aerialassault | Appointments

I'm not really one to do much of the writing-- too many other things going on [Battle lines to keep track of, people and places to monitor, face-to-face meetings set up between people from completely different star systems...] But, if we're not thinking literally, then I did a lot of talking to people and researching myself if there was any information to be had.

[He took the soap himself, and scrubbed the suds over his skin with more attention than he usually gave it. He was the sort who showered in the morning when he was able to, but it was fairly habitual task anymore. He didn't know how long it had been since he had actually taken the time to enjoy his own rituals.

Besides, this was a new experience. He wanted to learn from it.]

How about you-- did you do much reading or writing?

I was too busy with the war and keeping the capital safe. [A task he didn't regret in the slightest, although his expression briefly turned melancholy as he waited for the water to refill in his bucket. He never travelled beyond Hino, Edo and Kyoto. His friend, however, had a long journey to Ezo awaiting them, one which he would never make. He wondered if he read travel books when sitting in the back room, waiting to die, or if he spent his days trying only to hear news of his friends. The moment passed quickly enough and he began rinsing himself off, mindful of his wings.]

But I hope to in the future. I always wanted to travel like the other captains sometimes did to Osaka, but never had the chance. It must have been wonderful to be able to talk to so many people and learn of their worlds.

[Cliff didn't know Souji's future-- That era was considered ancient history in his time line, and he only had a basic understanding of pre-star date history on Earth-- but he glanced over when he caught that brief pause. There were times when he wondered about what went on in those silences...but, he had his secrets too.

He began to rinse off the rest of the bubbles while he pondered the question.]

It's been interesting...but also sorta frustrating. My people have only been active on an intergalactic scale for about a century or so, so there's still a lot of pressure to either conform to Federation standards or go home. There's a lot we've gotta learn still, but that pressure kinda takes the fun out of it sometimes.

Ugh, pressure always takes the fun out of everything. [Souji rolled his eyes and dumped the rest of the water over himself, making sure the soap was cleared.]

We had to host guests of our Lord Matsudaira sometimes and it was soooo boring. Everyone had to be all proper, I wasn't allowed to spy on them, Hijikata-san got all grumpy-- well, grumpier, sometimes we had to shove Tetsu-kun into a closet and have Yamazaki-san impersonate him to keep up good appearances. And trying to keep Tetsu-kun quiet when he was tied and gagged in a closet is not easy. He's such a feisty thing for someone so young and short.

I can only imagine how much more boring it must have been to have some larger standard to hold up to.

[He leaned forward a bit, smiling as he looked over at Cliff.]

Although you say it's only been a century and my people are hundreds of centuries from that still. Your world is very interesting, Cliff-san. I'm sure you and your people will make it.

[Holy crap, Souji. The short, feisty thing sounded like a bratty half-pint he sometimes pretended not to know-- Cliff laughed.]

Ya think so? I'm thinking it'll work too, even if the negotiations are a pain in the ass sometimes. There's still plenty of ways to divvy things up-- and I'm no stranger to trying different things.

[Souji laughed in turn.]

Yes, I can see that. You are trying a public bath for the first time, after all. If you can do that, I'm sure you can negotiate peace, yes?

[He grinned and gathered his things up, wrapping his towel around his waist.]

Ready for the best part?

[Cliff chuckled, wistfully dreaming of the day when negotiations would be as simple as taking a bath, and once more followed Souji's example in proper hot springs protocol.]

Ready? I've been ready for this since the first snow.

[translation: since he had returned from his abduction, since he had missed the first snowfall.]

[He smiled and opened the door, shivering a little at the blast of cold air that rushed in. He made sure to pick up the bottle of sake and the drinking set before he headed toward the hot springs themselves, more than ready to soak in what was his first time here. The steam from the water rose up and reminded him of home and he stopped at the edge of the rocks, setting his wooden bucket down and removing his towel before stepping into the water and sinking in up to his neck. The warmth was instantaneous and he turned back, smiling at Cliff.]

Saizou is going to be so mad at me for not bringing him. Hurry in, the temperature is perfect.

You're just gonna have to avoid telling him 'bout it then. No biggie.

[Said with a grin as he removed his towel and sank into the spring, savoring the blissfull warmth of the water that was like a miracle in the middle of a frigid winter. He settled into a place near Souji and leaned up against the wall, stretching and relaxing as he admired the steam swirling into the air.]

It really is perfect. It's almost like something out of a storybook.

[After he'd let the heat sink into his bones, he turned and prepared the sake. Pouring it into the serving bottle, he dunked the wooden bucket into the water and then set it inside to heat. It wouldn't take long to reach the right temperature and he spoke as he worked.]

I'll try to keep it secret from him - and while I'm not sure about storybook, they were a very popular destination for the travel journals my people read.

[He smiled faintly, looking over at Cliff.]

But what really makes it nice is the company.

[Cliff glanced down at Souji, smiling himself.]

The company's the best best thing about this place. This place just get more...special. Maybe that's why it seemed like something from a book.

[He laughed as he settled back into the water, bringing the wooden bucket and its sake bottle with it. With the water up to his shoulders, he relaxes back and balances the bucket so it doesn't go under.]

Something from a book, hm? And what sort of books were you thinking of then?

Fairy tales.

[He chuckled, and winked at Souji in his teasing.]

It seems almost like the perfect set up for one. In this weather it's almost unreal.

And what sort of fairy tale would you write with us being the stars?

I'm not sure either of us qualifies to be the 'damsel in distress.' [he laughed a little and then tested the sake bottle, noting how warm it was getting.] That's a thing in those stories, yes? At least, western ones?

