happiness / theory

( She’d like to make sure that this one is a good memory, because she doesn’t know how many of those they’ll have after this— selfishly, Ayano wants to hope for many more of those happy days, but she won’t ask much of the world )

It’s clear even to Klug’s bad eyesight that the serious conversation is one that is….difficult even for the person in front of him to speak of at length, he catches how she fiddles with the red scarf and falls silent at length before she speaks again, so he firmly puts it in mind to not drag this out longer than it has to: granted, he still wants an explanation of sorts, but if more details hurt the person telling it to even say? He’d rather it not be said at all, because he doesn’t want anyone to have that sort of pain deep down.

Seems like ‘he’ wasn’t a correct term, perhaps, but well, she’d used it herself, so Klug had honestly just gone off that. “Right, I think I get it…but, eh? You…don’t think it’s foolish for someone to…let down their guard in such a way?” For such a long time, he’d been so sure that letting down his mask would only lead to people abusing his kindness, himself being hurt again - but for someone to actually agree with that tenderness, he had to try very, very hard to remain composed. (Except, it didn’t entirely work, and Klug had to not-so-discreetly rub the fog away from his glasses before he actually cried outright.)

R-right….anyway. He wasn’t crying, n-not at all. His green eyes turned serious once more at the implications that the other had mused of: “…So in other words, you believe that the snake, if you told anyone EVERYthing, would see that person as a target to ‘hurt’ to get Marry to do what they want due to him being willing to threaten her for the sake of that ‘potential’, right?” As always, the ‘truth’ he’d mused was blunt and to the point, because he felt very certain that was the truth there.

It is not entirely horrible— painful as it is, and as cautious as she has to be in which details she speaks...it’s also almost therapeutic, in a form of getting some of the weight off her back. Perhaps you’re helping yourself here, perhaps you’re hurting someone else here— maybe both of you, really ( but she never realizes these things until too late, foolish girl who insists on retreading the same paths like something will change ). It’s...okay, talking about these things; she’s strong, or at least she can act like she is, and this pain isn’t really much in comparison to...other matters. She can get through this.

Ayano is relieved that his immediate questioning isn’t about the story she weaves, even if the topic at hand is perhaps still not any easier. “Why would I...?” Tinge of curiosity, a gentle smile that does not wait for any answer as she resumes speaking. “People may hurt and be hurt, but...that doesn’t mean that the people should be unkind, right? Maybe I’m a little biased here, but...all I’ve ever wanted is to see people be happy. My personal, uhm, philosophy. That doesn’t mean always being kind, but that it’s okay to be that way. Even if everyone else thinks that I’m a fool...I can help people that way, so it’s okay.” With a question like that, she can’t help but wonder if they’re kindred spirits in that way, she can certainly understand where he’s coming from: regardless, she’d like to think that her words are of help to him ( she’s kind enough to avert her gaze whilst he wipes his glasses ).

     OH, now there’s an idea!

❝ I’d meant the two of us. Your idea is much better. Everyone should bring a food item to share. How should we get the word out? ❞

He’s already stowing his art supplies, far more invested in this new project. With no real immediate threat, his survivalist programming turns toward a much healthier goal.

❝ Food is the easiest shortcut to community strengthening. Couldn’t hurt for all of us to come together to meet new faces. ❞

And in a complete 180, he’s smiling. It’s small, but it’s there!

*:・ﾟ☆

Oh, of course— when he says that, it becomes obvious to her that maybe such a thought would not be so welcome ( after all, even if she likes being inclusive, that does not mean they all want to be that way ). Thankfully, he does not seem to take any offense by the derailment of his original plans, though she’s a little hesitant nonetheless. “You’re sure that it’s okay..? I don’t wish to impose if you had wanted something quieter.” It’s as much for her own reassurement as it is an opening to let him change his mind, if he so wishes.

