738/More Than Admiring The Flowers

More Than Admiring The Flowers
Date of Scene:	21 December 2015
Location:	Daisuke's dreams
Synopsis:	Mercury's meeting left Daisuke with a handful of unsettled questions. In the wake of the fading nightmares, he finds that he might - or might not - have hints at some of the answers already.
Cast of Characters:	Kunzite, Daisuke Hansuke

---

Kunzite has posed:
If ... all these 'Earth Kingdom' folk are over there, what does that make him? Traitor? Wrong? Right?

The questions that Daisuke takes with him when he finally sleeps aren't entirely pleasant ones. The first couple of dreams that touch his sleep aren't pleasant, either - they recall the orphanage, the children he'd been working with and begun to know, the monsters they were changed into. The name that "Minori" had given to the Dark Kingdom figure who she said operated that way, turning living beings into youma. The white-haired figure dressed in grays who appeared in the chaos of the fight, cloaked in shadows and odd-colored lightning. Cold and silent, at first. Then silent still, but filled with a calm, controlled anger, as he took the attack from Tuxedo Kamen that startled Asclepius even for existing, as he survived it and cast the golden energy out again, striking down White, hurting her badly enough that Asclepius took her from the field to tend to her in safety. They're not memories that are much fun to touch on again, in dreams.

But they're not as bad as the nightmares that have marked this last week, either. They're not pleasant. But they're things he's already lived through, already survived. The only lingering questions are the ones he had already. Traitor? Wrong? Right? And why did he seem to half-know the people they'd been fighting, not just the children ... not why. He knew why. Where from, maybe.

The third time he sinks into sleep is different.

It's not the orphanage, for one thing. It might be a stable, warm, gently shadowed, rich with the thick smells (pleasant or unpleasant depending on one's perspective) of more horses than the modern world would know what to do with. It might be a garden, greener and brighter than those Daisuke knows in his waking life, walled off to keep the depredations of scavengers to a minimum ... filled with a riot of flowers in the spring. Willows bending over a pool, healing herbs in bloom, tender green shoots and new leaves of plants familiar and unfamiliar. It might be a hallway in a palace, the details of the elaborate window at its end unclear except that they let sunlight pass in such profusion that the details of the tapestries hanging between the doors are utterly clear. It might be any of these places, or half a dozen others. The location is not the important part. He's met this man in too many places for the place to matter.

Some details are the same. Tall, and standing straight as a blade. Long hair, nearly perfectly straight, white as silver in the light, white as bone in the shadows. That his cape is white, that his uniform is in grays - the colors are also the same, and the steadiness of his gray eyes.

Some details are different. His expression is focused, but that focus doesn't deny the possibility for emotion and reaction to exist underneath it. His body language holds the tiny tells that indicate an awareness of other people, of Asclepius himself, as people rather than as targets. The uniform may be in the same shades, but it's not the same one he was wearing in the orphanage, and he's not wearing it the same way. This one, in the dream, is the uniform of Prince Endymion's personal guard. He wears it with a familiar precision, with a sense of responsibility, not with the arrogant disdain that he wore the other one in the waking world. The clasps that bind his cape in place are not gray, but silver set with clouded stones blue as the morning sky.

Kunzite has posed:
There are only four people in all the world entitled to wear that uniform, and only one of them has that faintly-unnatural hair. Which means that the man approaching Asclepius, studying him with intent, pausing just outside normal conversational distance to greet the young healer with a nod of his head, has been sworn to the Prince's personal service nearly as long as the Prince has been alive.

And he's looking at Asclepius. Focused on him in a way that does not suggest he's seeing him as a messenger to someone more senior.

"Asclepius," he says aloud. "That is your name, correct? Do you have a few minutes to speak?"

Daisuke Hansuke has posed:
Daisuke Hansuke was indeed a little conflicted and he found himself in his dorm room at the end of the night. All the questions flowing into his head. He found himself having a lot of weird internal conversations with himself sometimes in his head before bed- he found it helped cleared his mind.

'They said he belonged.' Does that mean he does? 'Will they come for him?' Unlikely, he thought- he's largely unimportant, he figured. He has no power. 'His, because it seems they're all boys?', something Homura said. At least two of these things worried him. Was this something he should be worrying about? Ugh! No, Daisuke-- jerks who attack Orphanges don't spend thier lives helping others- he thought!

He figured at this point it was just the sleep deprivation talking to him more than anything with the large dose of unhealthy amount of coffee he'd been using to back himself up. He forwent the coffee tonight in favor of dealing with whatever sleep would bring tonight.

