damned_institute | Dayshift 34: Men's Showers

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Dayshift 34: Men's Showers

Albel had wasted an entire night, but he couldn't quite figure out how he had actually wasted it. He had left his room early, didn't stand around doing nothing and no pathetic worm had dragged him down. Finding Fayt's room and smack the foolish maggot against the nearest wall shouldn't have taken a full night, but yet he found himself back in his bed before he even had so much as located the right door.

What the hell?!

But he didn't have much time to think about it, as one of the wenches instantly stepped into his room as soon he sat up. Had she had been waiting behind the door or something? He ignored her useless babble along the way to the showers. Apparently, he had slept through most of the day. Perhaps the lack of sleep was taking it's toll, though the warrior wouldn't even think about admitting that thought. And who cared about it anyway? The days were useless!

By the looks of things, Albel was the first one to arrive. Not that he cared. After stripping himself of his clothing he stepped inside the shower area and picked a stall by random. It took some fiddling with the knobs before the water temperature was good enough, but he eventually let the water wash over his body.

[Free!]

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"It's a long story," he said by way of explanation, since Yue wasn't letting it drop as easily as he had the injuries. A story he wasn't likely to get into, one he'd avoided for years. Not something he was about to tell a stranger of one night.

Yuuhi and the others had traveled to lots of different worlds, but he'd never had any trouble sensing the magic of others. Even here, he could still get a feeling, even if it wasn't near as precise as it'd once been. It could be due to them being from such diverse places, but then again... who could say for sure? "I'm sorry?" he offered, "I really don't know. It's possible they're just... different. Maybe some of the worlds we come from are more similar than others?" The witch's favorite phrase, Hitsuzen came to mind, but he quickly pushed it away.

Being who he was, Yue could understand not wanting to talk about certain things. Fine. He wouldn't pry extensively, but he would still be mildly irritated about the whole thing. "Just don't expect me to believe you truly ignorant, magician."

As for the other - the guardian shook his head slightly, releasing his sadly-mangled hair once more. "This place has...altered my abilities." Crippled them, he meant, in ways both perplexing and infuriating. "I should be able to identify magic and magicians without effort. And yet until I met you it was." Yue paused a moment, frowning. "It was difficult."

Fai's magic felt familiar. Recognizable. Despite himself, and much to his displeasure, the guardian found himself drawn to it.

"I guess that's fair," Yuuhi consented with an empty smile as he finished washing his hair. He swept it back with his fingers in one smooth motion before he reached for more soap. Yue was far too perceptive for him to play completely dumb, but that didn't mean he'd share more than he had to.

The rest was confusing at first. Why would Yue recognize his magic more than any other? Why would it stand out? Was it possible that Yue was some kind of familiar like Mokona? The little creature was designed specifically to search for a special kind of magic, Sakura's feathers. While it had other functions, Mokona was drawn to that specific kind of magic. When he'd created Chii from one of Sakura's feathers, she'd been much the same too. Perhaps not as lively or animated as Yue or Mokona, but were they similar?

"I'm sorry, I really... I don't have an answer to that," he told Yue, shrugging slightly. He turned back to his shower head for a moment while he carefully rinsed his own wounds. At least that way he didn't have to worry about the other man seeing his pained expression or the blood that welled up here or there from when he'd strained the stitching. "We both knew a Sakura and a Syaoran, right? That's more similarities than I've had with anyone else here. That would make sense then, that my magic would be easier for you to recognize. If you think I've been calling out to you or... or others or sending out some kind of signal, it just isn't so."

While the answer wasn't what Yue had hoped to hear, he was at least satisfied that Fai wasn't lying when he said he wasn't certain. The guess made logical sense, as well - perhaps it was just that their worlds were strongly similar; that was likely why he recognized the aura of the onmyouji Sumeragi.

The suggestion that Yue thought Fai had been "calling" him, though, was rather less than welcome. And yet, it was almost like the guardian had used up all the anger he could muster over the last few days, and at this point couldn't manage to find any more, the spark of annoyance flickering and dying almost before it had appeared. Although it seemed to answer one of his questions, it did nothing to resolve the others.

He drew in a breath and just stared forward, seeming to find the tiled wall fascinating. "The Sakura who was here - your Sakura - she knew others as well. Like Cerberus, my fellow guardian. And Touya. And Clow." There was a moment's hesitation before he spoke the last name, voice softer when he did.

Had he said something wrong? They were just ideas, but Yue was obviously upset. Or maybe this was simply how he always reacted to news, good or bad. He'd only seen a difference when the man was in his other form. This form, apparently didn't come with the ability to smile.