Amalie is clever enough to tell that the other is a bit more at ease than she is. It’s only fair, who knows what she’s lived through, and Amalie isn’t in the position to just come out and ask about it. That would be weird. Sharing ones deepest secrets just isn’t what you do with strangers, that’s weirder. 

“I’m from the United States, but ah, I grew up speaking French alongside my English. So sometimes people assume otherwise. But, it’s a large country, I live on the east coast now, if that offers you any context.” Really, she has no idea if it does. She doesn’t know the geography of the damn country sometimes. 

“I’ve seen a few people who seem more nonplussed about it than I am, but who knows what they live with. I can’t say I ever did much more swimming outside of summers, though.” It’s not her greatest achievement, frankly, she’d refer to herself as terribly mediocre at the whole thing. “What about you? Is this, odd for you?” 

She can only offer an easygoing smile, share some of her calm aura— she supposes that in a more literal manner, she could do exactly that, extend herself a little more than she does, but that’s not exactly something she can just foister onto someone. Not that she’s exactly spilling secrets, but it’d be far from unusual for her to do something against the norm ( but no, nothing good ever comes from that, nor is it the goal at hand here ).

“Mm, vaguely? Geography was never my strong suit...coastlines are rather long though.” Most subjects were not her strong suit, not that it’s here or there at the moment. Besides, the States was a large country, so if she’s got it a little mixed up, it’s probably acceptable. “So your accent is more French then, I take it...?”

As much as he tries to put across his mask, to protect his kindness from being abused - or at least, tried before trying to lessen it somewhat due to it only hurting him in the end - the moments he did trust and open up to others were THAT obvious, huh? If it were a lighter conversation, he might have wanted to laugh at it, at Aya perhaps being right in saying he wore ‘his self’ on his sleeve more evidently than he might like. Not that he’d tell Aya when he was right about something, there’d be no end to the sassing and gloating about it. Still, he can only nod in silent confirmation of the other’s correct guess Marry went a lot to him, but his gaze turned serious on the other swearing him to secrecy regarding this. “…I swear none of this story shall leave my lips. Who is this…’he’ who has so much power over her, wants to hurt her, though?” If it was a being dangerous enough that ‘the best thing he could do was not to get involved at all’, things might be even more serious than he first guessed: though she did have a point both humans and mythical could be bad. “That’s true, but…that doesn’t give anyone the right to treat every single one like they are bad, you know? I suppose that sounds foolish, no doubt, coming from someone who usually mistrusts others very easily and takes a long time to warm up, but…” He was….more than aware of the standoffish demeanour and unpleasant moniker he had due to him using the mask as protection, yes. The only reason this wasn’t a thing here and now, was simply because the other knew someone he knew. He supposed he shouldn’t be so isolated and open up more, but the sad fact was and remained not everyone could be trusted right away - though he pouted and looked cranky at the mention of teasing. “Oy, oy….I get enough of that sort of teasing from dad, don’t give me MORE of it!” The brief moment of levity was gone as swiftly as it appeared, however, he listening to Ayano’s tale. “So…Marry inherited a really powerful ability from her grandma, and because it’s so strong, people would try to take it for themselves and abuse it if they knew, if I were to summarise what you just said?”

She feels a little guilty, almost— she can tell that he’s a genuinely good person ( though then again, when don’t you feel guilty, girl who has failed— ). A moment of silence on her end, fingers tug on scarf and mulls on how she should proceed. She cannot find it in herself to be swayed from the path she’s already decided on, silently apologizes for the fact that she cannot reveal any more of the truth than she’s already deemed to be okay to speak about. It’s the best for everyone, she reminds herself; you know what happens when you speak too much about things out of your control.

