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 Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2014 7:24 am
"That's okay... Oh yeah. Speaking of which, you didn't actually tell me where exactly you went. I mean, um. I couldn't recognize most of the scenery or structure there, so um..."
It was truth, but even then his words held a bit of a lie. He had to ask a certain endoscopist about the trees he saw, as well as the building (temple?) that she had went to. Of course, he certainly was not prepared for the History of Japan lesson his colleague had sat him down for. Neither did he remember half of it. Must have been too tired.
"... Lots of people."
He said it like it was fact. Which it probably was, but that was not the point, anyway. People, huh. Did he come off as sociable? Not dangerous? Not perceived as a threat to humanity that, if he so wished to, would have strangled all the the humans and caused a third wave of the Black Death? That...
That was surprising! It means he had succeeded! Somewhat! It was a start! On his way to recovery! Or at least, on his way to thawing out a little more in public. And maybe knowing how to interact with patients a lot better. And also not turning the entire room into solid ice whenever he managed to screw something up in terms of extreme fear.
Or maybe it was a joke. Not intended to have that effect of making him perk up a little, but it did so anyway. Which might come off as a predatory instinct to her? He did have a casualty toll on his name, after all. All outside of work, but casualties nonetheless. Right. Settle down, there's nothing to be so excited about. Just words, after all.
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Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2014 11:00 pm
"Oho~ Want to know where you were, do you?" Well, most people would. "I said it was Sendai, did I not?" Not really what he had asked. There seemed to be some momentary avoidance going on, as she looked unsettled while she played with her hair. "It was... Zuihoden. The mausoleum of Date Masamune." She clutched her hair ever tighter. An odd time for her to be sensitive about her unfathomable age, but it seemed impossible for her to hide her feelings. "Anything else you want to know... you have but to ask."
She didn't quite understand the repetition of words but decided that explaining a little more couldn't hurt. "Mm. I am not always such a loner on trips, or otherwise..." Could've fooled him, probably, based on her track record with him. "I just like having you to myself." She was probably too proud of that, complete with a blushy grin. "Well. I would be glad to take you, but I'm not sure taking a mere piece of you would work so well in that case. Social obligations, and the like. I mean~ It is harder to experience things like that, is it not?" Probably simple logic that didn't need to be stated but she did so with a smile anyway. "Ahh~ Still probably impossible. But the idea makes me happy, regardless."
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Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2014 2:15 am
Alright, he would have to go look it up. Pressing her at this moment may not be the best thing. Yes, probably really easily discouraged, but infringing on someone else's more tender nerves would be pretty disastrous. He had only tried it once, and nearly ended up getting hacked to pieces for his effort. She might not go to that extent, but he was not going to be trying that again anytime soon. However, another history lecture was also not what he wanted to sit through again, so...
But he could watch. An eye in a can was what, maybe a semi-permanent periscope on his face? With a hearing aid. Something like that. And not having a mouth basically meant that he did not need to talk to anyone, all the better. The general lack of not-trying-to-appear-menacing-or-sulky would be great for his isolated mentality.
"I hope you are okay with that, at least. I'd try and go as a whole, but... well..."
The nature of the factors preventing him, there was that.
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Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2014 7:50 pm
"Qu-quite okay! More than okay." As sentimental as she was, she didn't want it to lead to her seeming ungrateful. "In a strange way, it was... really quite wonderful." Her mind began to drift off to a strange sweet place that she awkwardly struggled to not be completely lost within. "I... I mean... !" It seemed to be futile struggle. "While it does have its disadvantages..." Some seemingly negligible, for someone willing to flirt with a can. Still, a quiet contentment came over her face and hushed her voice. "It made me feel much better. Not only as a relief to the solitude that I hate but am resigned to so often, but..." Maybe any hesitation just seemed arbitrary at that point, but despite her willingness to express her feelings in actuality she still wasn't used to having them and certainly not used to sharing them so freely. "Unless I actively thought about it, it really was like the actual distance between us didn't matter much at all."
But in case there was someone whose teeth hadn't rotten out yet from her sweet sentimentality, the apex of said sweet feelings actually hadn't been reached just yet. Was it odd to see a creature of much death and destruction looking, well, shy and delicate? Her struggle to hide it continued to seem to be an ineffective effort, and what she said next accentuated that point. "Your willingness to come with me is the important part, regardless of the form it takes."
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Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2014 8:43 pm
"I see."
He took note. Maybe he could come up with an alternative for the can? The mental image of her carrying it around and talking to it must have looked very odd to the people that noticed - that is, if they even cared. It was a reason for him to start his mind working on something, though, rather than letting it stagnate outside of work or reading the same books for the millionth time.
"If form doesn't matter, would you rather a more practical form or..."
He wanted to say cute. He really did want to. But the thought of making himself look that saccharine-fueled already seemed like an impossibility. Maybe he should go ask someone else to draw him something he could work on as a design.
".... or something more familiar looking than a can with an eye?"