Yuuhi decided not to mind it, for the time being. He focused on what Yue told him, but little of it seemed relevant. While he'd heard Sakura talk about Touya, and had even met him briefly in Hanshin, Cerberus was a mystery to him. Clow too was familiar, that was the name of the country Sakura and Syaoran had come from.

"She does make a lot of friends, I'm not surprised," he commented. What else did Yue expect him to say? "I wouldn't worry too much on it," he added. "Once we get out of here, I'm sure you can get back to your world, right?"

Once they got out. Fai was certainly far more optimistic than Yue, at the moment. "If we ever get out. If I can return." No, he really didn't seem to have the ability to smile. At all.

From what he'd seen, heard, and read on the bulletin board, it seemed that some people were here who should be dead. And Yue himself should have been erased by the Void's power, but instead he was here. Should he be returned home, would he just vanish when reality reasserted itself?

He could hardly begin to think about Fai's suggestion not to worry about it - that wasn't exactly his specialty. "I've lost even my reason to exist, here," the guardian replied quietly, closing his eyes as he stepped under the spray of water; it should have been his element, but like the wind the night before, in this place it felt wrong.

"It'll happen," he assured once more, attempting at least, to make his smile a little more realistic.

Yuuhi was optimistic about the others getting out. Himself, he'd decided before that he would have to stay behind. He wanted to give Yue some small amount of hope though, even if he sometimes felt the same way. Warped and selfish as it might be, Yuuhi still had his own reasons to exist, as Yue had put it. Sometimes it wasn't enough, and sometimes he really did hope that things would come to a crashing halt, but he still had a reason. The fact that Yue said he had none at all was worrisome.

"You're strong and brave," Yuuhi said quietly, reaching out a hand to pat the other's shoulder. It wasn't much, but he hoped it would life Yue's spirits, even just a little. "There are lots of people here who need your help. If your reason is gone then... then just for now, find a new one. I'm sure the Sakura back home would be sad if she knew you had given up." Orihime had brought the same things to mind when she'd met with him at lunch. Their friends wouldn't have given up on them, so they shouldn't give up either.

Yue started at the touch, eyes wide with surprise for a moment as he turned his head to look at Fai. Most people wouldn't have dared to even get close to the aloof guardian, much less touch him, and he wasn't quite sure what to think of that. His shoulders shifted a little, not necessarily pulling away from Fai, but an unconscious movement that should have curved his wings about himself protectively.

"You don't understand," Yue replied, pulling the impassive mask back into place as quickly as it had slipped. "I was created for a purpose, and that purpose is not here." If he changed that, he'd no longer be as Clow had made him. A tiny part of him reminded him that he'd already been changed by this place, but he chose to ignore it.

Fai was correct, though. Sakura, his Sakura, and her invincible "it'll definitely be all right" spell, would certainly be upset with her guardian if she could see him. But she couldn't, because she wasn't there, and that was the problem. "A guardian without his charge is useless."

Yue wouldn't have to back away. The way he'd startled and the surprise on his face was enough to make Yuuhi withdraw his hand as though he'd accidentally burned the man next to him, rather than simply touched him. It was a reaction he was familiar with, unfortunately.

Yue's cold and upset words did little else to help. Once again, he'd only succeeded in making things worse. Last time he'd made Ururu cry, and now Yue seemed more irritated than ever. Yuuhi still kept up his smile, but it was empty, and hardly reached his cool blue eyes. "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

At least he'd confirmed one thing. Yue was just as he'd suspected. A creation of magic, some sort of familiar. He wondered then, not for the first time, if Chii felt the same way when he wasn't there. He did understand. More than Yue realized. "Then perhaps," he started, almost afraid to say more, but afraid to just leave things as they were too. "...your goal should be to return to your charge. I'm sure Sakura, and the others you mentioned are waiting for you."

The apology was noted, though Yue didn't respond directly to it. He breathed out a faint sigh and straightened again, trying his best to hide the wince as the movement brought his newest wound under the stream of water. Taking a moment to adjust the controls of his shower, setting the water rather colder than most would have liked it, let him pretend to be busy as he considered what Fai had said.

Again, logically, it made sense. If he kept his return home his ultimate goal, then whatever he did here was a means to that end. If he helped those here, it wasn't a betrayal of his main purpose, it didn't lessen his devotion to the Mistress of the Cards. Now if he could only convince himself of that.

"It'll definitely be all right!" He could almost see Sakura speaking the words, so determined to succeed. He owed her nothing less.

