Yet another intercom jingle sounded, and the nurses, anticipating the Head Doctor's orders, already began grouping around the patients as he began to speak
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After spending a pleasant enough time in the greenhouse, Okita had asked to be taken to the bathrooms to wash his hands thoroughly before heading back to the rooms. His nurse, pleased that he'd kept his jacket on this time, acquiesced and soon enough Okita was heading toward his room with the promise of a meal he may or may not eat. He did like the Caesar salad thing and the garlic bread, but he wasn't a big fan of the spaghetti. He was slowly learning to stomach more of the food they served here, but often it just didn't suit his tastes.
Today's fish, however, had been good. He was glad he'd eaten as much of that as he could stomach, despite the news he'd received over the meal. Tonight, however, he had a lot of work to do, work that he had to keep his focus on. Tomorrow he'd deal with everything as much as possible, talk to Kudou, Kaito and Heiji again, and hope that he could find some sort of compromise. Or at least a way to save them all the heartache of being pulled apart.
Let into the room, Okita found that he was first today and took his seat, starting in on his salad and bread first. The spaghetti was poked at reluctantly when his nurse scolded him, but after eating a few bites, quickly abandoned in favor of food he was more familiar with. As long as he avoided too much of the strange white dressing, the salad wasn't bad at all and the bread was something he was able to eat without much issue. His eyes fell to the dessert soon enough and Okita wondered when Guy would be showing up today. It seemed like his friends were all back now, and that he was doing well - or at least better than yesterday, so Okita looked forward to their talk tonight.
All fired up with excitement after his talk in the greenhouse, Guy had found it hard to part from Edgar when they had been in the middle of such an interesting conversation. He could only hope that the man hadn't minded his incessant questions, but from what he'd been able to tell, Edgar had been just as into it as he was. It was always nice finding a kindred spirit, seeing how most of the ones he'd come across in Auldrant had been... unsavory, to say the least.
As sad as he was for that chat to end, Guy was still cheered by the prospect of getting to see Okita again. His day had gone really well, actually, so for once he wouldn't have any complaints or serious points to discuss with his roommate. It would be nice to get back to routine -- well, so long as things were good on Okita's end too. Guy wanted to make sure to be there to hear the other man out just as much as Okita had for him.
In fact, the only thing that was souring his mood was the knowledge that Luke would be out with Asch tonight. It was his friend's choice to do that, but the fact that Guy had been given the task of finding some sort of weapon for the jerk was enough to put a bad taste in his mouth. Still, with any luck, it was nothing that the pasta couldn't chase away.
The swordsman smiled in greeting as he entered M63. Speaking of weapons, it was about time that he checked up on the one that Okita had mentioned being able to procure for him. Guy didn't know if that was still possible, but there was no harm in asking. "Hey, Okita," he started as he moved toward his own desk and meal and sat down. "How was your day?"
The door opened and Okita glanced up from his meal, swallowing his mouthful of salad and patting his lips with his napkin before waving back to Guy. It was a relief now, to see him walk in the door. After spending that one evening waiting for him to show and knowing that he wouldn't, Okita cheered anytime he heard the doorknob click. It seemed like he was doing well, at least physically. Better than yesterday at any rate.
"It was..." He paused for a moment, mulling over the right word. He settled on a nice, safe one and continued with, "Interesting."
He didn't really want to weigh down conversation with all the things he was dealing with at the moment. So much of what was going on wouldn't make sense unless he took too long to explain, and the one thing weighing most heavily on his mind recently wasn't something he could talk about. Besides he was more about listening to other people than talking himself anyway, so as soon as he could, he turned the conversation back to Guy. "How about you, Guy-san? Anything fun happen today?"
Interesting. That was a pretty vague response, which probably meant that something was going on and Okita just didn't want to talk about it. Which was understandable, but it did make Guy worry. He knew better than to push it, and instead held out hope that one day his roommate would feel comfortable enough to discuss whatever was bothering him.
