Fermented food is a big thing where I'm from, but beer is just... kinda nasty. [Kazuki chuckled to himself a bit as he passed the bottle to her so she could examine it. As to how far he could be teased... It was a good decision on her part not to. Kazuki was an incredibly genuine, sincere person, and was almost complete incapable of teasing. He took it just as badly too. He'd really think she was flirting with him! Something else he's also terrible at!] I figured this would be more like juice, so... Yeah, I guess I like ciders. What's mead?
You're welcome. [He took the bottle back whenever she was done looking at it, and opened it with a hiss of carbonation. Then he poured some into their cold glasses. Annie's first, since she was his guest, and that was an important thing in cultural context.] I thought, if drinking was something you really wanted to do, doing it here would be best.
Mead's fermented from honey. Tends to be sweet, but not cloying. Misleadingly strong. I make mine with berries.
[ Here, in this world. She had no resources or reason back on her own world. When he explains his logic, she blinks, looking at him. ]
... Drinking alone with an attractive man is better than drinking at an establishment with a slew of unknown patrons?
[ She has an eyebrow raised, because this was in fact something friends did, or that people offered when sealing different kinds of deals. Annie did not, in general, drink with people, so aside from tastings with Thida or drinking with Krieg, it wasn't a more logical behaviour for her than anything else.
Which meant she was pointing out that there's more than one way to take his sentiment, and while she figures it's from a "then you don't have to watch how much you're drinking" point of view instead of an intimate or advantage taking one, she does find it silly. Not enough to refuse, or refuse to take the glass he's poured for her, but--ah, yes. ]
Or is the privacy more comfortable for you?
[ Is the answer she lands on, when he mentions not liking certain alcohols, and he likely hadn't drunk much before. Still. ]
Does make me less likely to be offended by handsy drunk idiots.
[ She would handle anyone who did touch her without invitation, which, at a bar, even here, could definitely happen. Drunk people made poor judgement calls. There'd be no lasting injury done, but people would be sore.
Kazuki is wise. Also possibly not thinking about any of that, but look: she doesn't know moms, has no mom friends, and would find the whole idea ludicrous. So instead he gets her logic versions of why here, alone, and not out in public, at places that cater to those needs. ]
[This could have turned into a pleasant conversation about her new and interesting hobby, but no. Annie had to take things elsewhere.]
N-no! [Kazuki began to stutter, and felt his throat dry up and his ears go hot at her suggestion that he was an attractive man and privacy might be more comfortable for him. Because, of course, that was not his intention at all. He was not a predator in any fashion. The very notion was absurd. Could you imagine Kazuki hunting down anything, let alone a woman?] I was thinking, more like... Well, you sounded-- or I mean, I felt like you were upset when you texted me, so I thought you wouldn't want to go out anywhere...!
[He also didn't want either of them to get drop dead drunk at some bar, far from where he lived. He didn't want to drag anyone-- Or more likely, have himself dragged home after blacking out or something equally embarrassing to do in public.]
[ He's an honest blusher, and she didn't think he really considered what his statement sounded like. He's a good person. She, well, isn't. Or at least doesn't consider herself as a good one, just decent these days.
She gives him the grace of her looking away, instead studying the bubbles on the inside of her glass. ]
Is that the only reason? [ she doubts it, but she's also the person who would doubt it. he's straightforward, kinder than most, but not absent of his own complicated thoughts. he's human. it's natural. ] All that thinking... yet not thinking to ask, too. Acting like that might give a girl the impression that you're interested.
[ She opts against the mild act she would put on if talking with Eren or Armin, no pressing her hand to her chest, no looking "pointedly" elsewhere. ]
[Kazuki was almost physically blown back by Annie's blunt statements. Critical hit! It's super effective! He leaned away from her a little, supported by the heel of his hand on the porch. The other rose up to try and cover his face somehow, so if it would hide his shame.]
I really... [Ugh, he struggled with attention like this so much. He hated it when girls started chasing him around school after he unwittingly became the star of a commercial for an MP3 player. He preferred how girls treated him before that-- With as much interest as one would have towards a particularly cute puppy. It was safe. It was easy. Not that Annie was chasing him, per se, but she was being incredibly straightforward with her intentions.] I swear, I just...
[But to say that he was totally, completely uninterested... Wouldn't that be sort of insulting? His mind strayed to their previous encounters. He thought about holding her hand and tracing Kanji in her palm.]
...That wasn't why I did any of this.
[There. In this exact moment, no, he hadn't meant to give the impression that he was interested in her. But it wasn't a concept that was impossible to believe either.]
[ Her eyebrows have quirked up again. Goodness, he's apparently embarrassed himself. She'd claim credit, but is belatedly understanding how her own words could be misconstrued. In his favour, she believes only incurable flirts would think to be interested in her, because they're about the only people blind enough to have no taste beyond "not hideous."