Yue finally glanced back at Fai and nodded once, slowly. "What did you plan for tonight?" Not only a return to the previous, perhaps safer topic of conversation, but a step toward possibly finding a way out. If the search was successful.

When Yue continued on in silence, Yuuhi was certain he'd said the wrong thing again. This was probably just his cue to leave. He reached out and turned his own shower off, keeping his eyes focused on or near the floor.

He missed the other man's nod, only looking up when Yue finally did speak. What he said was so surprising that Yuuhi stared at him in confusion for a moment before he could answer. "Tonight?" He looked away, thoughts focusing on how to reply. "The girls need to rest. I was going to take care of some other things. I... I should go."

"Other things?" No, Yue wasn't going to drop this one easily. Not this time. Now he was determinedly focusing on plans for the evening as the first step in him getting back home, trying to see if he could convince himself that was really what he was doing and not just prolonging a useless existence, which made everything he did an important step toward that end.

And the girls might need to rest, but if they were staying in they wouldn't need the assistance of even such a protector as himself. The magician, however, had proven that he could use a minder, if attacks like the night before happened often. "What kind of "things" are you planning?"

In all honesty, he didn't know what Homura had planned for the night's service. He hadn't seen anything on the board about it yet. That made things a little harder to prepare for.

"Yes," he replied, taking a few steps and grabbing a towel. "I'm just meeting some friends. Something's come up and I have to help them out. It's just for tonight."

Oh, and now Fai had gone evasive again. Yue's eyes narrowed as he studied the magician, as though he could somehow read Fai's intent written on his face. "Indeed." The guardian considered for a moment, then sighed again, though somehow his frown seemed less irritated and more concerned. Inasmuch as he ever showed the expression, at least.

"And these 'friends', they will make certain you are safe?" Yue had seen what had happened the night before, after all, and Fai didn't strike him as the type to be able to protect himself. He could only assume that this obligation was somehow more important than the search for Sakura, hard as that was to believe.

Yuuhi pulled his towel around his waist and tried not to look as confused as he felt. Wasn't this the same person he'd offended just moments ago? When he'd been upset, all Yuuhi'd done was make it worse. So why did Yue care so much where he went at night? Of course. He was probably mad that Fai wouldn't be joining him to look for Sakura. Especially after all those things he'd said. Yuuhi was aware of how selfish he must seem. How selfish he, in fact, was, but if he didn't find pay his debts to Homura... the man had more information on him than he was willing to admit. If anyone else found out...

He couldn't let that happen. "They are friends," he emphasized, not really answering the question, nor understanding the guardian's worry. So long as the mission Homura picked wasn't too hard, he should be ok.

"If you want, um... if the girls feel up to it I mean, maybe the three of you could try to see if there's any stairs or elevators that go up to the third floor? I hate to hold you guys up."

"I'm certain they are." And Fai still wasn't answering the actual question. There was clearly something that he didn't want to talk about here, though what it could be Yue really had no idea. Nor was he entirely sure he would get an answer if he asked; it was likely another one of those things Fai didn't want to talk about.

His main concern, though, was that he had essentially agreed to join the magician's little "group," which meant it was his responsibility to help protect them, and with Fai wandering off that made things a little difficult. After his spectacular failure the night before, Yue wanted to be especially careful. "But that's not what I asked. Since this seems more important than the search, will you be needing help?"

Yue had a moment's uncertainty even as he made the offer, wondering if he was volunteering out of some need for a substitute for his absent master. He'd like to think himself more independent than that, as well as more loyal, but the doubt remained.

Yuuhi wasn't sure what to make of Yue's sudden concern. Was he just worried that Yuuhi would run away? The fact that he'd pointed out that this seemed more important than searching for Sakura was enough to give him a pang of guilt. Of course it wasn't, but... he owed them a debt. It was a deal he'd made before Sakura had even shown up. Whether he liked it or not, he had to repay it.

"That's not necessary, I'll be in a group, so it should be ok." At least, that's what he supposed.

Yue studied the other for a moment longer, trying to determine how truthful he was being this time, before finally glancing away again. "Very well." It was hardly his business who Fai chose to spend his time with, after all. He didn't care. Even if he had no idea what could possibly be more important than the search for Sakura - although he had to admit, if one of his Sakura's friends had been in trouble, she likely would have dropped everything to go help them.

And there were other members of the group who, judging from the night before, were headstrong enough to wander off rather than stay where it was safe. "If the girls would like to search, I will accompany them." And hopefully do a better job of protecting them than he had before.

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Dayshift 34: Men's Showers

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