[East. West. The distinction didn't matter to a man who hailed from a different planet entirely. While he learned the basics during his days in school, it was still all part of a separate category for him. The details from days long past weren't nearly as important to him as the people he met in the present, after all.]

Nah, we don't need any 'damsels in distress' for this. [He said, thoughtfully.] It can just be about a couple'a warriors who find themselves in a strange land and get to know eachother. These two people might be very different, and they probly would never have met otherwise, but...somehow, they come to rely on eachother while they're trying to figure out the place.

They don't all need to be about princesses and rescuing them from very old and very jealous dragons.

[Souji smiled and poured a small cup of sake for Cliff, handing it over to him. His story sounded like less of a fairy tale as he had come to know them during his time in Luceti and more like just their story, straightforward as it was. Once Cliff took his cup, Souji's smile quirked a little at the corner.]

Can't we have at least one very jealous dragon? They make for such exciting villains.

They do...

[The hot sake was a much appreciated gesture for Cliff to keep from analyzing the memories too hard. That same straightforward little tale was a summation of his experiences, and a little jab at how even stories that were ancient in his time reflected the realities of how people were. Little things stayed the same throughout different eras and different worlds.

Even Souji's Japan, in effect, was a different world.]

Yeah, we can totally toss a dragon in. [Cliff smiled and mulled over the sake, trying to figure out who the dragon would be in this fairy tale.] I already told you I'm not much a writer, but there's no rule saying it has to be a solo project.

[With the dragon set to appear in the story, Souji smiled and leaned back, pouring himself a cup of sake, too. While the taste wasn't exactly his favorite, it was rude to make someone drink by themselves and this was sort of like their first...date-thing.

Souji lifted the cup to his lips and took a small sip as he thought over Cliff's proposal.]

There's always your angry skirt friend. He has that claw and he hates me, so that's a start?

[He laughed at that and set his free hand down, being careful to place it just close enough to Cliff's hand that their fingers barely touched.]

[Cliff watched Souji get himself comfortable with the sake, a little surprised that he was going to join him in partaking of the drink. He was under the impression that Souji didn't drink...

But, he felt the fingers brush his and he smiled, curling his fingers gently around Souji's. In a weird way, it was sort of like a date.

Cliff lifted his little cup in a salute before taking a small sip himself, simply enjoying just how right it felt.]

Who, Albel? [He laughed a little.] S'pose he is sorta like a dragon. He acts like that to everyone.

Then he's perfect for the role. [The hand taking his was welcome, but he had to look away for a moment to hide the faint flush on his face. He wasn't accustomed to affection, besides when he was teasing someone, and knowing that Cliff actually felt something for him was still a foreign and almost inconceivable idea. It would take him some time to wrap his mind around the concept of him being worthy of such things. When the immediate reactive blush was mostly gone, he turned back.

Then he laughed and raised his cup to Cliff as well even if he didn't take an immediate drink.]

I think our story is forming up quite nicely now.

[He had to laugh a little himself when Souji turned away for the barest of moments to hide his reddening cheeks. Such relations were strange for him as well, if for very different reasons.

This time, it seemed like those reasons weren't even valid.]

Ya think so? I was just pullin' stuff from off the top of my head.

['Write what you know,' was the old adage. Cliff was merely drawing from experience.]

That's how all stories start.

[Souji turned his hand slightly, taking hold of Cliff's fingers beneath the water. Rather than look at him, he stared up at the sky, a faint smile on his face.]

And how they all work themselves out, I think - spontaneously.

Yeah, they really do.

[He didn't know whether Souji was speaking about literature any longer, or about life itself...but, the question didn't matter as those fingers returned the silent, unseen gesture of affection and loyalty.]

[He stayed that way for a bit, relaxing into the hot water and the company and the strange but welcome sensation of a hand holding his. He still wasn't sure if this was how people were supposed to do things. He rarely even knew how people lived day to day without patrols and training and killing at least one rebel samurai, so this was uncharted territory for him. All he knew of affection came from teasing and watching people go to Shimabara - and knowing of Akesato and her relationship with Yamanami. But those were all bought women, certainly Akesato and Yamanami were in love, but they were women of the redlight district. It wasn't how...relationships worked.

And at that moment, Souji realized he had no idea how relationships worked. Was this normal? Was he being strange? What if he was moving too quickly, already willing to touch Cliff? What if it was too slowly and it was unsatisfactory? What was supposed to happen in relationships that weren't one-sided semi-dysfunctional co-dependence? He'd been following after Hijikata for so long, that he'd never really learned what to do if he'd ever found anyone else.

The realization punched him in the gut and Souji loosened his grip, not sure if he should have even come here in the first place. Baths were normal, yes, but holding hands in one? Definitely not. He panicked and tried to swallow it down, succeeding only by sheer willpower as he asked Cliff what he hoped sounded like an innocent question.]

...Is this normal? For your world, I mean.

[The question was loaded with as many meanings as there were definitions of 'world' as it was in this land. The sheer gap in time frame, culture, and experience that existed between them became startlingly vast questions arose, and once more Cliff found himself wondering about how Souji's own definitions of these compared to his.

In truth, in many ways he wasn't sure either.]

I don't think what either of us sees as 'normal' can compare with anything at this point, [He said after a moment, reassuringly squeezing Souji's hand,] because this place we're in isn't normal. You and I wouldn't have met if it was.

[Instead they would both be in more of a standard time frame, and odds were that he would be trying to get in contact with Mirage or the Diplo for an assist if the circumstances were similar.]

I think the more important thing here is whether everyone's comfortable or not. Respect matters more than whatever is 'normal'.

Edited 2014-01-26 05:24 (UTC)

Jan. 10th | 3pm | Hot Springs

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