She has a particular expectation of the world in relation to herself, and it's not a flattering or self pitying one. Which in this case does work in his favour--for all if he'd been equally blunt back, she would have been amused at having inadvertently continued the miscommunication. ]
I didn't think it was. And I don't mind either way that you didn't ask what I wanted to do. People make worse presumptions.
[ She hopes that's more clear, since it's what the not minding either way was. She didn't care where they were drinking, and takes a swallow of cider, puzzling over the taste before deciding she likes it decently enough. ]
Here's to being awake.
[ And she holds up her glass towards him, in offering of a cheers and change in subject. ]
[Kazuki let out a sigh of relief, as he felt he had been let off the hook for the time being. No more talking about attraction. Back to other topics. He was able to remove his hand from his face and sit more or less upright again. He picked up his glass and raised it towards her as well.]
To the Pokemon world.
[Since that was what woke her up, and made her illness better, right? Plus, it was something he personally appreciated as well. He took a sip of the cider too, and found it far more palatable than beer. It tasted like pears, and had a slightly cool, crisp finish.]
[ To this oddball, but better than mudball, world. Annie decides pear tasting alcohol is decent enough, and while her general mood might have wanted something with more of a sour bite to it, this is good. Good enough she takes a long, gulping swallow after, kind of like how some people down ale, but not how one takes a shot.
After swallowing, she takes her glass away from her mouth, eyes it critically before proclaiming: ]
Good choice you made.
[ This is definitely much, much better than beer. She also settles into taking swallows over more polite sips, watching the pokemon in the garden, thinking about what drinking to this world really means to her. Drinking to a fantasy? An escape. A series of stolen moments in time.
Yeah. That's worth drinking to, even when it fixes nothing. This place isn't about fixing things. It's about having a chance to breathe for the people like her, and the ones from home, and all the others from messed up worlds. It's nice, and while she feels no better about what a mess waits back home, it does remind her there are things to appreciate here, amoung relative strangers. Like pear cider. Like gardens. (She has no idea how to garden, and not even really how to properly admire a garden, but she can note it's lovely, and that should matter.) Like... well, sunshine? No Walls? No wars? Yes. Those are good things. She can appreciate them all.
It does make her the quiet one again, living in her own head. She's not the best made for company in general. ]
Thanks. [Kazuki found the courage to take a more adventurous gulp too, and found that it didn't burn going down too much. The sort of alcohol that would be dangerous if he had gotten more than one bottle.] I know berries are supposed to be for Pokemon and all, but I like snacking on them too.
[The garden was pretty, but deceptively low maintenance-- Mostly berry bushes and wildflowers that needed little care. Puff and Azuma took care of pretty much everything on their own.]
[Kazuki liked the Pokemon world plenty, but he was one of a handful of transplants here that would have no problem with returning to his own world either. But after what he'd told Annie about it, she'd probably understand that.]
[Xylo was coming back around with Lute after he finished their tour. A soaking wet Furret burst out of some tall grasses, and shook herself out before she climbed up onto the porch and curled up all over herself like a length of rope.]
I've been taking care of a Lapras that lives out on the shore. [Kazuki explained without being asked.] Maestra goes out there to swim with him sometimes. Tonks doesn't like saltwater to get on his mane.
[ She's surprised, largely because while a handful can be used by people in various ways, most of them are just so... unfriendly to human systems. Kazuki, you oddball. (An oddball with a healthy world to return home to, whenever his time here is up.) ]
Tonks is your Primarina?
[ A little amusing that he avoids saltwater; she supposes he might prefer freshwater, in that case. Ackerman didn't appear to have a preference one way or another. She leans forward, holding out a hand to Lute as he rejoins them, welcoming the touch of his soft nose against her fingertips. He sniffs at the alcohol in her glass, shakes himself off, and wanders slowly closer to the coiled Furret.
She sorts through her own memories, pulling on Lapras, some concept that Armin is related to a group of Lapras, the cruise ship and the attending Lapras--both crisp memories and also ones dulled under the last week. ]
I know, I know. [He scratched the back of his head, slightly bashful. Nothing like the full-on embarrassment he just experienced a few minutes ago.] Some of them are pretty... Astringent, but the sweet ones aren't bad. Like Pechas, or Magos.
Oh yeah, Honky Tonk. Tonks is just for short. [And, well, while the name had been quite befitting of a Popplio, it wasn't as much for a Primarina. But Kazuki didn't have the heart to change it when Honky Tonk himself still seemed so proud of it.] He's a diva. He's always preening over himself... He really wants to win a contest.
[Maestra raised her head and perked her ears up when Lute approached. Oh, a guest! Where were her manners? She mewed at him in greeting.]
Yeah, that was him! Shimizu! He's doing really well these days. Armin said he looks great.
