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He woke up, and was halfway to rolling out of bed in a rush when he remembered – Clef was back, in Cephiro, and Ascot didn’t have to scramble out of bed at the crack of dawn to try and keep his desk from collapsing under the weight of paper gathering on it. In fact, he’d been told to take a few days off, now that the first week’s rush of organisation and hand-over was done with.
Clef was back… and so was Umi.
Ascot lay and stared up at the ceiling of his room, the high curve just beginning to lighten with the dawn light which seeped through his curtains. He couldn’t help but see the smile which hid in the Master Mage’s eyes when he looked at her – or the way Umi would walk by his side and be looking entirely the other way, but be so aware of Clef that she stopped moving the second he did, turned the same corners without having to think about it.
Even without the rattled silence of his friends, it seemed so blindingly obvious. And he didn’t – he knew it wouldn’t have been himself, even if Clef hadn’t been there. But still.
He turned over, buried his head in the pillow, and went back to sleep. It seemed easier than anything else.
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Ascot woke up for a second time to a sound he knew well – Yaris grumbling in confusion.
The laughter which followed it was strange enough that he was out of bed in a greater rush than even the threat of drowning in paperwork had ever inspired, because that – people didn’t see Yaris and laugh, certainly not while he was clicking his beak like that. So what could possibly –
His room had a balcony, and it wasn’t so far off the ground, mostly to let his friends in and out when they wished – they could manifest without his help, these days, though mostly they chose not to bother too frequently. The balcony jutted out over the south gardens, which were still mostly just lawn – and currently the impromptu landing-zone for the smaller ships which were bringing people and supplies back and forth from the NSX. The larger ship was far too big to enter the atmosphere – and apparently the wrong shape, though he’d have to take Zazu’s word for that.
Speaking of whom…
“Morning, Ascot!” Zazu called, when Yaris looked up and waved one clawed hand at the balcony – only one, because the other hand was busily supporting what looked like half the engine of the little transport, the rest of it braced on Pajero’s curved back.
Ascot blinked, and rubbed his eyes, but the image didn’t change. “…Good morning?” He said, uncertainly, and Yaris nodded – then muttered a wordless apology when Zazu yelped and frowned at him, grabbing a component as it tried to slide out of the… well, if it wasn’t the engine, Ascot had no idea what it might be.
“Your friends decided to help me – I’m teaching them about propulsion and proper maintenance.” Zazu said, with a grin. “The crew all abandoned me to explore, and she really needs a tune-up, so I needed the help – someone brought me breakfast, if you want something to eat?”
Ascot needed something, anyway – tea would do for a start, and he could see a pot set out of harm’s way, on a little table someone had set in the shadow of the ship. He wasn’t awake enough for this, groggy with oversleeping and his head aching at the brightness of the sun. He stepped up to the edge of the balcony, shook his head when Yaris offered to help him down, and called Lanos instead. Lanos was as much insect as humanoid, and the drop down to the grass wasn’t much of a challenge when your wings were that big; he set Ascot down, then peered over Pajero’s back to see what the other two were busy with. Ascot blinked at that. “…They decided to help you?”
“I think so?” Zazu said, certainty faltering a little. He glanced up at Yaris, whose face was unreadable to most people even after they got to know him – a hawk’s beak made facial expressions interesting. “I mean, I can’t understand them like you do, but- well, they took pity on me, anyway. If you guys need to be doing something else today, I can get by on my own, now?”
Ascot glanced up at Yaris. /A part of the wall was about to fall on him. I did not think you would want that to happen/. Yaris told him. Ascot tried not to wince – he could see that happening a little too easily./ And these strange machines are interesting. Even if all Pajero cares for is an excuse to lie in the sun./
/Warm/. Pajero agreed, sleepily. Useful. Good.
“Well, we didn’t have anything else planned for the day…” He said, eventually, and Zazu’s grin was blinding.
“I can pay you back for teaching me about magic, then! Come on, come up here, let me show you the basics at least-“
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Most of the day passed in a whirlwind of information, Ascot bewildered with so many facts being flung at him, catching only a skeleton of it – but he certainly had no time to think about anything else.
He didn’t see Zazu turn to Yaris, just as they were clearing everything away, and give the creature a thumb’s up. “Distraction successful!”
Yaris dipped his head down, and nudged against that hand with his beak, making a soft churring sound - one Zazu chose to interpret as approval. He couldn't understand Ascot's friends yet - he was determined to learn how, if only so he could ask them directly if any of them could turn into robots, with enough motivation - but he could talk to them. And they weren't that subtle with their approval or disapproval of his plans.
When he'd spotted Yaris that morning, watching Ascot's balcony with a worried tilt to his head, Zazu had decided to help - Ascot had certainly been helping him enough, these past few days. (And… well, speaking of a lack of subtlety, it hadn’t taken more than a day or so for Zazu to catch what was upsetting Ascot, even though they’d barely met before this and Zazu was caught up in the sudden twist in his own life. There wasn’t much either of them could do, but distractions until things weren’t so …unsettling? That seemed a decent kind of plan.)
...Getting stuck into an engine was bound to make anyone forget what was bothering them. Right?
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