~~-----------~~

Asclepius was one of the lucky few born on Earth with a gift, passed down from father to son. He spent his earlier years grabbing his father's staff and running out to do good deeds before his father and guards would need to march into the village and drag him back. It was always the same speech. 'You can help people, Asclepius, but when you're older.'.

Regardless, the young man now found himself a chief phyisician- effectivly, a magical healer- taking his father's postion. He was not a fighter. He hated fighting. Not that he couldn't defend himself in a limited manner. Asclepius seems to be inspecting some sort of plant in a small garden- in a courtyard? By a window? In a study? Medicinal in nature? You could probabyl make that assumption by the way he's studying it- or maybe he is just admiring a flower. He shakes his head at it.--- he hears the encroaching figure.

He knows the uniform, and it's meaning- but this person is also wearing a cape. He's been taught his manners well, as he bows politely to Kunzite.

"Lord Kunzite." he says softly and respectfully. "Yes, my name is Asclepius." Kunzite seems to be seeking him out. One usually doesn't seek out a healer, unless healing needs to be done- but Kunzite doesn't seem to be in a manner insisting there is some sort of emergency, so there comes the next question. "Is everything well? I have as much time as you would ask me of me." he asks and states politely, a soft smile.

Kunzite has posed:
The important thing about the garden's location is that it is, for the moment, unoccupied other than the two of them -- in a courtyard with no others passing through, or perhaps there had been a polite knock at a study door. Asclepius' bow is acknowledged with another nod, a little deeper than technically required for the discrepancy between their positions. Kunzite is senior - technically - in a different area. But Asclepius is a healer, and that earns a certain amount of respect by itself, from those who've lived long enough by the sword.

No sign of emergency, yes. "Well for the moment," Kunzite acknowledges, and his syntax lapses a little from court formality into more normal shadings of etiquette. Polite, rather than painfully polite. Out of the four of the prince's guards, he's perennially the most direct, that way; never quite up to date on the fashions of the court, on the most current phrasings, ceremony a memorized and practiced thing rather than a natural language or an art form. "Don't be concerned that there's anything pressing. But I presume you've heard about Jadeite." Another of the four, younger, smaller, more social. And carried back in from an outing, a few days earlier. Already healed; Asclepius isn't the only one with that art. But recovering from the healing kept him confined a day or two. "I'm not concerned about his current condition; he's recovering well. It's planning for future incidents I'd like to talk with you about."

His mouth tugs upward at one corner, and there's a brief note of self-directed amusement in his eyes. "In short, and unsurprising, I'd like to ask you a favor. I'm not sure it's one that would be wise of you to grant, though."

Daisuke Hansuke has posed:
Asclepius 's day would be very, very busy if he was the only one. Any one would. Luckily, this is not the case. His attention is away from what he was doing, he does not turn back to it. Kunzite is here talking to him. You pay attention when the Prince's personal guard comes to talk to you directly and you're not engaged in a life and death struggle.

Kunzite's demeanor drops a bit. In turn, Asclepius's generally deamnor steadies back a bit, but his tone is polite, caring as he muses on this.

"I'm aware something happened, and that it had been handled, yes." afterall, what kind of 'Royal Physician' would he be if he didn't at least pay attention to things on some basic degree of the nobility he is here to keep healthy. "I do not know the specifics, I am sorry, however."

Then very carefully and a soft sigh.

"What happened, if I may ask?" he asks with a short smile that suggests he is asking something that he knows might either worry or annoy him!

"You may always ask favors from me, Lord Kunzite." he smiles pleasently. "Though if you are giving me a choice in the matter-- well. I'll leave my decision for when I hear what it is you wish of me!" he says. "-but I am usually happy to help, of course." he finishes.

Kunzite has posed:
"Training accident," Kunzite replies, and there's a note of resignation in his voice. And a note of something under the resignation, that might be faintly familiar. As if whatever it was, well - worried or annoyed him. "The more responsibilities we take on," and 'we' here is clearly the four of the Prince's guard, "the more time some of us spend separated, on assignment. Which means that we can't track each other's abilities as well as we're accustomed to. We saw the first meaningful mismatch a few days ago; it won't be the last one."

He shakes his head, and anyone not as used to reading people closely as a physician is wouldn't see a change in his expression. Asclepius has a far better chance of catching the faint hints of unhappiness than most. "I can't tone down the exercises the four of us use; we're at enough of a disadvantage compared to the other worlds as it is. Picking up even a couple of bad habits isn't acceptable. So I need to find a way to cope with the increased risks. Thus the favor. Is there someone you'd be willing to assign to work with us during some of our sessions? It wouldn't tap their abilities often. It would take time away from other responsibilities, several hours in a week. And I know that there are never enough hours to go around to begin with. We'd have to find a way to make recompense, somehow."