[ She won't pretend she didn't test about a fingernail's worth of the ones meant to be vaguely people safe, but nonewithstanding the fact she's sitting here drinking with him, the two used for drug purposes aren't appealing, and her tolerance for spice with heat is slowly growing. Pecha Berries? Yeah, please don't kill her yet. Her entire digestive system is used to far more bland, not spicy-hot foodstuffs... ]
What is he hoping to compete in?
[ C...cuteness? Annie, who has paid minimal attention to contests, genuinely doesn't know. Which she gets away with because none of her pokemon seem to care about contests either, outside of gym battles and taking on all challengers (wild or trainer provided) as they appear. ]
Ah, yes. Seems like the kind of thing he'd know. Doesn't he have his own group he's caretaking, or something like that?
[ Lute tips his head in a quiet greeting in return, breathing in the scent of saltwater on fur. He glances toward the sunny skies, then back to Maestra. Planning a daylight soaking to follow the ocean soaking? ]
We tried for Cute back when he was a Brionne, but he didn't place. Since Sticky won the Clever contest last February, he's been really fired up. He wants to go for Beauty now-- But the work he's been doing is a secret. I'm not allowed to tell a soul.
[Kazuki was still searching for a Z-ring and a Primarium Z stone to help him. Hopefully he'd find it before the next round of contests.]
Yeah, Armin has a pod of them. I think some of them are wild, and some of them were poaching victims, or were abused in some way. In comparison, Shimizu looks like a showpony. [He laughed a little.] But I'm glad I found him when he was beached, and not someone who would take advantage of him somehow.
[Yes, her fur was very thick and needed thorough drying. But it was worth it to play with the young Lapras for awhile.]
[ She takes another sip of alcohol instead of finding words to encompass "I don't get it, personally, but I understand why secrecy feels important." She's the last person to say one shouldn't keep important things secret for as long as possible... even if those things are how one's preparing to win a contest.
She's very glad this is not a concern she presently has to handle. Enough so she takes another sip, locking her foot behind her ankle. ]
Presumably everyone needs a place to belong. However damaged or undamaged they are. [ Showpony Lapras is as valid as Traumatised Lapras; but she's not sure how Armin ended up with that kind of calling, and also knows she won't ask. ] He seems happy with you.
[ Lute makes a small huffing agreement, before asking if she minds him joining. He wants to linger closer to where Annie is, though she's far more restive, less twitchy, than when she arrived. ]
[Thankfully, Kazuki was a performer himself, so he was uniquely qualified to raise Pokemon to win contests. He also enjoyed it immensely, far more than the very few battles he had under his belt. Everyone was happy!]
Presumably? Of course they do! [Armin inherited his Lapras from a sort of Zoologist named Newt. Kazuki only knew that on a surface level, though, and wasn't aware of how fond Armin was of him.] The world would be a sad, cold place if you didn't have a place to belong. Everyone needs some kind of home to return to. Or at least, everyone deserves it.
[He acknowledged that it was a bit of a privileged mindset to think everyone had such a place, but every human being certainly did deserve one.]
[And of course, Lute could take a load off where-ever he liked. Maestra was a Pokemon with little to no personal bubble.]
[ She half smiles, little more than a pulling up of her lips at the right corner. It's nice hearing people talk about things they believe in, and Kazuki clearly believes what he says.
The kinds of places that can have people who say this with sincerity, and have a world that tries to reflect that sentiment sincerely, is a beautiful thing. Even to her. They all had a home, somewhere, carried in their heart or otherwise. ]
Yes, it is. [ A sad, cold place. She says this as she sets down her glass, and stretches her arms overhead. Lute leaps up to settle near Maestra, watching Annie from the corner of his eye. ] Nice to know it can be considered a given in some dimensions.
[ ................................ okay so she sucks at positive conversations ]
I wouldn't call it a given in my world exactly, but... Definitely more likely than others, from what I've heard.
[Kazuki was cheered by Annie's body language opening up a little, and finished his first glass of cider with the kind of enthusiasm one should really show when drinking.]
Didn't I promise a performance too? Or did you really just want to drink?
[Maestra shuffled her coiled-up body to at least get a little body heat out of the arrangement. Not too invasive, but still being cuddly.]
[ Here she smiles, highly ironic, though he has no way to know, and she won't tell him otherwise. ]
I'm enough of a realist to know that not everywhere would possibly be as at peace, just as not everywhere could possibly be at war. But yes... a performance.
[ She tips her glass to him. ]
I'd be... honoured? [ Testing out the word. That one fits enough. ] What are appropriate responses for your culture to express appreciation?
