complexing | [006] swapping shifts [action]

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[006] swapping shifts [action]

[Well, Touya can't say he's all that surprised when he woke up rolling around in an effort to scratch his back. Nor was he terribly surprised when Yue screeched at him when he'd surprised the sleeping Once-Guardian-Now-Cat. He'd deserved that one.]

[Though even if he'd been turned into a dog, that didn't mean life stopped. Touya still had groceries to get, meals to... prepare... Alright, so the lack of thumbs made it very difficult to cook anything, and getting the windows open had been absolute hell as well.]

[Though there's only so much one can do preparing cold food during a rainy month. Tonight, maybe something hot would be appreciated after a week of rain and gloom. And so Touya's heading to go fetch some dinner from Sanji and the Seventh Heaven crew--he just hopes that there's someone there to help him get a doggy bag together.]

((Meet him in town, at the restaurant, wherever! \o/))

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[As he's taken to doing for the last few days, Yue will be curled up and sleeping, this time on the seat of the red chair in the living room. He figures that if he sleeps long enough then the week will end faster and he can return to normal. Since, you know, he doesn't need food and all....]

[Touya comes back to the house, nosing the door open, with a bag hanging from his jaw. At least someone who could manipulate complex objects was on-duty, so Touya could eat. Yue hadn't been eating at all, which Touya knew was normal, but made him feel a little awkward.]

[He sets the bag down on the carpet and starts pawing at it to get the plastic down and the container out.] I got something for you.

[For an instant Yue considers the idea of feigning sleep, but Touya would almost certainly know he'd been awake since the door opened. He still doesn't move, though, other than a slight twitch of his tailtip.]

You know I don't eat.

Yeah, but they had sanma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_saury). [He noses the container open--there's some rice, as well as vegetables and meat cut into small pieces, and a whole baked fish.] It's good, try it.

[Fish? Yue has lifted his head to look over that direction before realizing it, and when he does he's annoyed at the automatic reaction to the smell: he isn't really a cat, he doesn't want to eat fish or pounce on bits of paper, and he isn't going to let this experiment humiliate him further.]

I'm not hungry.

I know. [Clearly Yue isn't hungry: he's never been hungry, he doesn't have to eat to sustain himself. He just doesn't want it. ...well drat, waste of a good sanma. Touya can't eat it, his teeth are way too big to pick around the bones.]

[Touya doesn't particularly like being a dog, but well, that's what's going on this week. So he has to carry things in his mouth and eat with his face and watch every squirrel... He drags the container of food over to the kitchen, so he can eat without staring at Yue.]

[Yue will stay where he is for several minutes longer, waiting until Touya is out of the room and occupied before he finally drops off the chair and pads silently over to the fish. It does smell good. Rather disturbingly good, in fact.

And when the cautious sniff turns into a cautious nibble he soon finds himself rather eagerly devouring the fish. Hopefully pouncing on bits of paper isn't next.]

[Touya finishes his own meal in rather short order (recently he's been having thoughts that if he doesn't eat right now, he might not eat later... oddly enough), and picks up the empty container to maneuver it into the trash. Once he's finished that, he walks back to the living room to collect the sanma. Maybe if they change back in time, someone can eat it later...]

[By the time he gets back Yue is once again curled up on the chair, pretending to be asleep, but a significant portion of the fish has been stripped from the bones. How very mysterious.]

[Touya comes back for the fish, pausing over the half-decimated fish laying right where he left it--but with significantly more... fleshy bits. How...]

[Touya flicks his ear and turns to the Pretending-to-Sleep Yue, dog-eyebrow raising. Well he's the only one there, so the culprit is fairly obvious.]

Ah, Yue! [He sounds panicked.] This fish... thank goodness you didn't eat it. Someone's been in it already.

How terrible.

[He cracks one eye open just a fraction, the flick of his tailtip conveying annoyance at being disturbed.]

[Oh no, Touya's not letting Yue off that easily.]

You're not upset? [He noses the container shut.] I mean, even if you didn't weren't hungry, I could have saved it for later.

[Fine, Touya, don't let him nap. Yue yawns and stretches, claws flexing against the fabric of the chair.]

Why would I be upset?

[Yes, no nap-avoidance-technique here.]

Well, I did get it just for you. I can get you another one, though.

I'm fine.

[And he'll just drop off the edge of the chair and start to wander away, tail swishing lightly behind him.]

[Ohhh no. Have a big dog with a styrofoam container right in front of you, Yue.]

So you don't want me to get you another one? At all?

[He halts with one forepaw still poised in the air, giving Touya a look of feline disdain.]

I can't imagine what I'd do with it.

[He chuckles softly.] Maybe eat it? You don't have to eat, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy it when you do.

If I have no need to do it, I have no need to enjoy it.

[And he'll just start to move on again, trying to slip past Touya.]

That can't be right. [Touya puts his head in front of Yue, blocking his path away (or at least making it hard).] You deserve to enjoy things, like anybody.