Daisuke Hansuke has posed:
Asclepius listens, training accident. Alright. That's standard enough. Does it make him happy? No. But it also doesn't seem to make Kunzite happy and that matters more to him. He's unhappy- though not at him- at something else. Asclepius doesn't question this. It's not his place. He's not a commander of men and warriors- he merely makes sure everyone is well- and if possible, happy enough.

It's why it's really easy for him to answer the favor.

"It is done. If I can't find someone, I will take on the responsibility myself, but it will be done Lord Kunzite." he offers reassuringly. "I understand the pressing need. I would rather spend time making sure no one gets hurt than here-- admiring the flowers." he says bemusedly- he is of course, not wasting his time with his work- but making light that this is more important sounding then whatever he was doing when Kunzite approached him.

"Merely let me know of the day's work early in the morning- and I'll make sure /someone/ attends to the task. The more forewarning I have, the better, as usual with planning." he says.

"Though...."

He says.

"I do not understand why you said I would not be wise to grant this. It sounds like I'd be lifting some worry from your shoulders, Lord Kunzite? Your wellbeing is important, afterall, aswell." he says with a softer smile.

Kunzite has posed:
Kunzite inclines his head to Asclepius once again, marking that done. "A day or two before, if I can," he replies. "And we'll take note of how much work you have, and arrange around it." There will be times when that will mean weeks or months without really testing themselves, but that can't be helped. Physical and magical threats are one thing. Plagues ... those happen, and they don't take notice of which side people claim to be on. "I appreciate this. And I was not making light, when I spoke of recompense." The same phrase used aloud that Asclepius might have been thinking, but a matter of chance rather than of some power or planning.

Why he said Asclepius would not be wise? Kunzite makes a small, contained gesture with one hand, palm never lifted far enough for it to be mistaken for a spell or a threat. (A habit, or what Asclepius will have time to learn as a habit: he's always conscious of the possibility of being seen as a threat. Always careful to distinguish between those who might see him that way, and those who he might want to see him that way, and those few he doesn't need to worry about; always careful to keep his movements contained, thought through in advance, when there's someone he might accidentally frighten. Always.) "As I said. There are never enough hours to go around, not for healers and physicians. Too few of you, too many to call on you. Think about whether there's something we might be able to do, to make up for the time we'll be taking away." Though honestly, sometimes giving someone an excuse for a couple of hours' rest will help in and of itself. Nervewracking rest, granted, given what they do to find the limits of each other's skill and power. But still time that no-one is demanding attention, healing, care.

Usually, anyway. With luck.

There's one sentence that Asclepius speaks that Kunzite sidesteps entirely, with a brief glance that speaks volumes of amusement. His wellbeing? Not neglected, per se. The man keeps himself in good condition. But, and again this is something that is familiar through time, not through the conversation of the dream alone, it's done in much the same way that he might keep his sword in good condition. What the healers do, the physicians, the diplomats who handle negotiations well, the builders who keep children warm in the winter and see to it that they have clean water, the prince who tries to apply those same principles to all the world - those are the people whose wellbeing is important. His own is merely necessary. So he gives Asclepius that one brief glance, and lets the rest lie.

(And if there is anything in this that gives Daisuke a firm understanding, when he wakes, it's that. The distance between that view of the world and the one that could use neglected children as bait and as weapons -- no. If there is a traitor among the two of them, it is not Daisuke. How the man his dream remembers could have become the man he saw in the waking world ... that's another question, and harder to answer. But it is very clear indeed which one of them changed sides.)

Daisuke Hansuke has posed:
Asclepius doesn't mean in the physical sense. No. No one should be worried or.. upset- everyone should have a reason to be happy. If Kunzite isn't happy-- he should do his best.

Shouldn't he?

"It is my duty, is it not? But if you are talking proper recompense, well, I shall put together a small wishlist." he insists with a short smile.

The wishlist will probably be small, non-commital things anyone the basics of 'using thier hands' can do with minor oversight. Busywork that can free up more time for the task given, of course.

"I will work with this Lord Kunzite, until it meets both of our approval then!" he says with a short smile.

~~-----------~~

Daisuke wakes up in bed and there's a light blaring into his eyes. Well. He slept in. That's good. He turns the little stick on his blinds closed as he rubs a hand across his face as he sits up in bed. The dream, wafting around in his head still, is concerning- at least it wasn't another odd nightmare. (You can only handle 'Zombie Mamorus you ressurect with your magic in despairing desperation that try to eat everyone you hold dear' so many times before you just grab mental popcorn and give in, probably.)- and he feels as if his concerns last night were unfounded- of course. Now there's more questions he has- though none about him. He crosses his arms. He just shakes his head. He needed to get writing /this one/ down in the journal before some details faded from his mind.