[ Lute adjusts himself to be easier to use as a heater; he's used to it from all of Annie's team, as he's the more approachable and generally touch-positive between the two of them. He even brings his nose down to sniff at her fur and puff out a warm breathe at Maestra, relaxing in for the performance. Because he is, of course, eavesdropping the whole time, as he does. ]
Very large. Tho' my world is like this one-- you can use technology to talk to people halfway across the world whenever you want. It makes things seem a lot smaller than they actually are. And you're right, it's not peaceful everywhere...
[Some places do actually super mega suck, but he's so far removed from them that he'd never be able to fully comprehend the suffering that goes on there. Which is a sobering thought.]
Just "thanks," or "I'm looking forward to it" is good enough. [He explained as he got up to retrieve his trumpet from indoors. It was never far from his hand.] How're you feeling? I can pick a song to fit the sort of thing you'd like to hear.
[ Her world has that potential, too, but not the part of her world she's from most recently, so she simply hums something like acknowledgement, sipping at her alcohol more thoughtfully now. Humanity carries the same trends everywhere. It just feels like something closer to hope that there are places not under constant threat of war, oppression, or annihilation in other worlds. ]
Surprise me.
[ She says, tipping her cup to him. How she's feeling is a question she barely answers for herself. Self-deception is an artform she uses to compartmentalise, and while she's feeling not as shitty right now compared to even earlier, she has no answer for anything that fits.
She'd prefer the surprise. One of the kind that doesn't leave her bleeding, or killing, or watching others die. ]
[He sat down next to her again, and opened his case. His trumpet was in impeccable shape. Kazuki could be a bit careless with his belongings from time to time, but he never neglected his instrument. He cleaned the mouthpiece and tested the valves, then assembled everything together. Then he fiddled with it a bit more as he thought of the right kind of song for the moment.]
Okay, I think I've got it. [He stepped off the porch and stood up on the ground to play. This way, he wasn't looming over her too much.] This one's called Ave Maria. It's a pretty popular song in canon, but it's kind of... Especially important to me too.
[He paused for a second. Kazuki was an empathetic person, and his emotions were also extremely palpable. There was a gentle, nostalgic fondness in his eyes, and in the quirk of his lips. No matter where Kahoko was, or who she loved, she always had a place in his heart.]
...I hope you'll like it.
[The trumpet wasn't the perfect instrument for the song. It sang well on violin, or on a more mellow cello, but to capture the gentle tones of unconditional motherly love on a brass instrument was no easy task. It was hard to make a trumpet whisper instead of shout, especially without a mute. But by the sound of Kazuki's playing, it was a technique he'd been practicing.]
[ She watches him attend to his instrument, curious at the particulars. She can see it's in good condition, and he's thorough and familiar with how he handles it, which makes sense if this is his life, livelihood, and passion.
Passion is something she'll always admire, even when it's ill guided or disastrous. She can admire what she likewise finds stupid. It thankfully has no place here and now, and she straightens up as he stands. Ave Maria is a meaningless pairing of sounds, but she knew and expected that, finding herself anticipating the unknown in a way she did not always enjoy.
He plays... ah, she's not so insensible to most the world around her not to see he plays with the emotions he feels. She can feel it in the music, a novel experience when most the music she hears here is background music that has managed to do little past dull her to the constant noise. There are no words she can correlate, having never heard the song sung, and the sentiment, if she'd know the words, would have also been odd, in a way provoking thought.
It is different, hearing it like this for a first time, hearing the trumpet produce softer sounds, and it isn't motherly love that she gets from any of it, because there's no concept of motherly love in her life. It's a sense of unconditional something, affection and tolerance and acceptance and a plead to what leaves to remember where it came from, and who was there. She wonders, briefly, who he's playing for in the same way she wonders who any of the people she meets are motivated by the people they've known, but it's a passing thought, swept aside in the unfamiliar, almost haunting melody.
When he finishes, she has her cup clasped in her hands, resting in her lap. Annie is perfectly still, the breeze teasing at the loose tendrils of her hair the only movement about her at first. Lute has likewise gone still, head tipped to the side, as if he'd been listening to a melody he couldn't quite make out. It'd been present, and overflowing, and in a sense overwhelming, only not chasing after any of the things she knew.
But she can identify the longing, if not his, than her own. For her father, for that last goodbye, for the life she'd never have and had said goodbye to as a child. Bertolt manages to eke out his happiness. His slice of life. She thinks Reiner would have done well with that, too.
The music finishes, and Annie breathes, until she bows her head forward and closes her eyes and swallows with a dry mouth to say: ]
[When it came to well placed words and purposeful intent, Kazuki wasn't always the most apt. He wasn't a manipulator. He could only be earnest. His music, however, could reach places that he otherwise could not touch. Everyone interpreted the meaning behind music differently, so a universal message often wasn't possible, but a general heart could usually be conveyed.]