...If you think about it, there's really no need for people to form relationships with one another, but isn't it nice not to be alone?

[As a dog, Touya is bigger enough that it does indeed make it difficult for Yue to continue onward without making it very obvious that he's trying to escape, and he'd really rather not do that. So he pauses again, tail lashing a bit with impatience.]

I don't see what forming relationships has to do with the fact I don't eat.

[As a human, Touya is ~~freakishly~~ bigger too, but Yue doesn't have his wingspan advantage right now. He sits down in front of Yue, creating a Great Wall of Black Dog.]

They're both things you could enjoy, but choose not to. Because you claim you don't need to.

I don't need to eat.

[He'll simply ignore the other part of it. And will stay standing, because Touya is sitting and he feels like being stubborn.]

That's a crutch. An excuse, and I think you know that.

[Another annoyed tailswish.]

An excuse? It's how I was created.

You aren't incapable of consuming things--you ate nearly half of this fish when I was in the other room. And you slept in the same bed with me in February.

And then I offered to get you another fish and you told me not to because you don't eat--but you clearly just ate this, I watched them put an immaculate fish in the box. ...As for the other half of it...

[As for the other half of it, for a while they seemed to be clicking and then Yue just stopped going to bed with Touya. Or would move Yuki out into the living room and not come back. This couldn't have been how he was created, Touya believed that much. Yue just chose not to be with Touya, but why? He'd shown him in February how he really felt--even if it was slightly overkill. It didn't make his feelings any less true.]

[And now he'll sit down, absently examining one immaculately clean forepaw rather than looking up at the towering dog.]

It may amuse the Malnosso to give me the seeming of a cat, with a cat's impulses and tastes, but I refuse to be one. And as for the other half, you seemed content enough with my other self.

[Read: you never called, so I didn't come out. Well, he technically had, behind Touya's back, but that wasn't important right now.]

Don't say that. [He might be growling now, though it's very faint and far back in his throat.] Have I ever told you I wanted to see Yukito? No--and I won't do that to him, because in my mind, there's nothing else I could say to him that would be more hurtful. Same goes for you.

There were times I wanted to see you. And there are times I want to see him. But I keep it to myself, because I don't want one of you to think I love him less than I do the other. I want what will make you both happy. Why do you think I nearly broke my neck putting that... [He jerks his head at the ceiling.] That ledge up on the roof? Because you seem to like it up there, and Yuki liked it too--so all of us could have something to share.

[All right, he can't help it. He's a cat at the moment, so at even the faint growl he moves back a little, ears going back and his tail going poof. It's enough to make him realize that... well, maybe this isn't the best time for discussion of serious matters.

Yue holds his current position for a moment longer, then backs up another step, holding his tail still only through sheer force of will.]

Perhaps we can discuss it when we're both in our right bodies. And minds.

My mind is fine-- [Maybe they really should wait, but Touya can't help but think that Yue's running again. There's always something, after all.]

--and it doesn't matter what shape I'm in. I know how I feel. I've always known, even during the experiments and the draft. I can't stand being away from you.

[Though he doesn't look away, there's only silence in response for several long minutes. And then he finally replies, voice still emotionless even if it's quieter than before.]

I'm always here.

[When nothing is said for a while, Touya's almost certain that he's pushed too hard and Yue is stonewalling the conversation. But he sits down again, watching Yue watch him. Waiting, silently begging for something, anything that could give him a clue.]

[And when Yue finally speaks again, Touya has to take his own quiet moment to figure out what the guardian means. Yes, he's always there, as opposed to Yuki who tends to forget the time Yue is active. And so he was always watching Touya giving Yuki affection and love. Was Yue... jealous of his other self, and only refusing to admit it? Or did he wish he could ask for the sort of attention Touya gave Yuki, but didn't feel able to?]

[Either way... Touya bent down slowly, trying to nuzzle Yue a little. It was the only thing this body could really do.]

[After half a second's hesitation, Yue turns to rub the side of his face against the big dog's jaw— then realizes what he's doing and draws back again with a swish of his tail. He's a cat. This is awkward.]

[--uh, right. He's a dog. This is awkward. But the feeling is there.]

...we should talk about this when we're back in our own bodies. [He pauses, thinking.] But y'know, even if I'm a dog, it's warmer at night with someone next to me.

[...just throwing that out there.]

[Isn't that what he'd suggested? For once, though, Yue refrains from pointing it out, and instead merely flicks an ear as though in an abbreviated shrug.]

....perhaps I'll consider it.

[Yes, it totally was Yue's idea--Touya's just now agreeing with him in a most awkward way. But at least he didn't have to explain that.]

[He would've liked it if Yue had just agreed, but Touya supposes that's the best he can expect right now. His tail still wags a little, hopefully.]

Yeah, okay.

[And he'll just turn away and start to saunter off incredibly casually now, heading back to his comfortable chair.

He can't agree, that might make him sound eager. But that doesn't mean Touya won't find a cat curled up against him later.]

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[006] swapping shifts [action]

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