noctium tdm; part 3-1

[sasin]

[ He's been seated alone in the back corner of the tea shop for nearly an hour now, sequestered and partially hidden by an old-fashioned folding screen. Colorful snacks, half-eaten, adorn the table before him, but his tea is cold.

Why is his tea cold?

Because he'd lost himself in the snacks.

Why had he not requested hot tea be added to his cold cup?

Because every time the wrinkled, genial old woman running the place nears him he's gripped by a strange desire to welcome her to sit down across from him. To talk with her. To comfort her. Then it becomes work–

And what is he going to do about that, anyway? Has he been reassigned? The Divine doesn't just lose one of their most experienced Grim Reapers to another dimension without a fight, but he wasn't informed of any change in prefecture. It's troubling enough that he's taken to pinching his chin as he purses his lips, dark eyes regularly dropping to the black hat in the chair beside him.

He'll need at least another four hours of complete solitude to work through this dilemma. Maybe not even then. ]

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[sasin]

[ He's forlornly selected his next victim – an undecorated rice cake – when the bell rings and the air shifts. His former cosmic awareness has been submerged beneath a still lake of ignorance, like his ears have been closed off to the voice of the Almighty... but a bad feeling is a bad feeling.

It's confirmed when this stranger sits down so confidently across from him. Who could be so bold?

Is he not frightening enough anymore?

A dead pair of eyes fix on this stranger before lifting to the ceiling, voice failing to take on the whimsical tone that his words seemingly require as he begins to wonder aloud. ]

Ah, who could this man be? I wonder if he knows I want to sit here alone.

[dipolar]

(with his seatmate's eyes aimed up at the ceiling and his own fixed on a tasselled jade ornament crooked on the wall, they'd seem to be ignoring one another. bothersomely untrue, considering the fact that the man's never left hei's peripheral focus.

the reaction given is understandable; hei hasn't exactly shared his reason for choosing the only occupied table.

still, it fatigues him.)

It's the air... something in the air's gone bad. (half of his delicate, flaky pastry is bitten into and ripped away from the rest. a beastly scene.) I have no choice. Go about your business.

[sasin]

I wonder if he knows that sitting here wanting to be alone is my business.

[ His gaze snaps back to his table-mate, skin darker than his, eyes lighter, fit and healthy and alive. Drinking tea across from someone so fit makes him feel depressed. It always has. ]

People always say "I have no choice" to resolve the bad writing of a forced meeting. I won't be coerced by something so contrived.

Leave.

[dipolar]

(were it any other day, he'd already be gone. in fact, he wouldn't have entered the tea shop in the first place. to him, the cozy, welcoming atmosphere makes it almost unbearable. but if they're both miserable, isn't this the most suitable arrangement?

hei doesn't move from his seat. he does, however, look over.)

You've never been coerced if you think that this is what it looks like. (he speaks with a full mouth, the other half of his snack dusting crumbs onto the table.) I won't leave.

... but I'll ask you... to tolerate it for a short time.

[sasin]

Me?

[ That deep voice carries no intonation even now as eyebrows lift and his arms cross, easing himself back into his seat with a creak of old furniture. That's presumptuous.

So much so that he himself would've left by now too. Only... ]

Is this what people mean by "he doesn't respect his elders"? The table manners only make it worse.

Either way we try to paint it, I know what you mean. You're feeling like you need to talk to someone, anyone. Is that right? Addressing it directly is the best way to avoid any tropes.

[dipolar]

Ah. That's how it is.

(ignoring the disrespect of his disrespect, now giving him a once-over. another gembonded, without a doubt, but this one is groomed and dressed finely. paradoxically, he seems to fit into this setting well and not at all.)

"I have no choice" wasn't untrue, but it's more that I saw you alone and decided it had to be you. Is avoidance why you're here?

[sasin]

You could've talked to the miss at the counter.

[ "Miss". She's like

eighty, bare minimum. ]

I'm here because I like tea. Isn't that clear when you look at me? [ Pale hands settle on the table but with a possessiveness that soon finds a target – he brackets his snacks, drawing them protectively closer to himself. ]

[dipolar]

... no. You look like you drink carbonated water.

(takes a sip of his own tea, piping hot.)

That old woman has a business to run. If it's all as free as she says it is, I want her to serve me, not talk to me. But here you are, not up to much. You're the rational choice.

[sasin]

I only drink beer, [ he returns a little too rebelliously for a man sitting in front of a half-empty cup of tea.

Is it an abuse of his powers to force him to forget that and start this conversation over? Unquestionably, yes. ]

And tea. [ What a perfect save. ] You tell me what's carbonated and what isn't. After that you can tell me what kind of tea you ordered.

[dipolar]

(oh, well, he only drinks beer.)

I was saying that you look well-off, not passing judgement... but even that's changed. (nothing gold can stay.) I ordered what tastes like sencha, if the word means anything to you. It's called "ansoku" up there on the board.

Why do you want to be alone?

[sasin]

[ Not all of us can hobble around under bridges like trolls, double-fisting fifths of whiskey, we're not all that strong. ]

Thank you for judging my personality over my looks. I work hard to keep my suits pressed. [ gamsahabnida..... ]

I want to be alone because alone is what I am. I had a lot of problems to think about before you showed up, but now I have one more. Two more, since now I want sencha.

[dipolar]

(you're one crisis away from joining me under that bridge, don't get cocky)

You hear only what you want to, don't you?

(the old woman is caught staring. she folds her hands over the middle of her pretty apron and nods to onlooker hei who immediately averts his eyes. being watched is offputting, but that she seems happy they've found one another is even more so.)

Free tea isn't a problem. If all of your struggles are small, passing desires like that, then I don't pity you at all.

[sasin]

[ Is there dry-cleaning under the bridge..... ]

It's not like that; my struggles are life and death matters. [ His elbow finds the table and his temple finds the back of his fist, absently dipping into his next snack – a small bowl of walnuts – with his free hand. ]

But if she returns to serve me then I'll want her to stay. I feel like my gravitational pull is getting stronger... if it already pulled you in I don't need to add another to the list.

Are you from Earth?

[dipolar]

(life, death, and the choice between the two. if he's caught up in that, then his problems are serious.)

She'd leave, in time. It's possible that she's unaffected. (in this alone, he made the right decision. it's a pain to have to hold a conversation with reaper, but he can't relate to civilians with their lives figured out.) If you're asking me, then that must mean that you're from Earth, too. Admitting that much is easy.

But I don't want to know where you're from. And I'm not interested in exchanging names.

(in stark contrast to his stipulations, while the stranger replies, hei's hand settles over the rim of the occupied snack bowl. knuckles bump knuckles, skin kept apart by a black leather glove. accidental? unlikely. he could've played it off by fishing for walnuts, but doesn't and offers no apologies. this is what it is and denial would be a waste of their time.)

[sasin]

[ The disinterest is embraced with a nod and a lowered gaze, more than willing to abandon any and all attempts to dig up information on one another when a) he has nothing planted beneath the surface to be dug up and b) his curiosity has only spurred him on inasmuch as it must thanks to whatever is affecting them.

Perhaps it's fine if they sit together in silence until this wears off. Perhaps–

His hand jerks back instantly, walnuts flying as the bowl is upheaved and his fingers are tucked safely beneath his elbows when his arms cross. ]

Hey! [ YAA, my goodness ] What's the point of that supposed to be? Just because you're being drawn in by my circle of gravity [ enough with the gravity ] doesn't mean you get to start acting familiar. Put your hands flat on the table where I can see them; move your hands. Now.