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 Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 9:44 am
"Murder?" the girl repeats, laughing a little - he is joking, right? "Daddy doesn't want to kill him."
As for where they were, "It's a secret." Kumoru had told Lucretia that he did not want Setsushi there, so, well, she could not have told the Knight even if she wanted to.
Lucretia glances back over her shoulder at the game timer, then gestures to Setsushi's fries. "Hurry up and finish, next game is in seven minutes."
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 12:49 pm
Setsushi stares at her laugh. A vague shudder of fear and nausea moves through him, and he grips one of his hands tightly in the other, as if trying to restrain something.
"Courtship would result in death," he says softly, quickly, in an anxious tone. "I have explained this." The heartbroken Porcelain man -- if Kouyo is unable to escape, he could die...
... and then his fear suddenly deadens; he blocks off his projections with a silent, icy, heavy wall, and his gaze upon Lucretia changes to one of piercing intensity. "It is also possible," he says, suddenly perfectly calm and logical, "that Madame's father does not wish to kill him but rather to dissect or destroy him in a different way. Or perhaps it is not his wish to kill, but Madame's?
"May I request evidence that this is not true, and that I have not been lured here to make his execution simpler?" And as he asks this, he lowers that wall a little to project a feeling of sincerity: Setsushi truly does hope that he is having a paranoid reaction, and that he is reading sadistic motives into innocent actions.
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 1:35 pm
Lucretia stares back at the Knight, her features suddenly blank, though the wings on her head flare their feathers slightly. "Why would I want to kill him? I like him just fine, and so does my father. He and Kouyo had some sort of fight, and I wished to set things right between them."
She crosses her arms, the air around her beginning to grow colder. "My father is already in love with someone else anyway, and he knows better than to break anyone's heart on Valentine's Day. All he wanted was to make amends, and I'm helping him." Lucretia continues to study Setsushi, her black eyes narrowing slightly. "You're so suspicious. That must be why he wanted me to be sure you would not interfere."
A faintly hurt look crosses the Ice Rose's face for a moment before vanishing again, and she adds, "I swear that part of me just wanted to spend time with you, though, and play some laser-tag."
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 1:59 pm
"I am not sure it is entirely unreasonable to extrapolate from the observation of tears, terror, and suffering, the violent and promiscuous tendencies of humans, the known practice of an art involving the sadistic destruction, enslavement, and torture of 'lesser beings,' and an atmosphere of deception and secrecy -- and to suspect from the convergence all these things that there might be a risk of danger?"
... Of course, Setsushi is an overly suspicious person, he admits as he relaxes his walls somewhat; but then, those who trust too easily are the ones who are taken advantage of and slaughtered, at least in some cultures.
"If Kouyo is indeed not in danger of being murdered, I can continue to entertain Madame," he says, in a calm tone, and takes a long sip of water.
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 2:48 pm
The Raevan bristles with anger, the scant moisture in the air beginning to condense around her in a light fog. "And you mean to say you think my father is violent and takes pleasure in harming others?" she snarls at the Porcelain.
"Your Kouyo is fine, now take what you said back!"
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 3:01 pm
Setsushi seems to start a little bit backwards, as if he was not quite expecting a reaction of such, well, violence, but he relaxes again, his expression staying calm.
"I do not know what Madame's father is truly like," he says, continuing the calm and mild tone, "only that he has in the past, purposefully or unintentionally, harmed Kouyo; and that human necromancers, after coming to our world with gifts and sweet words, drew out the souls of Porcelain through fine tubes, observed the extinction of children in galvanized chambers, and removed the eyes of living men to poke sticks up into their skulls.
"I do not make any accusation of personal wrongdoing -- but I see a history and a connection, and thus I do not find it unreasonable to be afraid."
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 3:27 pm
The Raevan seems to relax a little as well, her face returning to the rather blank mask it had been a few moments before. She glances at Setsushi, then down at her ice cubes, then at Setsushi again before her brow furrows slightly, and she informs him, "That's seriously disgusting."