Luckily, he could give a decent answer to the question. Guy started to twist the spaghetti around the fork and then took a neat bite before responding. "Fun? Well, I met a few new people, saw someone I hadn't seen in a while, and caught up with a friend from home. The most exciting part was finding someone who's as interested in machinery as I am, though."
His tone was a bit calmer now that he wasn't with Edgar and in the middle of a discussion, but he was still glad that he'd randomly run into someone who was as passionate about fontech (or... any kind of tech, really) as he was. He'd have to try and keep up with Edgar, if he could.
Ah, that was right. Guy was a machine-fanatic. Okita hadn't really understood it when they first spoke of it (and to be honest, he still didn't), but it was good to see that Guy was finding like-minded souls here. It certainly made him happier if his tone and his demeanor meant anything. Seeing the blond smile made Okita happy, especially since he knew he couldn't put that smile on Guy's face himself.
"Is he from your world or did you get to discuss new types of machines this time?" he asked, wanting to keep on a happy topic. Okita had heard of machines, of robots that wrote by themselves and clocks that chimed out the time, but he'd never seen them himself. Even after coming here and riding in the metal death-traps and seeing so many new machines, he still didn't understand them. But he liked listening to Guy talk about his passions, and nothing lit him up like talking about machines.
Part of Guy felt bad that he'd gotten onto a subject that Okita couldn't really grasp, but his roommate wasn't groaning and rolling his eyes like his friends so often did when this topic came up. That was probably just because Okita hadn't gotten used to it yet. If they spent a few more months together, he'd probably get pushed to the breaking point too.
It wasn't like Guy meant to aggravate people. He just liked talking about machinery and technology and was always excited to babble on to anyone who would listen. And Okita had gone ahead and asked a follow-up question, so that meant he was okay with listening, right?
"No, he's from a different world!" he replied cheerfully. "That makes it more exciting, since he's been able to invent things that I've never heard of before. We didn't really get far enough for him to explain how it all worked, but just hearing about his moving castle was amazing enough." Oh, he was getting dreamy-eyed just thinking back on it. If he got too into this he was going to forget to eat, and so Guy forced himself to turn back to his food and take another few bites.
It was hard not to laugh when Guy started remembering back on whatever it was his new friend had said. The look in his eyes was like a child being told they could have anything they wanted at a festival, for free. Someone else from a different world, with new and interesting technology that Guy had never heard of before. It was too bad that Okita didn't have any interesting tidbits to share with him, but it was just as much fun watching him relay what he had learned.
Especially about this moving castle thing. How could anyone move a castle? It seemed so...impossible. A castle consisted of the main building, the surrounding walls, the town beneath it, and so many pieces and parts that the very thought of moving it like it was one of those metal death-trap things was enough to make Okita's head spin. But he had to admit, he was curious. "Are their castles very small then?" Or maybe they folded up like paper. Or maybe he had the completely wrong idea. Whatever it was, Guy seemed happy to be talking about it, so Okita continued to encourage his roommate. "Do you think you'll get a chance to ask him? This sounds very interesting."
It looked like even Okita was curious to an extent. It was either that or he was humoring him, but Guy appreciated it regardless. "I'm not sure how big it is," he admitted. It was a good question, though. The larger it was, the more impressive the ability to move it became. Even if it was on the smaller side, though, Guy was still impressed.
As for whether he'd be able to get a chance to talk to the man again, Guy had little doubt in his mind. "I'll find him to talk about it again," he confirmed with a nod of his head. Well, unless the institute whisked Edgar away, but Guy didn't want to think about that. It would do no good to look at every friend and wonder when they might be gone.
"All I know is that it's able to submerge under the sand somehow - it's in the desert," he explained excitedly, even as he twisted the pasta around his fork and then took another bite. "I'll make sure to find out more, though." And he'd tell Okita all about it, if he wanted to hear it.
If it was a castle like Okita was used to, that made the feat all the more impossible. Although, legends told of floating worlds and moving cities, so he supposed if the gods and spirits were at work, then it was possible. It wasn't something Okita would have ever imagined in the realm of science and technology, but if someone could harness the power of the spirits then anything was possible.