Some of the tension leaves her shoulders with the promise— not that she really expects that he would’ve been able to, but she knows Marry would probably be happier if they didn’t talk about it too much more than necessary. “Well...he might not technically be the correct, pronoun. I only remember him having a male host though, so... he’s, uhm, one of the other snakes.” She glosses over the matter of names ( titles, really, might be more accurate ), mostly because it’s not really a matter that would probably make sense. The more details she gives, the messier the story gets, in her mind. “No, I don’t think it sounds foolish. I would say the same, really. There might always be unkind people...but I hope the people here aren’t as bad. For her sake.” Seto’s sake too, but...she think he’s probably a little better at passing for, normal, comparatively; a little less to worry about in that sense. “Besides, it’s people like you that keep her smiling. Sometimes, that’s more than enough.”

     ENCHANTED as he is by the butterfly’s assumption, he had been in the middle of things. It stays put when he moves for his sketchbook and without shifting his gaze from it, begins to sketch out the winged friend with inhuman precision. As soon as he’s finished, he wiggles his nose until the butterfly dislodges itself… to land in his hair like a hairclip. Aw, well. At least he can talk now.

❝ Depends on how many minds are asigned to this sort of project. Our captors are capable of great things. Great, not good. Doesn’t matter to me how precious a project of their’s seems to be. I always assume their’s an alterior motive to it. ❞

It’s the guardian in him. No matter where he is, he prepares for the worst. He assumes the worst. Having Ms. Ayano there, notice that her posture has relaxed, it helps him lift his head out of survival mode. He’s with a friend in a lovely garden. Should trouble arrise, he’ll be ready. It’s not good for the plants (or really any living thing) to be sour all the time.

❝ Kinda nice to have all these hero types crammed in here. Means we can let our hair down. We should have a picnic. ❞

*:・ﾟ☆

Even if it is almost inhuman, the nature of which drawing comes about, some part of her cannot help but envy it— it is nice that some of their memories here can be preserved in such a manner. Precious memories that won’t be forgotten, perhaps...what a wonderous thing that is. What else could one ask for?

A small wince comes with his words; Ayano cannot help but recall another time, powers that be in control much more capable than she’d imagined: after all, they’d yet to win against that person, so...  Smile is a little morose, but you do not let yourself get too down. She doesn’t want to think too much about the second chance that she’s gotten here, after all. “I suppose you have a point...we really don’t know much about what’s going on here, huh? It’d be silly of us to underestimate what could’ve happened here.” But an ulterior motive? That’s a little harder to imagine, but...it’s not impossible either, is it. Ah, she hates being doubtful of people like that, though. It’s too pessimistic of a view; she’s not quite cynical enough for that.

This place carries an uneasiness to it that Amalie doesn’t really appreciate. It’s likely the pressure of the water causing this, though Amalie is more determined to see what’s down here than she is to escape to comfort. This has been a habit for years, the sacrifice of comfort in order to chase the things that put stars in her eyes. 

It’s not fascinating yet, but watching the plants makes her wonder what could be done with them, and what it’s like to be something that nobody has seen in a long long time. 

Moving slowly, she stands at the edges of the gardens, staring out and trying to take in everything at once. It’s an overwhelming tactic, but Amalie doesn’t feel she has the time to sit and analyze each component of this place. After all, the air will only last her so long, and she just needs a break at some point, for her own sake. 

“Back where I’m originally from, I meant. But well, I suppose up and out of the water as well.” Glancing to the plants again, Amalie holds her hand out, but hovers a foot away from anything, unwilling to touch it just yet. “Plants, as I’ve known them have these universal properties. This far underwater seems to, defy what I already know.” 

“And don’t worry.” Amalie looks sheepish, at least for a moment. “I’m no good at coming up with a topic out of nothing, so I understand the difficulty.” 

She doesn’t feel any need to rush; fine with letting the other do as she likes for the moment— well, there is a time limit on how long they can stay down here, but she doesn’t think about that too much. Things are easier, that way...not that she’s always been one to take the easy way out, but well, that’s beside the point, isn’t it. It’s nice to act like things are normal for a moment, and live a little like the girl she is at heart; enjoying pretty things and having a conversation. Normal people things.