[It looked like something had reached Annie. He couldn't be sure what it was, but he'd wormed his way in there somehow. And that alone gave him plenty of satisfaction -- To touch something that was guarded by walls that seemed impossibly high, and stir some real emotion in there.]
[Kazuki was infamous for his poor presence on stage, not because he was meek, but because he was too friendly with the audience. But today he managed a polite bow. The atmosphere was somber enough to keep him from getting too excited, like he usually did after a performance.]
Thanks for listening. [He responded in kind.] I've known the song for a long time. Anyone practicing classical music does. But I only really understood it a couple of years ago. You really have to hear it the right way before you can understand a song.
[ Wording, in this case, is what distracts her. She'll take his word on hearing a song the right way before it becomes understandable: she doesn't think she understands Ave Maria, but she accepts it. Understanding and Acceptance needn't occur in the same moment. ]
Classical is a genre. [He sat down again, and kept ghosting his fingers over the valves. It was rare for Kazuki to truly sit still.] It's called "classical" because mot of it was written a long time ago, so... It's classic, I guess. It's all stayed with us for all this time.
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forsaintcecilia
(no subject)
Date: 2019-05-17 03:52 am (UTC)You're welcome. [He took the bottle back whenever she was done looking at it, and opened it with a hiss of carbonation. Then he poured some into their cold glasses. Annie's first, since she was his guest, and that was an important thing in cultural context.] I thought, if drinking was something you really wanted to do, doing it here would be best.
[You're such a mom, Kazuki.]
i'm so sorry kazuki
Date: 2019-05-17 04:08 am (UTC)[ Here, in this world. She had no resources or reason back on her own world. When he explains his logic, she blinks, looking at him. ]
... Drinking alone with an attractive man is better than drinking at an establishment with a slew of unknown patrons?
[ She has an eyebrow raised, because this was in fact something friends did, or that people offered when sealing different kinds of deals. Annie did not, in general, drink with people, so aside from tastings with Thida or drinking with Krieg, it wasn't a more logical behaviour for her than anything else.
Which meant she was pointing out that there's more than one way to take his sentiment, and while she figures it's from a "then you don't have to watch how much you're drinking" point of view instead of an intimate or advantage taking one, she does find it silly. Not enough to refuse, or refuse to take the glass he's poured for her, but--ah, yes. ]
Or is the privacy more comfortable for you?
[ Is the answer she lands on, when he mentions not liking certain alcohols, and he likely hadn't drunk much before. Still. ]
Does make me less likely to be offended by handsy drunk idiots.
[ She would handle anyone who did touch her without invitation, which, at a bar, even here, could definitely happen. Drunk people made poor judgement calls. There'd be no lasting injury done, but people would be sore.
Kazuki is wise. Also possibly not thinking about any of that, but look: she doesn't know moms, has no mom friends, and would find the whole idea ludicrous. So instead he gets her logic versions of why here, alone, and not out in public, at places that cater to those needs. ]
it's okay, he deserves it
Date: 2019-05-17 04:24 am (UTC)N-no! [Kazuki began to stutter, and felt his throat dry up and his ears go hot at her suggestion that he was an attractive man and privacy might be more comfortable for him. Because, of course, that was not his intention at all. He was not a predator in any fashion. The very notion was absurd. Could you imagine Kazuki hunting down anything, let alone a woman?] I was thinking, more like... Well, you sounded-- or I mean, I felt like you were upset when you texted me, so I thought you wouldn't want to go out anywhere...!
[He also didn't want either of them to get drop dead drunk at some bar, far from where he lived. He didn't want to drag anyone-- Or more likely, have himself dragged home after blacking out or something equally embarrassing to do in public.]
when kind intentions bite back
Date: 2019-05-17 04:45 am (UTC)She gives him the grace of her looking away, instead studying the bubbles on the inside of her glass. ]
Is that the only reason? [ she doubts it, but she's also the person who would doubt it. he's straightforward, kinder than most, but not absent of his own complicated thoughts. he's human. it's natural. ] All that thinking... yet not thinking to ask, too. Acting like that might give a girl the impression that you're interested.
[ She opts against the mild act she would put on if talking with Eren or Armin, no pressing her hand to her chest, no looking "pointedly" elsewhere. ]
I don't mind either way.
his life
Date: 2019-05-17 05:06 am (UTC)I really... [Ugh, he struggled with attention like this so much. He hated it when girls started chasing him around school after he unwittingly became the star of a commercial for an MP3 player. He preferred how girls treated him before that-- With as much interest as one would have towards a particularly cute puppy. It was safe. It was easy. Not that Annie was chasing him, per se, but she was being incredibly straightforward with her intentions.] I swear, I just...
[But to say that he was totally, completely uninterested... Wouldn't that be sort of insulting? His mind strayed to their previous encounters. He thought about holding her hand and tracing Kanji in her palm.]
...That wasn't why I did any of this.