Following his thought train, he might be able to make it move, maybe hide in her purse like a little dolly or walk along with her, if he could get used to walking in two different areas at the same time first, anyway. That might take a while.
And thanks to that, he was too deep in thinking to notice a small white rabbit hopping onto the table, taking a knife and trying to cut out a large slice of cake. Perhaps for itself? Its master certainly did have that aversion to cake.
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Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2014 11:12 pm
Her eye was bright from the implications of the subject at hand. "Surely something that is more usable for you would be best, yes?" Someone that freely talked to dead people and eyeballs probably wasn't too terribly concerned with her own purposes related such an endeavor. "And well..." Of course she was amused. Pretty much everything about that can was funny. "As much as it holds value as something given to me by you, that can has probably seen better days." Both thrown by an overpowered demon and stepped on by someone. Structurally sound enough, apparently, but probably just barely. "So pretty much anything you could come up with would have a higher aesthetic quality to it."
Being that the intruder was now attacking the chocolate, it didn't escape her notice this time. She mostly observed, and an attempt at voicing her concern didn't quite come out as intelligible. "What is..." A tilt of the head. "How is..." Another tilt of the head. "What are..." She seemed to be more baffled by its presence and what it was doing rather than what it happened to be.
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Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2014 11:29 pm
Ah, then what he had in mind might do. And also it would put quite a few skills to work, good thing too. And...
... Uh... What's she looking at?
.... What's this rabbit doing here?
... Wait, this rabbit is...!
It glanced at her, hesitating as if it was expecting her to swat it away, then on the account of inaction it popped the large slice into its mouth, toppings and all. For a tiny rabbit to devour a slice nearly as big as it was, that...
.... The only thing he could think of was that he was followed here. Panicking, he grabbed the nearest blunt object (the only thing was his now-empty plate) and was more than ready to bludgeon the brains out of the poor thing.
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Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 2:50 am
Oh, it had made a mistake. It had upset him. Even if it upset him by simply existing, it was still a mistake. Her predatory instinct came forth in an instant. She snatched it away in a grip that wouldn't kill it but that it was unlikely to escape from. That cold focus was gone from her eye by the time she looked over, replaced with concern for him. "Are you all right?" Her voice was calm and quiet. What chance she had of soothing him was questionable, but it probably couldn't hurt to try. At the very least, she'd have no qualms with any dirty work that might be necessary. "What is this?"
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Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 3:03 am
It bucked around in her hand helplessly, little paws raised just in time to save the sphere it had been carrying from getting crushed as well. But nope, stuck fast.
He paused, then slowly lowered his plate. Looks like she had beaten him to the punch. Okay then.
"... Yes. Sorry. Um. It ate the cake."
Distractions, distractions, avoiding questions in progress. He knew very well what that damn rabbit was, and why it was here. And nope, it wasn't for the cake. But that factor added a lot more to the severity of the punishment he was starting to plan out for it and its respective owner.
"... Remember that time you mentioned something about me getting followed in here by enemies?"
Red eyes lock on to that sphere the rabbit was desperately clinging to. He tried taking it, only to have the little thing bend as far backwards as it could to prevent him from grabbing it. That meant that it was active, and if it was active, then...
"... What is it with you!?" he cried, this time grabbing the fork and attempting to stab at the sphere with it. The rabbit chittered, pleading at Amarante with huge, watery eyes to save it.
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Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 3:36 pm
"Hnn~" It wasn't difficult to discern that not noticing the cake was being disturbed and the pretense of upset over it didn't exactly fit together. Just as well. Couldn't expect much in a public place, either. Still, she wasn't discouraged from asking questions when necessary. Maybe there'd be answers when she'd least expect it.
The fact that said enemy was a rabbit didn't seem to bother her in the slightest. "Already? You're too popular, Eru. In the worst ways." She was mostly teasing, of course. "That's all right. I am too!"
She observed the fork stabbing with some interest. "So, what it has is the problem?" Mostly a rhetorical question. Her expression and tone became unsettlingly cheerful as she spoke to the rabbit. "What's worth more to you, your mission or your life? Are they one in the same? I wonder~" Whether it could understand her or not mattered very little, but maybe it would relay the message to someone that could. "What a pitiful owner you must have, sending you into a certain death situation like this. What you have probably matters more to them than you do." She did feel some pity, but nothing further. "I'm not really interested in killing you. But I would, so he wouldn't have to. But it'd be nice to settle this peaceably..." She seemed more bored and annoyed than anything, continuing to ramble as she continued to hold the rabbit. "Ahh~ Really, even in my own space we can't spend some time alone together without some voyeur bothering us with a rabbit? Hmph~" Maybe her assumption wasn't entirely sensical but what little she knew didn't make sense anyway. "I bet we wouldn't have rabbits watching us if we'd gone upstairs."
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Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 6:50 pm
"B-But...! But it's.... "
He caught himself before he exploded. No use raging on the servant, he could always go and take it out on the master later. Right. Don't make a scene in public, people are watching. He settled back down, still glaring daggers at the rabbit. It squeaked uneasily, cowering even more behind the sphere. Looks like it was not going to be dropping it anytime soon. Maybe it was too stubborn to let go, or too fearful. Either way.
"He would have trained it to climb, so going upstairs would make us get watched from the window anyway. And as of now, we still are."
The pesky little rabbit's eyes widened some more, then quickly hid the sphere behind itself as it caught on to his words. But it was more than enough to tick him off, he quickly gathered his things, boxed up any remains of the cake and took the empty plates to return them at the counter.
"I apologise, but we have to cut this short, Ama. Until I drill the meaning of 'private life' into someone's head. Or...."
He shoots a fleeting glance at the both of them. For that single moment, something darker stirred behind his eye, making the rabbit squirm and squeak a lot more. Whatever he was planning, it certainly was something that it would learn to be very, very scared of. It trembled, eyes looking all around, then its long foot tried kicking at the table, still trying to make a run for it.
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Posted: Mon Jul 07, 2014 11:55 pm
She looked between the two of them curiously. "I can still kill it, if you like." From the sigh that followed it was clear that she found it more of a hindrance than anything else. "Ah, the mood was spoiled before it even really got started~ I'm in no particular mood to get blood on these clothes, either." She continued to not be the slightest bit shy about her willingness, however, with a bright smile. "Better me than you, though. The only emotion I feel regarding the matter is an eagerness to please you."
And while she had no desire to provoke his ire herself... she couldn't help but quietly admire the trepidation he could drive into the rabbit simply by looking at it. Most definitely a strange thing to be smitten by. But being that it wasn't directed towards her person, she really did find it to be truly sublime. Not the occasion to be making comments about it, however, no matter how magnificent of an impression he was making upon her.
"Mm~" There was a sound of disappointment, even if she'd already acknowledged that the situation had soured. "I suppose it can't be helped. Did you need this?" She motioned to the contents of her handbag. "And how about this?" The rabbit was held up for his examination. "Box it up for you so that it may be summarily returned to the person that supplied it, perhaps?" Or perhaps not, but she had to find some amusement in such an annoying nuisance.
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 2:25 am
Okay.... That was odd. She had completely caught him off guard with that comment, and that alone manage to displace most of his anger with confusion instead. He had to stand there for a minute, trying to wrap his mind around why she would say that (eager to please? But it wasn't her obligation to do it?) and... Oh, never mind. That would be a question he could ponder over at home, not here. And speaking of going home!
"Oh yeah."
In his haste to wreak his revenge on the roommate he had completely forgotten about what he needed to get back. Just like him, as always. Putting that thought on ice, he went to ask for a takeaway box to put it away in, then came back for the can.
"I don't think I should be putting anyone off their food so um, mind if you pass the can? I'll return it quick!"
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 5:28 pm
She'd be happy to explain, probably much to his dismay, had he expressed his confusion. But since he hadn't, oblivious and adoring she remained!
"....." Someone wasn't having second thoughts, but someone was realizing he'd have no obligation to stay or return once she'd returned what she'd borrowed. "Right~" She more observed herself make the motions for the action rather than propelling herself to do it. What was the alternative, after all? Try to keep it? Not even a consideration. Once the can was out, she carefully handed it over. "Here."
And with that, she was back to being almost sullenly quiet. Another issue that wasn't of much importance, but made all the more into a focal point by her refusal to completely give in. Accepting her feelings was hard enough, but it was another ordeal entirely to not instinctually dig her heels in as some sort of effort to try to protect herself from the same emotional damage as before. It was too late, but there was still some resistance left despite appearances. Both outside and inside forces had forced an unsteady progression, after all. And still, there was a bit of a mental push involved. As if someone had pushed where her head met her neck, forcing her to stumble forward a step without meaning to do so. Dead men should really mind their own business.
"When..." The words were being blurted out, much to her consternation. "When can I see you again?" Not that happening upon him was particularly difficult or rare. But even if the answer was uncertain or negative, the question expressed an intent quite clearly.
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Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2014 7:07 pm
One rush to the washroom later, he was back with the empty can and the eyepatch off. Good, it felt a lot better being able to see out of both eyes again. And whoops! Narrowly managed to avoid walking into the edge of the counter this time. Hooray, no more injuries!
No wait, there would be injuries later. Never mind, no more careless injuries, then. He gave her back the empty can and put the boxes away.
But - oh.
Hmm. He felt his face go red again. He should cut that habit of blushing one day, it was making him feel even more embarrassed.
"If... If I can piece myself back together afterwards, then any time you want? Though um, I suggest not turning up at the house just yet, we both might be tempted to have a go at a murderous rampage on one of its occupants, and the other might take a bad example from that."
But that little girl would not be coming back from school for a good few hours, more than enough time to paint the bedroom walls with scrap metal and wire sponge - And I thought I was the insane one around here? - ah, he was going overboard. But the offer still stood.
"Unless you can't wait a day, and would rather come by and help in the, ahem, rabbit hunt?"
Which earned him another frightened kick from the rabbit box.
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