“Right, right, of course.” That does sound like the more logical conclusion to come to after all, stupid silly her. “May I ask where you came from, then? If you don’t mind, that is.” Naturally, she can’t help but wonder, but has no desire to make her uncomfortable; she’ll back off it seems like that’s the case. Gaze returns to the plants before them, at least for a moment, a tinge of thoughtfulness. “Is that so? I mean, to begin with, underwater stuff kind of is unique in a sense, isn’t it? I don’t know if I could guess any universal properties that they might share.”

     TALKATIVE sorts are his favorite sorts of people if he’s to be honest. He nods here and there as she yammers on to let her know he’s listening, sketching each kind of blossom he finds with absurd speeds.

❝ My guess is they’d have to breed plant species that could handle the conditions down here. ❞

He’s about to follow up on pollination methods when a butterfly lands right onto his nose, thinking he’s a flower. He goes still, frozen in midair except for his hair waving about, mimicking the ocean currents outside.

*:・ﾟ☆

She’s always a little cautious, gauging— when he does not seem to take any offense to the way she kind of just rambles, just the brief acknowledgement, her shoulders can drop and relax a little. She’s not trying to be a distraction, after all.

“Yeah, but that’d take quite a lot of work, right? It makes you wonder how long this place has been here..or how long something like this has been in the works in general.” She’s not the kind to think too deeply on these kinds of matters, but there’s surely some important concerns to address here.

For now, Amalie is content to avoid the abandoned labs and other more foreboding places accessible under the water. She doesn’t know much about the sea, at least in the form it is on earth, in a world where she knows the rules and regulations of existence. Whether Koi and the surrounding areas follow the laws of nature that ring true for her slice of existence, she just isn’t sure. 

Determined to know a little more, and maybe even find an exception, Amalie takes to the quieter parts of this strange city. The idea of an underwater garden is a magical sort of thing, and entranced by it, Amalie takes the smallest possible sip of water, and ventures out to investigate. 

The place is oddly lit, and full of life that Amalie is not too certain about. Nevertheless, she flocks to someone else exploring, and approaches with clumsy motion, unused to the water and how it forces her to move. 

“I’ve never seen something quite like this. It’s, well, I don’t know much about undersea plant life. I couldn’t begin to imagine if we have things like this at home.” Amalie pauses, and makes an odd face. “I’m sorry, I’m not bothering you, am I? I never think before I start conversations like this.” 

What is it that people say— slow down, stop and smell the flowers? She’s always been one to appreciate the small things, and she thinks this is no different: despite the fact that she perhaps should focus on more important things here. Well, it’s probably fine; it doesn’t seem like they’re on that much of a time crunch ( sorta ). Certainly, she should have enough time to enjoy a nice view, if nothing else.

A not so distant motion grabs her attention, momentarily, but is disregarded— it’s not so odd to think that someone would want to look around this place ( for all she knows, it is a citizen of this city, who Ayano is plenty fine with letting be in that case ). Attention is turned back towards plant life, musing over if she should try using her phone down here for pictures— thinking of someone that she knows that might like such a thing, but...maybe she’ll see them down around a different part of the city. It’s probably not the most pressing matter at hand.

Ah….it’s also true, if the matter being spoken of is much more serious or life-threatening than even his brilliant mind can deduce, that Marry might not want him involved at all: with how hard she seemed to have things, part of him didn’t blame her for not wanting someone else she cared about to suffer the same fate as her family obviously had, so he sighed softly. “I won’t pry if she doesn’t want me to, as I said….but I think you can understand why I wanted to know. It wasn’t for the sake of bringing up bad memories or anything like that, but learning what hurt happened in past so I can try and do more to help her with it now, you get me? Still….if it’s better I drop it, for her sake, I won’t go looking into it anymore.” That being said, he nodded at the scarf-wearer’s next words sadly at his suspicion being outright confirmed. “My world….doesn’t treat mythical beings like that, we live alongside them as friends - so it’s a little sad to hear other places are so unaccepting…humans SUCK, don’t they.” He didn’t even seem to care that was putting himself on the ‘i suck’ list too, because honestly he couldn’t claim to be a ‘good’ human much himself. Yes, they just got off that topic of wether or not he WAS a good person, but the belief he was good wasn’t one he could outright believe right now fully. It’d take time to undo the thoughts ingrained in him by his parents…but, his inner turmoil was disrupted at the mention of a ‘snake’. What snake? He looked puzzled, but mused: “I don’t mind, ask whatever you like.” ….Eh? Why were her eyes all red like that all of a sudden. “…Do you need eye drops or something? Normally only my dad’s eyes are that red. You should really go get that checked out by your doctor or something!” …Well, he certainly seemed a fussy boy, anyway.

Can she understand? Of course, of course, she can understand— empathetic soul can understand both sides to this, drops her hands to her lap. “Obviously. I can see Marry already means a lot to you. It’s only natural that you’d want to know, so...I’ll tell you. But...please don’t speak of this conversation. I think you’ll understand after this that the best thing you can do for her is not being involved. He wouldn’t hurt her anyways, physically speaking.” Since keeping Marry alive is essential to its plans, so at least in that sense, she is ‘safe’.

Smile is small, expression perhaps a bit solemn. “How lucky you are...I’m sure thigns would be easier if everyone could be that understanding. But...it’s not fair to blame humans, even if we’re at fault. Nonhumans can be bad too...” It’s not so black and white as good or evil, human or not, is it? She doesn’t think so.

For a few seconds, he set his gaze on his book once more, finishing up the last sentence he was on before he had to turn to the next page. That book, surprisingly enough was a little different than many would assume he would be reading. That book? Was actually a classic literature novel.  Looking towards the girl once more, he tells her the title of the book. “Oh, it’s the Tale of Genji. I know it’s pretty well known, but I haven’t gotten the chance to actually read the book until now.” He can admit, part of that was because his family had a large array of books in their library. That book was hidden deep inside the gigantic selection, it’d take decades to even get to that book! “It’s a story about a man named Hikaru Genji and the romance he experienced in the Heian period. I just started reading it so I don’t know too much, yet…”

She blinks— should she be able to recognize the title? Well okay, technically, she did recognize it, vaguely enough, so Ayano presumes it must’ve briefly been something they’d studied in school, or maybe from her parents...? It doesn’t really matter, she supposes, in the end, it’s not like she would’ve recognized it either way ( she’s not bright enough to remember stuff like that ).

“Well, not everyone likes to read the same stuff..?” He’s certainly not going to find judgement from her of all people, if that’s what he thinks. “You read quite a lot then, I take it?” Or at least, she presumes that’s what he means; though logic might lead her to consider that it might be just an overall busy schedule that prevented him.

Recognition flickers into her gaze when she notices stand ( and confusion too, a little, but she’s willing to put that aside, really, it feels the norm around here ). She is hardly intimidated by stony expression, if not perhaps a little too friendly towards a stranger— well, not a stranger to her, per say, but that’s...weird. Complicated? Anyways.

“Are you okay..?” She looks a little young even by the standards of most people here, so perhaps it is only natural for eldest sibling to be concerned about a child on her own like this ( even if she herself is, in most senses, still a technical child as well ). That said, even if she’s worried, she doesn’t want to add to the situation and tries not to be too overwhelming with her presence. It’s all right if she keeps an eye on her for the time being, isn’t it?

“I guess an aquarium would be kind of a moot point when the city’s underwater, but...” She tries to not think about the abandoned buildings in the city. Research...was there nothing to do with such underwater creatures? “I can’t help but wonder if the animals haven’t been affected by that too...? Well, I mean, I never was really good at science—” Or any other subject ( and nonsubject ) for that matter “— but normally there’d be some kind of cause and effect, I think...in a situation like this? Then again, most things around here aren’t, ah, normal. Maybe that’s why they can coexist like this. At least they look pretty?” Ah. She’s rambling a little again, isn’t she? Uhhhh, quick, she should change the subject—