[There. In this exact moment, no, he hadn't meant to give the impression that he was interested in her. But it wasn't a concept that was impossible to believe either.]
ruffles his hair
Date: 2019-05-17 05:20 am (UTC)She has a particular expectation of the world in relation to herself, and it's not a flattering or self pitying one. Which in this case does work in his favour--for all if he'd been equally blunt back, she would have been amused at having inadvertently continued the miscommunication. ]
I didn't think it was. And I don't mind either way that you didn't ask what I wanted to do. People make worse presumptions.
[ She hopes that's more clear, since it's what the not minding either way was. She didn't care where they were drinking, and takes a swallow of cider, puzzling over the taste before deciding she likes it decently enough. ]
Here's to being awake.
[ And she holds up her glass towards him, in offering of a cheers and change in subject. ]
Hey, I ship it in the correct circumstances
Date: 2019-05-17 09:29 pm (UTC)To the Pokemon world.
[Since that was what woke her up, and made her illness better, right? Plus, it was something he personally appreciated as well. He took a sip of the cider too, and found it far more palatable than beer. It tasted like pears, and had a slightly cool, crisp finish.]
would that include "in a better adjusted world" because really XD
Date: 2019-05-17 09:44 pm (UTC)After swallowing, she takes her glass away from her mouth, eyes it critically before proclaiming: ]
Good choice you made.
[ This is definitely much, much better than beer. She also settles into taking swallows over more polite sips, watching the pokemon in the garden, thinking about what drinking to this world really means to her. Drinking to a fantasy? An escape. A series of stolen moments in time.
Yeah. That's worth drinking to, even when it fixes nothing. This place isn't about fixing things. It's about having a chance to breathe for the people like her, and the ones from home, and all the others from messed up worlds. It's nice, and while she feels no better about what a mess waits back home, it does remind her there are things to appreciate here, amoung relative strangers. Like pear cider. Like gardens. (She has no idea how to garden, and not even really how to properly admire a garden, but she can note it's lovely, and that should matter.) Like... well, sunshine? No Walls? No wars? Yes. Those are good things. She can appreciate them all.
It does make her the quiet one again, living in her own head. She's not the best made for company in general. ]
yeah, Kazuki's parts are all screwed in right, but I dunno if Annie's ever will be lol
Date: 2019-05-17 10:01 pm (UTC)[The garden was pretty, but deceptively low maintenance-- Mostly berry bushes and wildflowers that needed little care. Puff and Azuma took care of pretty much everything on their own.]
[Kazuki liked the Pokemon world plenty, but he was one of a handful of transplants here that would have no problem with returning to his own world either. But after what he'd told Annie about it, she'd probably understand that.]
[Xylo was coming back around with Lute after he finished their tour. A soaking wet Furret burst out of some tall grasses, and shook herself out before she climbed up onto the porch and curled up all over herself like a length of rope.]
I've been taking care of a Lapras that lives out on the shore. [Kazuki explained without being asked.] Maestra goes out there to swim with him sometimes. Tonks doesn't like saltwater to get on his mane.
you only get "high functioning former child soldier" which is pretty patchwork, so... nope
Date: 2019-05-17 10:15 pm (UTC)[ She's surprised, largely because while a handful can be used by people in various ways, most of them are just so... unfriendly to human systems. Kazuki, you oddball. (An oddball with a healthy world to return home to, whenever his time here is up.) ]
Tonks is your Primarina?
[ A little amusing that he avoids saltwater; she supposes he might prefer freshwater, in that case. Ackerman didn't appear to have a preference one way or another. She leans forward, holding out a hand to Lute as he rejoins them, welcoming the touch of his soft nose against her fingertips. He sniffs at the alcohol in her glass, shakes himself off, and wanders slowly closer to the coiled Furret.
She sorts through her own memories, pulling on Lapras, some concept that Armin is related to a group of Lapras, the cruise ship and the attending Lapras--both crisp memories and also ones dulled under the last week. ]
The same Lapras you were playing for on the ship?
definitely needs work. Kazuki's company is only temporarily theraputic, not clinical XD
Date: 2019-05-17 10:31 pm (UTC)Oh yeah, Honky Tonk. Tonks is just for short. [And, well, while the name had been quite befitting of a Popplio, it wasn't as much for a Primarina. But Kazuki didn't have the heart to change it when Honky Tonk himself still seemed so proud of it.] He's a diva. He's always preening over himself... He really wants to win a contest.
[Maestra raised her head and perked her ears up when Lute approached. Oh, a guest! Where were her manners? She mewed at him in greeting.]