When Guy said he planned on finding the man again to continue their talk, Okita smiled. He should have known that Guy wouldn't let a kindred spirit go that easily, and he hoped that Guy succeeded in finding him. Okita wanted to know about this moving castle, too. Maybe he wasn't as interested in the technology aspect of it all, but learning more about something so fascinating was never a bad thing.
"Submerge in the sand? A castle and a tunneler, is it? The mystery surrounding your friend's home just gets deeper and deeper!" He hoped that Guy would tell him more about this one day, when he found out. Stories of other people's homes were always so interesting. Okita was curious about Guy's world, too, but he never knew how to broach the subject without looking like he was digging for information. Leaning forward on his desk, he put his chin in his hand and smiled as Guy ate, watching him closely. "I hope that you'll tell me what you learn. You can't give me a story and not finish it, right?"
"Tell me about it!" Guy responded enthusiastically. It was like with every new fact Edgar had given him, the mental image in Guy's mind had sharpened and become that much more exciting. It was times like these when he wished they could find a way to get from world to world. For people like Claude it was possible, but Auldrant was nowhere near that level of development yet. They'd barely started using airships...
Suddenly, there was a blank in Guy's mind, something that nagged at him. He stared off for a moment, trying to place what exactly it was, but--
Okita's question distracted him. Shaking his head, Guy looked back to his roommate and smiled. "Of course! I'll give you a full report. You can count on that." Just as much as Guy liked talking about these things, he also enjoyed telling others about them. Most of his friends didn't give him that chance, so it was nice to know that Okita was interested to an extent.
As much as he would have liked to keep up with this conversation topic, there wasn't too much more he could say about what Edgar had told him, seeing how their talk had been short. On top of that, there was something else that Guy really needed to ask his roommate about. "So, Okita," he started as he took another bite of food, "I don't mean to bother you about this, but I was just wondering if there was still a chance of getting that sword...?"
It was completely possible that all of that had fallen through by now, but Guy would prefer to know either way, if only for peace of mind.
Guy seemed happy to be talking about this subject and Okita smiled at him. It was good to see his friend in such high spirits, and now that Okita knew the secret, he'd be sure to find tidbits to bring back to him. Even if they were small things, he'd find some sort of technology and find a way to talk to Guy about it. Okita was about to comment again, but there was suddenly a very strange look in Guy's eyes. It was like he'd suddenly forgotten something, like something had simply slipped away from him like a wraith in the darkness.
A moment later and he was back to talking, but Okita couldn't let that strangeness go. He'd have to ask Guy about that later, or perhaps just keep an eye open for another instance of the same thing. If this was an indication of a continuing problem, he'd have to watch for it, and see if there wasn't something he could do to help.
When Guy asked about the sword, Okita turned slightly in his chair, looking toward his bed. That was a problem, wasn't it? Okita had promised Guy a sword, but without Adel to make them, it meant procuring one was now a feat of some difficulty. "I was wondering the same. I'm unsure if you noticed, but our weaponsmith has gone...missing. I am fairly certain we still have a sword available, but I will need to ask Homura-san if it can be given to you. If not, I will find a suitable replacement somehow as a promise is a promise." And breaking it would be a dock upon Okita's honor as a swordsman. He could not shirk on his duties to his friends, not at home and not in a place like this. "If I can get the sword from him, however, I do ask that it remains with you. By my calculations, there is only one person capable of making weapons left, so what I give you now is as valuable as gold."
He turned his gaze back to Guy, the never changing smile still on his face. "I hope you understand, yes?"
It was as Guy had feared. The person who Okita had been planning to ask to make Guy a weapon wasn't even around anymore, which meant that his chances of getting a sword had probably dropped pretty sharply. He made sure to keep any disappointment off his face. There was a chance that Okita had been friends with the weapon-maker, so he had probably taken the disappearance much harder than Guy was. For him it was just an inconvenience; for Okita it was likely more than that, and Guy didn't want to cheapen that.
If there was still a sword available, Guy had to wonder what the source was. He felt like he kept getting hand-offs from other people, but sometimes that was the only option. He considered asking Okita where the sword had come from, but it sounded like the whole thing was still up in the air, so...
A little taken aback by Okita's last point, Guy straightened in his seat and then nodded. "Of course," he agreed. "I was asking for it for me, not anyone else, so you don't need to worry about that." This would also allow him to return Ashton's sword. Hopefully Leon would be able to help out Luke, and then Guy wouldn't have too much more to worry about. Even if Asch was also in the equation, he wasn't nearly as important in Guy's mind.
"Thanks for going to all this trouble for me, Okita," Guy sincerely said. "I didn't mean for it to become so problematic." Both of them had ended up getting distracted by other things, which was probably why this had taken so long. At this point Guy just wanted to get it resolved so they could put it behind them, though.
So long as he was going to keep the sword, then Okita would make a bid for it with Homura. At this point in time, they were severely lacking on weaponry, which made things difficult, but Okita hoped his leader would listen to him. If nothing else, Okita would pry a sword off something else, or find a way to break into that area upstairs again if he really, truly needed to. He didn't like the idea of it, but this was a debt of honor and he could not go back on it.
Shaking his head, Okita picked up his fork again, poking idly at his meal. He wasn't very hungry after having eaten earlier in the day and the food itself didn't agree with him, but he didn't want to seem like he wasn't eating at all. "Please, do not worry about it. Things will work out in the end."
Somehow or another. Turning his head away, he coughed a few times and sighed, pushing the tray away finally. He wasn't going to eat and he needed to--
The intercom turned on overhead and Okita realized the hour. Once the announcements were over, Okita turned to his roommate and smiled faintly. "Good luck tonight, Guy-san. Be careful out there."
While Guy was unsure of how Okita could say it would work out so easily, he did want to believe him. It was in his nature to be somewhat realistic about stuff like this, though. Landel's never made anything simple, and so there was a good chance that his roommate wouldn't be able to get his hands on a sword in the end. Not that Guy would hold that against him. These things happened.
"I'll try not to," he said, just for Okita's peace of mind. "Thanks again for looking into it for me." Guy probably should have never asked his roommate for something like that in the first place, but it looked like things would be settled once and for all now. The end result just happened to be up in the air.
Taking some final bites of food, Guy perked up when the intercom went off and then glanced over to Okita. "You too," he said as he stood from his seat. It was time to get ready.
Today's fish, however, had been good. He was glad he'd eaten as much of that as he could stomach, despite the news he'd received over the meal. Tonight, however, he had a lot of work to do, work that he had to keep his focus on. Tomorrow he'd deal with everything as much as possible, talk to Kudou, Kaito and Heiji again, and hope that he could find some sort of compromise. Or at least a way to save them all the heartache of being pulled apart.
Let into the room, Okita found that he was first today and took his seat, starting in on his salad and bread first. The spaghetti was poked at reluctantly when his nurse scolded him, but after eating a few bites, quickly abandoned in favor of food he was more familiar with. As long as he avoided too much of the strange white dressing, the salad wasn't bad at all and the bread was something he was able to eat without much issue. His eyes fell to the dessert soon enough and Okita wondered when Guy would be showing up today. It seemed like his friends were all back now, and that he was doing well - or at least better than yesterday, so Okita looked forward to their talk tonight.
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As sad as he was for that chat to end, Guy was still cheered by the prospect of getting to see Okita again. His day had gone really well, actually, so for once he wouldn't have any complaints or serious points to discuss with his roommate. It would be nice to get back to routine -- well, so long as things were good on Okita's end too. Guy wanted to make sure to be there to hear the other man out just as much as Okita had for him.
In fact, the only thing that was souring his mood was the knowledge that Luke would be out with Asch tonight. It was his friend's choice to do that, but the fact that Guy had been given the task of finding some sort of weapon for the jerk was enough to put a bad taste in his mouth. Still, with any luck, it was nothing that the pasta couldn't chase away.
The swordsman smiled in greeting as he entered M63. Speaking of weapons, it was about time that he checked up on the one that Okita had mentioned being able to procure for him. Guy didn't know if that was still possible, but there was no harm in asking. "Hey, Okita," he started as he moved toward his own desk and meal and sat down. "How was your day?"
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"It was..." He paused for a moment, mulling over the right word. He settled on a nice, safe one and continued with, "Interesting."
He didn't really want to weigh down conversation with all the things he was dealing with at the moment. So much of what was going on wouldn't make sense unless he took too long to explain, and the one thing weighing most heavily on his mind recently wasn't something he could talk about. Besides he was more about listening to other people than talking himself anyway, so as soon as he could, he turned the conversation back to Guy. "How about you, Guy-san? Anything fun happen today?"
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Luckily, he could give a decent answer to the question. Guy started to twist the spaghetti around the fork and then took a neat bite before responding. "Fun? Well, I met a few new people, saw someone I hadn't seen in a while, and caught up with a friend from home. The most exciting part was finding someone who's as interested in machinery as I am, though."
His tone was a bit calmer now that he wasn't with Edgar and in the middle of a discussion, but he was still glad that he'd randomly run into someone who was as passionate about fontech (or... any kind of tech, really) as he was. He'd have to try and keep up with Edgar, if he could.
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"Is he from your world or did you get to discuss new types of machines this time?" he asked, wanting to keep on a happy topic. Okita had heard of machines, of robots that wrote by themselves and clocks that chimed out the time, but he'd never seen them himself. Even after coming here and riding in the metal death-traps and seeing so many new machines, he still didn't understand them. But he liked listening to Guy talk about his passions, and nothing lit him up like talking about machines.
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It wasn't like Guy meant to aggravate people. He just liked talking about machinery and technology and was always excited to babble on to anyone who would listen. And Okita had gone ahead and asked a follow-up question, so that meant he was okay with listening, right?
"No, he's from a different world!" he replied cheerfully. "That makes it more exciting, since he's been able to invent things that I've never heard of before. We didn't really get far enough for him to explain how it all worked, but just hearing about his moving castle was amazing enough." Oh, he was getting dreamy-eyed just thinking back on it. If he got too into this he was going to forget to eat, and so Guy forced himself to turn back to his food and take another few bites.
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Especially about this moving castle thing. How could anyone move a castle? It seemed so...impossible. A castle consisted of the main building, the surrounding walls, the town beneath it, and so many pieces and parts that the very thought of moving it like it was one of those metal death-trap things was enough to make Okita's head spin. But he had to admit, he was curious. "Are their castles very small then?" Or maybe they folded up like paper. Or maybe he had the completely wrong idea. Whatever it was, Guy seemed happy to be talking about it, so Okita continued to encourage his roommate. "Do you think you'll get a chance to ask him? This sounds very interesting."
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As for whether he'd be able to get a chance to talk to the man again, Guy had little doubt in his mind. "I'll find him to talk about it again," he confirmed with a nod of his head. Well, unless the institute whisked Edgar away, but Guy didn't want to think about that. It would do no good to look at every friend and wonder when they might be gone.
"All I know is that it's able to submerge under the sand somehow - it's in the desert," he explained excitedly, even as he twisted the pasta around his fork and then took another bite. "I'll make sure to find out more, though." And he'd tell Okita all about it, if he wanted to hear it.
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When Guy said he planned on finding the man again to continue their talk, Okita smiled. He should have known that Guy wouldn't let a kindred spirit go that easily, and he hoped that Guy succeeded in finding him. Okita wanted to know about this moving castle, too. Maybe he wasn't as interested in the technology aspect of it all, but learning more about something so fascinating was never a bad thing.
"Submerge in the sand? A castle and a tunneler, is it? The mystery surrounding your friend's home just gets deeper and deeper!" He hoped that Guy would tell him more about this one day, when he found out. Stories of other people's homes were always so interesting. Okita was curious about Guy's world, too, but he never knew how to broach the subject without looking like he was digging for information. Leaning forward on his desk, he put his chin in his hand and smiled as Guy ate, watching him closely. "I hope that you'll tell me what you learn. You can't give me a story and not finish it, right?"