Lucretia sets her meal aside and rests her elbows on the table. "Daddy would do no such things. If he wanted your Kouyo's soul, he would kill him first, and I know Daddy likes him much better alive. They're probably just talking about magic things. Both of them enjoy magic, right?"
"... You're not supposed to tell your girlfriend about gross things while she's eating." The Ice Rose crosses her arms again and half-turns away from the Knight at her seat.
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 3:40 pm
"I am not able to be as confident as you are" regarding Kumoru's intentions; but when Setsushi says this his tone and projections are tinged with regret rather than hostility. Because -- well, he decides not to continue with the reasons, for those are concerns of the Porcelain, not of Madame who is not involved.
In fact, after a moment, he sends a very sober apology to Lucretia, for inflicting more pain on her than was necessary. He just wanted her to understand that... "We are mice." If Setsushi shows vitriol too quickly it is because he speaks from the position of fear.
He sits with his head bowed a little, giving off a feeling of regret and sadness -- it is only really his brows, at a still-slightly resentful angle, that shows the other feelings he is concealing in his heart.
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 4:11 pm
"Maybe you just need to get to know Daddy better," she tells him quietly. "Your Kouyo will be at home by the time we're done here, and if he's not, then it isn't my father's fault."
Lucretia jumps up suddenly and reaches again for Setsushi's hand, "Oh, right, it's almost time for our next game! Finish your fries or you'll have to abandon them!"
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 4:20 pm
Setsushi gives Lucretia a look that implies some degree of doubtfulness, but he obligingly finishes the rest of his tiny meal, cleaning himself delicately with a single napkin while he speculates on potato souls and the Silver World -- not quite privately, but to himself.
Right -- he'll do his best. This time around should be a bit better.
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 6:51 pm
...
By the end of the third game, Lucretia shows no outward indications at all that she even remembers the prior altercation with her date. The Raevan energetically hovers around Setsushi, inadvertently generating a bit of a chilly breeze, though it might be welcome after the slightly stuffy laser-tag arena.
"You're really not as bad as you were saying you were before," she tells him before drifting over to the counter to wait for score sheets.
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 7:02 pm
"It is getting easier," he replies. "But if the game recognized the head as a valid target, I might have managed a higher score."
A little bit of a feeling of amusement leaks from him, but for the most part he has been half-walled and meditative. This state of mind seems to have vastly helped his concentration at the game, but his already poor ability to make small talk has dwindled away to nearly nothing.
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 7:31 pm
As she calms down after the rush of the game, the Ice Rose glances back at Setsushi and asks him, "Did you end up having fun, at least? And would you want to come play again sometime?"
Maybe Lucretia ultimately did not really care whom she came with so long as she was not playing alone, but the Porcelain Knight had been a much more successful player than Bhel, at least.
Since they are done with all of their games now, the girl also figures she probably does not need her black sheet anymore, and loosens it a little to let herself cool off a bit. She does not remove it entirely, though, remembering at least that her bare shoulders would bother her date, though the why of it still escapes her.
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 7:37 pm
The act of loosening her cloak draws Setsushi out of his reverie, and he swiftly looks away, wiping the light sweat that is entirely due to the activity of the game off his brow.
"If it is important to Madame," he responds, his projections friendly and deferential, "though I am sure there are many others who would make a better partner than I."
He very cautiously peeks up at her -- and, greatly relieved she is not indecent, he looks at her directly and smiles. "Was your Valentine's Day pleasant?" he asks her in return, friendly again, but rather formalized.
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Posted: Fri Feb 27, 2009 7:47 pm
The Raevan smiles and nods. "Thank you very much for coming with me, Setsushi. Did you enjoy your first Gaian Valentine's Day?"
She prods at his shoulder with one finger. "And like I told you, you're better than my brother at this game already. I wouldn't want to have to fight against you, that's for sure."
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