair of ears! That's normal!" Leon smiled wryly. "But like I said - I'm Felpool. It means I've inherited from genes from some more feline humanoids in my ancestry. It's different for everyone. I didn't get a tail, but some have." He wouldn't have minded a tail, to be honest. It would have been terrifically unique... not that he would have had it here either.

"Huh...if you had only one pair where I came from, people would be worried about you." The kid didn't seem bad, but it was so weird to think of someone with just one pair of ears. Of course, he only had one pair right now, but the idea of having just cat ears was so...odd. What would Leon do when they fell off? Did they keep them forever? Ritsuka couldn't exactly ask these questions though, not without opening himself up for to a more uncomfortable conversation.

"Huh, this Felpool place sounds interesting. Does everyone there get some sort of feline part? Everyone in my world has ears and a tail and we lose them when we grow up and look just like everyone else here." He paused and glanced up at the sky as he thought about something. Leon and the others were supposed to be from the future, weren't they? "Maybe my world is really really far in the past for yours."

"Race," Leon corrected. "Not place. And I'm not sure... the original feline-like humanoids had more than just the ears and tail. They were more like... real cat people. They interbred with humans and their genes still show up in their descendants every now and then, though sometimes it's just something as simple as pointed canines." The boy pointed at his own teeth, which were pretty normal by most standards. "The original race has long since died out, possibly just from lack of pure blooded members."

The young mage gave the concept some thought, leaning back in his seat. "I suppose there's always the possibility that some members of your world found their way to ours in the past, but the way you look just doesn't seem to match up with archaeological data."

Real cat people? Those things existed? Ritsuka couldn't hide his surprise at the thought that such a race could have existed in any point in time. He and Leon were so similiar and yet so different that it was hard to remember that their worlds might be completely different and the ears could just be a strange coincidence. He had wished there were someone else here who could understand just how violated he felt without his ears, and now he'd found one. Even if they weren't the same, the feeling of loss was something they shared at least.

To a certain extent at least. Pointed canines, people born with and without tails, these were things Ritsuka was still struggling to comprehend. It had been weird enough hearing that not everyone was born with cat features. It was like everything he'd read, everything he had learned in school and through books had been wrong. Sitting back against the tree again, Ritsuka winced when one of his souveniers from his mother rapped against the trunk.

"So you're into reading and archaeology? I'd say that it seemed too old for your age, but that'd be the pot calling the kettle black. What else do you like to do?" He glanced over at Leon and his mind wandered back to the subject of ears. He wondered what Leon would look like with just cat ears. He imagined they would be placed the same as his had been, but...no human ears. As he looked over, he caught sight of a familiar blond staring in his direction and he quickly looked away. If Soubi came over, things could get complicated. He was glad to see the man was alright, but if he asked questions about his injuries or did anything weird, Leon might end up like the rest of the patients here - on the anti-Soubi side. "...does having a human set bother you?"

The young mage couldn't help the bit of pride that came to his voice as Ritsuka asked about his hobbies. "Well, I'm an expert in the Heraldry Arts. I... guess you could simply refer to it as magic. I study it and practice it, though," he frowned, expression pained, "it's... very difficult to use it here." The subject was quickly changed. "I've also been studying up on machines! There aren't many of them on Expel, but other planets seem to be far ahead in terms of technology." He was a scientist, when it all came down to it, like his parents.

"And yes!" Leon grabbed at his ears again automatically. "I mean... I don't want to be insulting. I'm just so unused to them, and I was very much attached to my unusual ears."

"Magic?" How many magic users were there here? It was something of a strange idea to think that magic existed everywhere, but after experiencing a few days of this place, he was more inclined to believe such claims. Ritsuka frowned when Leon seemed upset and wondered if it was because of what everyone else had been saying - this place eliminated or dampened almost any sort of special skill. Without any other Fighter units, Ritsuka couldn't confirm his own loss, but something felt off and that was enough for him. When the other boy mentioned machines, however, he brightened a little - curiosity getting the best of him. Leon and Alfons might get along well. "I have a friend who's into machines, too. Maybe you two could talk about it sometime. His name is Alfons." He paused and then added, "And I have a digital camera now, if you're interested in taking a look at it."

Leon grabbed his ears and Ritsuka gave him the shadow of a smile. "You don't need to apologize - I don't think it's an insult. I was attached to my ears, too. I heard someone else here was changed, too, so maybe there's a way--"

Before Ritsuka could finish that thought, the intercom went off and the nurses began to bustle about. He hated this part of the day, when the nurses ripped people apart and shoved them off to their different rooms. It meant he lost track of people and, as usual, when he turned to look for Soubi, he couldn't find him. His own nurse came up quickly and began to lead him off, so he glanced to Leon and said, "I'm in M35. If you ever need anything, my roommate runs a clinic at night. Talk to you later."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Day 29: Courtyard

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject