Day 33: Greenhouse (Men)

[blood_and_pocky]

[About to make a new fan friend.]By the time Aidou arrived at the greenhouse, he was once again immersed in his own thoughts. Idle talk with Anise was over. Where the hell was Kyon? Nurses usually gave the excuse of “they’re sick” or “they’re sleeping,” which were no doubt lies, but given out during the instances where prisoners actually came back

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[enigmaticmedium]

[Free]

The last time he'd been in the greenhouse, it had been with Seishirou. Considering the man's apparent disappearance and Xelloss's own activities last night, it really was nostalgic. Very strange to be nostalgic for something that had happened so recently!

He wasn't exactly happy about the boards, but becoming angry over them would do no good. Was Zelgadis turning the moment after he'd agreed to truce? Honestly, and he tended to think badly of humans who bargained with Mazoku, but maybe there was something to be said against the other direction as well...

Frankly, it was very annoying despite his efforts to keep up a good attitude, and the nurse trying to show him how to cut leaves off of plants to make them grow more quickly didn't have very much attention given to her. Homesickness? Ah! That was an uncomfortable flavor.

[enigmaticmedium]

"Me? Oh..." Razing cities, killing gold dragons by the hundreds... Xelloss puckered his lips thoughtfully before answering. "I could make fires, cast some simple spells, that sort of thing. I was a priest, you see! It wasn't unusual, where I was from."

And if the man before him did have the ability to draw out others' powers, what would happen if he could have done it on Xelloss as he was? What had that one woman said to Xelloss, when he'd first arrived? That his power was himself? It was true... it would be an odd route to freedom, but tragically hypothetical again.

"It is difficult to adjust to the change. If you wanted to try using your powers on someone not from your world, I wouldn't mind the experiment, but it might not be a good idea to attempt it in front of the nurses. They get very odd when patients seem to be up to trouble, you know!" He smiled.

[human_sponge]

"A priest? What does a priest have to do with magic?" Making fire didn't seem too out of the ordinary, though. That sounded like a power that someone could potentially have, at the least. Spells was another matter, but he didn't want to bother Xelloss with too many questions.

Peter did appreciate the offer to test it out with the other man's help. "That might be a good idea... But yeah, we would have to do it at night." At the same time, he was worried. The last time he had used his powers was during the explosion (if that could count as actually using them), so he didn't want something to go wrong and end up setting the other man on fire or anything like that.

At the same time, though, if he was able to start gathering more powers, it would be a huge help. He wasn't too optimistic about it actually working, but it was best to be sure.

[enigmaticmedium]

Xelloss blinked openly, showing purple eyes for a moment. "Eh? Well, of course a priest uses magic." Human priests normally used white or shamanistic magic, the gold dragons' priests could use holy magic, and of course there were the handful of mortal priests who were stupid enough to worship gods that would as soon see them suffer and die, just to get a brief taste of power in exchange. Xelloss really hadn't thought about what a priest from another world without magic would do. Pray without effect? How... pointless. "What do your priests do, then

[human_sponge]

The culture shock was painfully obvious, though Peter figured he was going to encounter lots of situations like this in the future. "Well, they... give sermons, and in certain religions they take confessions. I'm not an expert or anything, but they generally aren't known for any kind of magic." Then again, he was talking about Western religion, and it could be a whole other story in other countries, but even if that was the case, it wasn't like any of that supposed magic was real. Unless it was actually an evolved human who didn't know it.

Peter wasn't so sure about testing it tonight -- but on the other hand, it would be better if he found out what he could and couldn't do sooner rather than later, and he hadn't exactly set any plans in stone just yet. He assumed he and Nathan would be meeting up, but Claire seemed busy with her dad and that Elle girl. Hopefully Nathan wouldn't mind taking some time out of their night for a little experiment. "Yeah, I think we could do that. Where should we meet?"

[enigmaticmedium]

So they were more cultural leaders. Not that priests in Xelloss's world didn't tend towards that role, or at least human and dragon priests did, but it was alongside the more personal acquaintence with the god who was the source of one's power. Hearing confessions? That sounded almost entertaining. He wondered if he could offer the service just to hear what people would say. Then again, he doubted it was as easy as announcing one was a priest, and asking if anyone had any sins they wanted to talk about...

"One of the bathrooms? How about the women's quarter's bathroom? It's sure not to be mistaken for another, it's a private spot, it's easy to find and it's somewhat mysterious!" Xelloss suggested cheerfully. True, he didn't find it all that mysterious, but he was supposed to be a human man now, right? The women's bathroom was forbidden territory! "Assuming it isn't in use. At the very least, we can't possibly confuse it for another location."

[human_sponge]

The women's bathrooms seemed like a strange suggestion, but at least Xelloss had some reasoning for it. It still felt wrong to be going into that area, but it might be their best bet. How many people were using the bathrooms in the middle of the night, after all? And if someone found them and they explained themselves, it probably wouldn't be a big deal. Now wasn't the time to be prudish.

"That works," he agreed after some consideration. "I don't know exactly how to get there, but it can't be that hard to find." If Xelloss had been around for as long as it seemed that he had, maybe he would be able to give him some directions. It would probably be a good idea to see if he could get his hands on some maps soon, though.

[enigmaticmedium]

"Oh, you don't know? It's in the lower righthand block, if you're facing towards the Institute's entrance. The three men's blocks are two to each side and one diagonal of the women's block. Two of the men's blocks are most immediately adjacent to the outside and the recreation field." Xelloss explained patiently, gesturing with his hands the positions he was speaking of. "You really ought to check the bulletin board--maps are posted there fairly often. But once you have been here a few days you learn your way around well enough without them! I wouldn't say they're vital."

[human_sponge]

While Peter paid close attention, it was still kind of difficult to follow the other man's explanation. He had been out to the recreational field earlier today, so that helped somewhat in placing where everything was in relation to everything else, but he couldn't be entirely sure yet.

It looked like he would definitely need a map, but there wasn't going to be time to get one at this point. He wouldn't want to leave Xelloss hanging just because he got lost, either.

"Uhh, well... My room number is M24, I think? So where would I have to go if I started there?" That might be the easiest way to go about this.

[enigmaticmedium]

"My, my, you are new, aren't you?" Xelloss tilted his head. "Well, don't worry, you'll catch on quickly! Let me think for a moment... if you leave your block of rooms, you'll head down as though going towards the Sun Room or the cafeteria. Instead of turning left there, however, you should turn right, and then head back up to the next block of rooms ahead of you. There's a larger hallway, but the entrance to the women's block is on the left as you enter that hallway from the south. If there's a barrier... say, some sort of monster, or a crazed patient... you can go up instead, head around the outside of the building, go into a doorway that will be to your left in that direction, then head south and after the first block of rooms which are another male dorm you'll find the female quarters

[human_sponge]

As Xelloss ran him through it, Peter closed his eyes for a moment, trying to visualize it for himself. It made a lot more sense this way, and he was pretty sure he would know where to go once he was actually doing it.

It still felt a little weird to know that they were going to be meeting in the women's bathroom, and he was sure that Nathan would have a few choice words about it, but hey, whatever worked. He didn't have space to be picky.

"All right, I'm sure I can figure it out. And I'll ask if I don't." He wasn't very shy, and he hadn't found it too difficult to pick out helpful people in this place, so he wasn't too worried. This was pretty spur of the moment for him, but it seemed like a good springboard into actually getting things done.