“  …  ”  This is definitely the right guy. There’s absolutely no doubt about it: HITAKA SHIN, as plain as day. But it’s not his face or familiarity that seems to have caught her attention. She isn’t staring at him so much as through him, her gaze angled slightly above his head, lips parted in a gesture of silent inquiry. His lifespan is what’s got her so wrapped up in him.  “Directions? Uhm, hardly. Do I look lost to you?”  She very dazedly pulls herself out of her revelry, finally changing her attention to make eye contact with him, but still blinking at him as if confused.

               One week from today. She rarely ever crosses paths with people so close to the end of their life. Curiosity gets the better of her. She can’t help but wonder what in the world could change in as little as seven days, but it’s not like she can ask. The real question is why she’s been asked to kill someone apparently so close to the end, anyways.

               “Are you Shin? Like, To-To’s friend?”

      He’s already got his arms crossed, about to heave an exasperated sign and snap some snarky comment as he looks down at her --- Mia? Mina? something with an ‘M’ ---  but then he watches her eyes focus, sees the perplexity in her gaze shift into something more honed. And she says his name. 

        When the tension drains from his body and his hands shove into his pockets, it’s hard to tell whether it’s a natural response to de-escalate the situation or if it’s a forced reaction to the surprise. The only giveaway is the narrowing of his eyes, the ever so slight press together of his lips; all in all, it’s only about a half step off from his usual expression. 

      ❥ - “…”

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      Ah, fuck. He’s pretty sure he knows this girl --- he’s seen her straight blonde hair and saccharine-sweet grin all over the magazines that she keeps on her coffee table. For a brief second, he allows himself to be grateful that he’s not at work at the moment. He’d hate to have to deal with the crowd she’d draw. 

      ... but that doesn’t answer the question of why she’s staring at him. Has been for a minute now. And he doesn’t like it. 

               He’s not exactly good with first impressions, either making them or taking them from others. Looking at this guy now, he’s not sure what to make of him, but once he actually starts to think about it … he had heard people whispering about there being some new guy in town staying with the farmer, family or something. He recalled if only because Haley seemed like she was about to lose her head until someone reassured her they were related. So this was him? He thinks of Lily prancing around town in her thigh-length pink dresses carrying baskets of flowers and spending a full ten minutes hugging her horse outside the bar because she feels bad leaving it to get a drink and has to stop himself from laughing.

          He might’ve accidentally smiled a little, though. Just for a second.

     “If you say so.” He watches their hands as he takes the can from him. One eyebrow perks, but he doesn’t point it out. Instead, he lets his arm fall limp over his knee. Right, their family is Japanese. He can’t imagine being a foreigner and visiting a place as boring as this in the States. “You don’t have to apologize to me. Music’s not going anywhere.” That explains why he’s here, at least. He didn’t look injured. “You’re the guy visiting the farmer, right? Lily’s already putting you to work, then. She’s got a lot of bite in her bark when it comes to her farm. Wouldn’t think so just looking at her… Good luck with that one.”

               He pushes himself to stand back up, expression returning to nonchalance, but not rudely so. His concern his sated, now he’s calm and maybe a little bit curious.

          “In the way? No. Actually, you’re a bit of a breath of fresh air. I like seeing new people in town.” He holds out a hand to him, willing him to allow the help up. “I’m Sebastian.”

       ❥ - “...Shin.” He says after a moment. ( he’s gathering his willpower to get up while he translates some of the more obscure turns of phrase the stranger used, but he far prefers to pretend he’s just lounging for the extra few seconds. ) When his leather-clad fingers raise to grip the hand offered to him and propel himself to his feet, it’s with strength that belies the tremors still traveling down his body. 

       ❥ - “My name, I mean. And I am here to see Lily, yeah. She’s my cousin.” He thinks he’s mentioned that already.  It’s not comforting that he isn’t sure. “Not that it shows. We’ve never looked even remotely similar.”  A soft exhale that passes for a chuckle, a slight curve to his lips that doesn’t quite count as a smile. “But it’s been awhile, longer than I think either of us realized. She’s...” He has to stop himself from finishing that sentence  with  ‘different.’  ‘Happy.’  ‘Confident.’ “She’s something. Sounds like you learned that firsthand.” 

      It’s only as his free hand --- the one not holding the deceptive can with a death grip --- comes to rest in his jacket pocket that he realizes he’s already held this conversation longer than he would have liked. He doesn’t do chats with strangers. ( even if it’s not strictly necessary to keep up his usual airs, old habits die hard. ) Standing up just the tiniest bit straighter, Shin offers a polite nod.

      ❥ - “I’m sure you have better business to be getting to, though. Don’t let me keep you. I’ll be here for awhile anyway.” 

               “Popular people? What do you mean?”  The oblivious question isn’t feigned, she looks at him with a slightly concerned smile before shrugging it off. It’s not a big deal.  “Oooh if you mean, like, don’t I have cheer practice or something, it got canceled! So why not take the opportunity to say ‘hi,’ right? Your eyes are pretty. Want a lollipop?“

      Wow. She’d barely even taken a breath there, hadn’t she?  ------- wait. 

       ❥ - “Uh...Thank you.” He replies after a beat. It almost comes out like a question rather than a proper response; he’s still trying to process. She didn’t even seem phased, either by the tough guy act or by the three different directions she’d gone in roughly as many seconds. “I’ll pass. That junk will rot your teeth. Wouldn’t that be a problem for you?” 

               “You missed me, you missed me, now you gotta kiss me!”

      He sure would like to. 

@perceptivis

       ❛    MINIONS ARE A DISGRACE TO HUMANITY ITSELF.       what language do they speak       ?       what are their customs       ?        life span       ?       we do not know.       nobody cares.       to be a minion is to laugh in the face of the world itself.       we know next to nothing about them  ,  yet we know too much.       we know that they are round  ,  yellow, gibberish speaking  ,  occasional cyclops short haired fat little twats.       we want nothing to do with them.       we want to learn nothing about them  ,  we know too much already  ,  and yet there is always.        another.        movie.       theres even a movie just for them  ,  loaded with minion lore.       why       ?       why do they think we want this       ?       every time a new god damn movie comes out a piece of my soul breaks off and flies up to the heavens.       where is it going       ?       what more do we not know about minions       ?       i do not want to know.       what I want is my soul back.       my life back.       my humanity back.       our world back.       yet that is not possible  ,  as everyday we are reminded of the futile existence of those fucking fat talking tic tacs.       they love bananas       ?       fuck that.       fuck you and your bananas  ,  minions.       i hope satan himself rises from the fiery pits of hell and drags these shit bags down to the seering asshole of hades where they may suffer eternally in the underworld  ,  away from us.       away from the world.       fuck you  ,  minions.       i want my humanity back.    ❜