Yeah, that was him! Shimizu! He's doing really well these days. Armin said he looks great.
what every dw rp game has lacked: qualified therapists (dr. jonathan crane never counts XD)
Date: 2019-05-17 10:46 pm (UTC)[ She won't pretend she didn't test about a fingernail's worth of the ones meant to be vaguely people safe, but nonewithstanding the fact she's sitting here drinking with him, the two used for drug purposes aren't appealing, and her tolerance for spice with heat is slowly growing. Pecha Berries? Yeah, please don't kill her yet. Her entire digestive system is used to far more bland, not spicy-hot foodstuffs... ]
What is he hoping to compete in?
[ C...cuteness? Annie, who has paid minimal attention to contests, genuinely doesn't know. Which she gets away with because none of her pokemon seem to care about contests either, outside of gym battles and taking on all challengers (wild or trainer provided) as they appear. ]
Ah, yes. Seems like the kind of thing he'd know. Doesn't he have his own group he's caretaking, or something like that?
[ Lute tips his head in a quiet greeting in return, breathing in the scent of saltwater on fur. He glances toward the sunny skies, then back to Maestra. Planning a daylight soaking to follow the ocean soaking? ]
still a cute thought tho' if you ever feel like a psl or something
Date: 2019-05-17 11:03 pm (UTC)[Kazuki was still searching for a Z-ring and a Primarium Z stone to help him. Hopefully he'd find it before the next round of contests.]
Yeah, Armin has a pod of them. I think some of them are wild, and some of them were poaching victims, or were abused in some way. In comparison, Shimizu looks like a showpony. [He laughed a little.] But I'm glad I found him when he was beached, and not someone who would take advantage of him somehow.
[Yes, her fur was very thick and needed thorough drying. But it was worth it to play with the young Lapras for awhile.]
oh certainly, that'd be fun!
Date: 2019-05-17 11:40 pm (UTC)She's very glad this is not a concern she presently has to handle. Enough so she takes another sip, locking her foot behind her ankle. ]
Presumably everyone needs a place to belong. However damaged or undamaged they are. [ Showpony Lapras is as valid as Traumatised Lapras; but she's not sure how Armin ended up with that kind of calling, and also knows she won't ask. ] He seems happy with you.
[ Lute makes a small huffing agreement, before asking if she minds him joining. He wants to linger closer to where Annie is, though she's far more restive, less twitchy, than when she arrived. ]
themodestotter #7416 on discord, hit me up!
Date: 2019-05-18 12:00 am (UTC)Presumably? Of course they do! [Armin inherited his Lapras from a sort of Zoologist named Newt. Kazuki only knew that on a surface level, though, and wasn't aware of how fond Armin was of him.] The world would be a sad, cold place if you didn't have a place to belong. Everyone needs some kind of home to return to. Or at least, everyone deserves it.
[He acknowledged that it was a bit of a privileged mindset to think everyone had such a place, but every human being certainly did deserve one.]
[And of course, Lute could take a load off where-ever he liked. Maestra was a Pokemon with little to no personal bubble.]
gotcha
Date: 2019-05-18 01:03 am (UTC)The kinds of places that can have people who say this with sincerity, and have a world that tries to reflect that sentiment sincerely, is a beautiful thing. Even to her. They all had a home, somewhere, carried in their heart or otherwise. ]
Yes, it is. [ A sad, cold place. She says this as she sets down her glass, and stretches her arms overhead. Lute leaps up to settle near Maestra, watching Annie from the corner of his eye. ] Nice to know it can be considered a given in some dimensions.
[ ................................ okay so she sucks at positive conversations ]
also, unbelievably, absol and furret are in the same egg group
Date: 2019-05-19 02:31 am (UTC)[Kazuki was cheered by Annie's body language opening up a little, and finished his first glass of cider with the kind of enthusiasm one should really show when drinking.]
Didn't I promise a performance too? Or did you really just want to drink?
[Maestra shuffled her coiled-up body to at least get a little body heat out of the arrangement. Not too invasive, but still being cuddly.]
cracks up, the things which end up being in egg groups crack me up, i love it
Date: 2019-05-19 05:13 am (UTC)[ Here she smiles, highly ironic, though he has no way to know, and she won't tell him otherwise. ]
I'm enough of a realist to know that not everywhere would possibly be as at peace, just as not everywhere could possibly be at war. But yes... a performance.
[ She tips her glass to him. ]
I'd be... honoured? [ Testing out the word. That one fits enough. ] What are appropriate responses for your culture to express appreciation?
[ Lute adjusts himself to be easier to use as a heater; he's used to it from all of Annie's team, as he's the more approachable and generally touch-positive between the two of them. He even brings his nose down to sniff at her fur and puff out a warm breathe at Maestra, relaxing in for the performance. Because he is, of course, eavesdropping the whole time, as he does. ]
"field" is like, the biggest egg group. how absol fits into it I have no idea
Date: 2019-05-19 09:52 pm (UTC)[Some places do actually super mega suck, but he's so far removed from them that he'd never be able to fully comprehend the suffering that goes on there. Which is a sobering thought.]
Just "thanks," or "I'm looking forward to it" is good enough. [He explained as he got up to retrieve his trumpet from indoors. It was never far from his hand.] How're you feeling? I can pick a song to fit the sort of thing you'd like to hear.
who needs sense when you could have a field day
Date: 2019-05-26 09:55 pm (UTC)Surprise me.
[ She says, tipping her cup to him. How she's feeling is a question she barely answers for herself. Self-deception is an artform she uses to compartmentalise, and while she's feeling not as shitty right now compared to even earlier, she has no answer for anything that fits.
She'd prefer the surprise. One of the kind that doesn't leave her bleeding, or killing, or watching others die. ]
(no subject)
Date: 2019-05-27 01:31 am (UTC)[He sat down next to her again, and opened his case. His trumpet was in impeccable shape. Kazuki could be a bit careless with his belongings from time to time, but he never neglected his instrument. He cleaned the mouthpiece and tested the valves, then assembled everything together. Then he fiddled with it a bit more as he thought of the right kind of song for the moment.]
Okay, I think I've got it. [He stepped off the porch and stood up on the ground to play. This way, he wasn't looming over her too much.] This one's called Ave Maria. It's a pretty popular song in canon, but it's kind of... Especially important to me too.
[He paused for a second. Kazuki was an empathetic person, and his emotions were also extremely palpable. There was a gentle, nostalgic fondness in his eyes, and in the quirk of his lips. No matter where Kahoko was, or who she loved, she always had a place in his heart.]
...I hope you'll like it.
[The trumpet wasn't the perfect instrument for the song. It sang well on violin, or on a more mellow cello, but to capture the gentle tones of unconditional motherly love on a brass instrument was no easy task. It was hard to make a trumpet whisper instead of shout, especially without a mute. But by the sound of Kazuki's playing, it was a technique he'd been practicing.]
(no subject)
Date: 2019-05-27 02:05 am (UTC)Passion is something she'll always admire, even when it's ill guided or disastrous. She can admire what she likewise finds stupid. It thankfully has no place here and now, and she straightens up as he stands. Ave Maria is a meaningless pairing of sounds, but she knew and expected that, finding herself anticipating the unknown in a way she did not always enjoy.
He plays... ah, she's not so insensible to most the world around her not to see he plays with the emotions he feels. She can feel it in the music, a novel experience when most the music she hears here is background music that has managed to do little past dull her to the constant noise. There are no words she can correlate, having never heard the song sung, and the sentiment, if she'd know the words, would have also been odd, in a way provoking thought.
It is different, hearing it like this for a first time, hearing the trumpet produce softer sounds, and it isn't motherly love that she gets from any of it, because there's no concept of motherly love in her life. It's a sense of unconditional something, affection and tolerance and acceptance and a plead to what leaves to remember where it came from, and who was there. She wonders, briefly, who he's playing for in the same way she wonders who any of the people she meets are motivated by the people they've known, but it's a passing thought, swept aside in the unfamiliar, almost haunting melody.
When he finishes, she has her cup clasped in her hands, resting in her lap. Annie is perfectly still, the breeze teasing at the loose tendrils of her hair the only movement about her at first. Lute has likewise gone still, head tipped to the side, as if he'd been listening to a melody he couldn't quite make out. It'd been present, and overflowing, and in a sense overwhelming, only not chasing after any of the things she knew.
But she can identify the longing, if not his, than her own. For her father, for that last goodbye, for the life she'd never have and had said goodbye to as a child. Bertolt manages to eke out his happiness. His slice of life. She thinks Reiner would have done well with that, too.
The music finishes, and Annie breathes, until she bows her head forward and closes her eyes and swallows with a dry mouth to say: ]
Thank you.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-05-27 02:35 am (UTC)[It looked like something had reached Annie. He couldn't be sure what it was, but he'd wormed his way in there somehow. And that alone gave him plenty of satisfaction -- To touch something that was guarded by walls that seemed impossibly high, and stir some real emotion in there.]
[Kazuki was infamous for his poor presence on stage, not because he was meek, but because he was too friendly with the audience. But today he managed a polite bow. The atmosphere was somber enough to keep him from getting too excited, like he usually did after a performance.]
Thanks for listening. [He responded in kind.] I've known the song for a long time. Anyone practicing classical music does. But I only really understood it a couple of years ago. You really have to hear it the right way before you can understand a song.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-05-28 02:30 am (UTC)[ Wording, in this case, is what distracts her. She'll take his word on hearing a song the right way before it becomes understandable: she doesn't think she understands Ave Maria, but she accepts it. Understanding and Acceptance needn't occur in the same moment. ]
(no subject)
Date: 2019-05-29 12:28 am (UTC)(no subject)
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