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Suddenly, there was a blank in Guy's mind, something that nagged at him. He stared off for a moment, trying to place what exactly it was, but--
Okita's question distracted him. Shaking his head, Guy looked back to his roommate and smiled. "Of course! I'll give you a full report. You can count on that." Just as much as Guy liked talking about these things, he also enjoyed telling others about them. Most of his friends didn't give him that chance, so it was nice to know that Okita was interested to an extent.
As much as he would have liked to keep up with this conversation topic, there wasn't too much more he could say about what Edgar had told him, seeing how their talk had been short. On top of that, there was something else that Guy really needed to ask his roommate about. "So, Okita," he started as he took another bite of food, "I don't mean to bother you about this, but I was just wondering if there was still a chance of getting that sword...?"
It was completely possible that all of that had fallen through by now, but Guy would prefer to know either way, if only for peace of mind.
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A moment later and he was back to talking, but Okita couldn't let that strangeness go. He'd have to ask Guy about that later, or perhaps just keep an eye open for another instance of the same thing. If this was an indication of a continuing problem, he'd have to watch for it, and see if there wasn't something he could do to help.
When Guy asked about the sword, Okita turned slightly in his chair, looking toward his bed. That was a problem, wasn't it? Okita had promised Guy a sword, but without Adel to make them, it meant procuring one was now a feat of some difficulty. "I was wondering the same. I'm unsure if you noticed, but our weaponsmith has gone...missing. I am fairly certain we still have a sword available, but I will need to ask Homura-san if it can be given to you. If not, I will find a suitable replacement somehow as a promise is a promise." And breaking it would be a dock upon Okita's honor as a swordsman. He could not shirk on his duties to his friends, not at home and not in a place like this. "If I can get the sword from him, however, I do ask that it remains with you. By my calculations, there is only one person capable of making weapons left, so what I give you now is as valuable as gold."
He turned his gaze back to Guy, the never changing smile still on his face. "I hope you understand, yes?"
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If there was still a sword available, Guy had to wonder what the source was. He felt like he kept getting hand-offs from other people, but sometimes that was the only option. He considered asking Okita where the sword had come from, but it sounded like the whole thing was still up in the air, so...
A little taken aback by Okita's last point, Guy straightened in his seat and then nodded. "Of course," he agreed. "I was asking for it for me, not anyone else, so you don't need to worry about that." This would also allow him to return Ashton's sword. Hopefully Leon would be able to help out Luke, and then Guy wouldn't have too much more to worry about. Even if Asch was also in the equation, he wasn't nearly as important in Guy's mind.
"Thanks for going to all this trouble for me, Okita," Guy sincerely said. "I didn't mean for it to become so problematic." Both of them had ended up getting distracted by other things, which was probably why this had taken so long. At this point Guy just wanted to get it resolved so they could put it behind them, though.
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Shaking his head, Okita picked up his fork again, poking idly at his meal. He wasn't very hungry after having eaten earlier in the day and the food itself didn't agree with him, but he didn't want to seem like he wasn't eating at all. "Please, do not worry about it. Things will work out in the end."
Somehow or another. Turning his head away, he coughed a few times and sighed, pushing the tray away finally. He wasn't going to eat and he needed to--
The intercom turned on overhead and Okita realized the hour. Once the announcements were over, Okita turned to his roommate and smiled faintly. "Good luck tonight, Guy-san. Be careful out there."
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"I'll try not to," he said, just for Okita's peace of mind. "Thanks again for looking into it for me." Guy probably should have never asked his roommate for something like that in the first place, but it looked like things would be settled once and for all now. The end result just happened to be up in the air.
Taking some final bites of food, Guy perked up when the intercom went off and then glanced over to Okita. "You too," he said as he stood from his seat. It was time to get ready.
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