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 Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2023 1:36 pm
No part of him had thought he’d made a friend that one time Weissite had met Janggunite to train. He’d just been doing as instructed, and he figured that was commonplace for someone of his rank. Two lieutenants practicing combat together had just seemed right, even if one of them was… very much something else. Kind of a shock to get another message from Jan almost a year later asking to meet up outside of Negaspace.
Captain Jan, at that.
With no strong opinion of the other guy one way or another, Weissite couldn’t come up with a good reason to refuse, so he hung out on the street corner of the requested spot, expecting maybe some sort of draining assignment or something. Nothing else for a half-youma to possibly want to do in the city, besides work.
Sucked there weren’t many out and about during the cold months. All the Christmas rush crowd doing their shopping was gone from the streets, so… what the heck could they be doing out here?
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Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2023 1:39 pm
January flicked the end of his wooly scarf over his shoulder, pink eyes scanning the road from where he sat, perched on the edge of a wrought iron bench on the sidewalk. Admittedly, he did feel a little like an idiot, using his Negaverse tablet to request the presence of someone he barely knew for casual activities.
He should’ve asked Lavendulan to accompany him. January doubted strongly that she would’ve had any objections. …But he didn’t want to steal her away from her partner if they might be enjoying the season together. He respected her enough that he didn’t want to be intrusive on any of her plans. But Weissite (civilian name currently unknown) wasn’t actually his friend, and January knew that he didn’t have a partner or family to be stolen away from, besides maybe the General he served under. So better to be invasive with a lonely not-friend, rather than someone whose opinion he actually valued.
It would be good for both of them to be out with company. It would be. It had to be. He’d reasoned himself into going this far, so no backing out now. Just be brave. And not anxious. Enjoy the few free hours he had in his civilian skin. He could do this. Just be cool. For God’s sake, be cool.
“Weissite,” he invited quietly as soon as he spotted the other man standing on the corner. January spared a quick glance around to ascertain they were alone before moving to greet him. “You can power down,” he advised. “I don’t really want to be seen with a Negaverse agent while I’m in my glamor. I’m January- Janggunite.” And then, because maybe it was appropriate for Weissite to know why the hell they were even here, January offered him the tiniest smile and said, “Want to get some tea? Or coffee. Whatever you drink.”
Ridiculous. He felt like a ridiculous idiot.
“I thought it would be nice to be out for a while with someone else.” He didn’t get to be normal terribly often. “Would you be willing to accompany me?” What January didn’t do was tell Weissite ’don’t feel obligated to agree!’
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Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2023 1:41 pm
White-haired guy sitting alone on a bench. Weissite would’ve thought nothing of it. And when the guy approached him, it was just an invitation to be Weissite’s victim. Then- “You? You’re Janggunite. You look-” ‘Normal’ was probably unkind, so Weissite just left the statement unfinished. Half-youma were still not something he was well versed in. Didn’t expect to just see him looking all like a regular person in regular clothes.
He’d almost prefer not to power down, but even in glamor, Janggunite was a Captain, above him in rank, and Weissite didn’t figure it’d be great if it got back to his General Rakovanite that he was out being belligerent.
With a little shrug, he let the Chaos slip off of him, leaving just Tanwyn, staring pretty uncertainly back at the other.
“I’m Tanwyn.” And as much as part of him wanted to say ‘pass’ on the drinks, he didn’t have anything better to do, no reason not to explore his bizarre Negaverse connections, nothing that felt like an excuse to refuse. A reason to explore anything else interesting about Jan? He nodded consent. “If you want, Captain. Got a place in mind?” Hope so, since it had been his idea.
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Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2023 1:43 pm
He had to force himself to keep smiling, despite how January could hear the ’You? You look so normal, not like a monster at all,’ hanging off the edge of Weissite’s sentence. Keep it together. He wanted to be in a good mood. He wanted to relax. Wanted it to be a good day. Breath. Inhale, exhale. Calm. He’d learned to do this his whole life. Force peace. Weissite didn’t finish the comment, and the other man powered down per January’s request.
“Tanwyn. It’s nice to meet you like this.” And January was quite proud of his ability to keep the bitterness out of his voice, but not the vaguely-disgusted little crinkle of his nose at Tanwyn’s designation of Captain at him. “Enough of that,” January dismissed it with a flick of delicate fingers. “Wouldn’t want anyone to hear it, darling.”
Alright. Be casual. He could do this.
“There are still a few wintery shops around. I would’ve liked to go to that ‘Holiday Village’ they had set up last month, but, oh, they took it all away so quickly once the new year rolled in.” He’d had a month, and he should’ve gone, but sometimes it felt difficult to get into his glamor for anything but work, like it was wasteful to spend it doing anything besides corroborating on his business. This was an extremely infrequent outing.
“It’ll be fine to go elsewhere,” he relented. “There’s a breakfast place nearby with seasonal drinks? I think they get new offering every month or so, so it’s never boring to go there. I think it’s called Mimosa House, or something like that.”
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Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2023 1:45 pm
Right. Not Janggunite. And not Captain.
“Nice to meet you- January?” He said in question, as if just now catching that that was what this guy had introduced himself as. “That’s your name? It’s… unique.” It was weird, but maybe he’d picked it himself, or something, after his half-youma ‘rebirth.’ Hell if Tanwyn knew.
“I’m not very picky,” he admitted. And wasn’t really a big spender in specialty shops or anything. Too expensive, when he could make his own drinks at home.
Tanwyn had gone to that holiday village before, though. Not this year, and not last, either. But he’d gone with his family the year prior. Taken his wife ice-skating and through the scavenger hunt maze, taken his son to see Santa Claus and the huge, lit tree they had in the village center. They’d bought fudge and a special ornament for their own tree. …And he probably wouldn’t do anything like it ever again.
With a quiet shrug, he mumbled, “You didn’t miss much. The breakfast is probably better. Didn’t figure you’d be the type to have anything alcoholic first thing in the morning, though.” Not that he expected much would come from a mimosa or two. Maybe it did sound pretty good.
“Yeah, I’m in. I could have a bite.”
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