Yuki made sure to knock on the room door both firmly and gently at the same time. Firmly, because she didn't like Troyard and he should know it. Gently, because the guard today was Akiko, and she had a habit of getting the guards to like her. Even if their job sucked -which it did- she wanted the guards to at least have an amiable relationship her. It wouldn't stop them from doing anything, but they might be less harsh, and they would definitely feel comfortable talking to her earnestly. Those were all important things that her brother was absolutely going to miss out on. Besides, she'd had a hand in interviewing most of the new guard. With Nao's supervision and support of course, but still. There was no denying that he wouldn't mind the lack of social interaction with the staff, but they wouldn't consider him approachable either. Even if this whole thing was a horrible idea, she had every intention of being as useful in this -project? endeavor? wild goose chase?- situation as she could be. And that meant picking up Nao's socially inept slack.

She didn't expect to be admitted personally, so when she faintly heard something that might have been a grunt of some sort, Yuki let herself in. The guard, who definitely was Akiko, took a good look at her before grinning. She liked Akiko, but she'd liked most of the guards she picked, and had learned to like the others. She'd done everything she could to make sure they weren't cruel. The situation lent itself to abuse, and she was not going to tolerate that. Troyard was officially dead, and not a damn soul had cared about that. There was no one except Nao who was going to care if the guards were doing things they shouldn't, and though her brother was observant, she had more faith in Troyard's ability to be uncooperative, even in situations that were to his benefit.

The place was isolated and well equip for any horror movie with its eerie silence and to white walls. The guard duty entailed standing around for hours doing nothing except watching a teenage murderer try and off himself by wasting away. Now, Troyard was even being refused basic food items in favor of pills that were meant to save his miserable, sad life. It was enough to make her want to lock Nao in a room for a few days, with a steady stream of cartoon nonsense as his nanny, with lots and lots of noggies and tickling. She alternatively had no idea how she wanted to handle Troyard. It was complicated.

She offered Akiko a subtle smile, and motioned with her head outside of the room. Akiko gave her an appreciative nod, before heading out. As she did, Yuki quietly handed her a matcha milk tea from her little cardboard drink container, and gave the other woman a wink. The broad smile on the other woman's face before she disappeared, was a good sign.

Yuki waited till she heard the click of the door behind her, before she let her eyes stray to the far bed by the window. Troyard was there, sprawled on the bed, and noticeably taking up as little space as possible. He looked horrible; even Nao would have seen it. She grimaced, and let her eyes fall on the brilliant blue bouquet of roses on the bed side table. Troyard's cloudy eyes were focused on it, and she could see, even from here, that something was there, lurking in his eyes, that hadn't existed before. She didn't know enough about him to say what that was, and if he turned his head to look at her properly -not a chance- it would be long gone.

The flowers were easy to look at. They were gorgeous, a beautiful set of blue roses, with a vibrant, deep color she'd never seen on roses before. Now that she thought of it, she really hadn't ever seen blue roses before. Were they rare? It was sort of a puzzling question, but the flowers were easy to look at. They led her to who had brought them, why such a strange color of roses, why the vase was glass when it needed to be plastic. It did not lead her to Troyard.

She found it difficult to look at him, because when she did, she didn't see the lowlife piece of shit that had tried to murder her brother. She saw a teenager who had been denied a future. She saw a stupid boy around Nao's age, around the same age as any of the kids she'd taught. He should be reading dumb manga, or hiding porn under his bed, or learning life lessons that all idiot teenagers learned by making mistakes and taking responsibilities for them.

Slaine Saazbaum Troyard, she reminded herself. The same 16 year old that had left her only family to die with a bullet in his head. The same 18 year old that had championed violent domination of Earth. It was harder to remember when she looked at him.

The sound of her heals clicking on the white hospital tiles showed none of her hesitation. She grabbed the chair, and sat down. "I brought books." She stated curtly, placing the drinks on the floor, and reaching for the bag on her shoulder. She extracted three slim novels from the bag, and placed them within his reach on the bedside table. She made sure not to displace the flowers. She really should get a plastic vase for them, glass was way too much of a hazard. The fact that Nao had missed that, just confirmed that he was too invested, and far too emotionally drained. Nao worked well under stress, he didn't know what to do when he had to sit and wait. His mind moved to fast for such inactivity.

Troyard didn't say anything, he simply kept looking at the flowers, but for a moment, his lip moved. She knew that it was a sign he had wanted to say something, and thought better of it. It was a guess, but she was positive of it. Troyard was a hard read, he could lead her in surprising circles, but she felt like she was slowly catching on.

"I have something else for you." She reached into the bag, and almost didn't pull them back out. She scowled, and hefted the little thing out. "It's a boom box. It's been sitting around for ages." She took a good look at the black thing. She remembered buying it ages ago, when they'd just moved into the apartment, and she'd realized how quiet living with only two people was. It had a happy little home in their kitchen for years, where the sound could vibrate off the walls, and permeate the whole house. She should have thrown it away years ago. She blew off the dust, and wiped away at the item. "The radio doesn't work anymore, but it still reads CDs, and it's got a place for headphones."

She stood from the chair, making sure her bag was still on her shoulder, and moved over to the other side of the bed. That side already had the flowers, and the books. She'd have to fit the noise maker over on the other end, amidst the contraptions and devises they were using to monitor him. When she'd gently shoved things over, she set it down. "One of the speakers doesn't work, so you'll probably wanna use headphones anyway."

Yuki reached back into the bag, and produced a pretty blue green set of headphones, which had grabbed her at a store, and really implanted the whole idea in her brain. She placed them on the bed next to him, and then brought out a wrapped CD. At movement so close to him, she saw him tense up, and though his head had not moved from where it was placed, his eyes were squarely on her. She ignored it, and walked back to her chair. "The CD is Bach Cello Suites." She didn't say 'cause you aren't getting another cello, you sad little boy' but she thought it was pretty well implied. "If you want anything else, you can ask, but I won't make any promises."

She thought about all the music she knew, of all the songs she'd grown up with, and that were new favorites. Though she'd extended the offer, it was unlikely that Troyard was going to take her up on it. Even if he wanted to, would he know what to ask for? She had no idea. She shook her head. One step at a time, she reminded herself, and stood up again.

She wandered back over to the boom box. As with just about anything, it was easier to focus on than Troyard. "Pretty flowers." She stated as she reached over, and fumbled with the plastic wrapper of the CD. "Blues a strange color for roses though." When she thought of roses, she thought of deep red, powdery pink, or striking white.

"They're unnatural." The statement was soft, but she'd heard it clear as day.

She nodded her head, as if he was looking at her, and as if they were just having a regular conversation while she fiddled with the infernal plastic wrap. "I didn't know that. How do they make them? Is it some special breeding thing?"

She finally got the damned plastic wrap off, and shoved the crinkly material into her bag. "People tried to make blue roses genetically, but the result wasn't really what they wanted." He stopped talking, and she clicked open the CD case, before putting the CD into the boom box.

"Sound like a lot of trouble." She clicked the volume down, so that the sound wasn't too loud. All she needed was for it to take that eerie silence out of the place. The sound quality wasn't amazing, but the sound of a cello wafted from the one working speaker, and she was sure it had done plenty.

Troyard stopped breathing for just a second, as the music started, and a beat later, he kept talking. "Roses like these, are white and treated to be blue. It's the only way to get the rich color."

She frowned, and moved back to her seat. "That seems sorta sad." She sat down, and when enough time had passed, that it was obvious Troyard wasn't going to continue, she spoke up again. "White roses are beautiful on their own. They don't need to be blue for that. Why would anyone want something that doesn't exist, if something just as beautiful was staring them in the face?"

Troyard didn't look at her, but she could see deep creases on his face, as he looked at the blue roses in front of him.

When he finally did answer her, after a long silence, amidst the fluttering of cello strings, it was small, and hesitant. "I don't know."

She didn't dare look at him.