Day 56: Magus Park (Morning)

[scintillatingly]

Getting to check up on Neku had been good (even though Sora realized that he was the one who'd been approached, rather than doing the approaching), but when the buses finally made their way through the snow and into the town, the boy was completely distracted by the view that followed. It really did remind him of Christmastown. There were no lights

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[hairraising]

A man of few words, just as she'd seen the night before. Rapunzel had to admit, she wasn't used to dealing with anyone who spoke as little as Kratos did. ...Okay, that was a lie; Pascal said a whole lot less than Kratos did. With Pascal it was different, though. Even without words, the little lizard always seemed to be bursting with energy and chitters, and was always willing to reciprocate Rapunzel's excitement. Kratos seemed much harder to make open up, by comparison. Even Soma, for all the calm she carried herself with, was more talkative.

Still, Rapunzel felt it was worth trying to talk to the man, even if only for a little while. Not only did she need to be certain that he was okay following the previous night's treatment, there was something about him that suggested he was not cold and stiff to the core. Maybe he wasn't letting much out onto the surface, but if the faces he had made while being wrapped in her hair were anything to go by, she was betting there was more to Kratos than just a grumpface.

And so, she latched on to what she was given, small as it was. "Oh? Is the air like this where you come from?" she asked with another smile. She tilted her head forward curiously, slightly more into Kratos's view. "Did you get to go outdoors a lot? All the time?" She hoped that was the case. Maybe Kratos would have some interesting stories to tell of adventure and outdoor exploration if she coaxed him enough.

[spandexorgtfo]

...if he had known what sort of ideas his fleeting reactions would have given Rapunzel, Kratos would have taken care to mute them completely, even though it would have probably cost him more energy than it was worth. Not that he wanted to have the reputation of being a so-called "grumpface" - rather, he merely wanted to maintain a respectable distance from the rest of his comrades. Familiarity was important, yes, but only to the point where it was beneficial to team mechanics. Beyond that, it was irrelevant.

But, there was no going back now; he would have to deal with the consequences of his moment of vulnerability. With luck, such a moment would never occur again. At the very least, Rapunzel wasn't asking terribly personal questions; otherwise, he might have been inclined to clam up entirely.

"In some areas," he replied. "It also depends on the season." His eyes once again briefly drifted down to her as she edged even further into his sight. "My previous occupation demanded that I be outdoors often."

[hairraising]

"And what was that?" Rapunzel asked, trying her best not to sound too eager and sort-of-kind-of failing at that. "I've always dreamed of what it might be like to spend all your time outside instead of in. That must be an exciting life!"

As they walked, Rapunzel kicked up some snow with the toe of her boot by accident, and watched as the little tuft landed in clean snow ahead of her foot. She gave a small, warm laugh, doing it again on purpose this time, and bigger. There had never been so much of this stuff available to her at any one time. The most she was used to was the amount it took to fill a window sill, which honestly wasn't enough to make for very good snowballs. Now, with so much in front of her, she hardly knew where to start, especially when she was still walking with someone.

She got an idea when she spotted the familiar figure of Sora a little further off, fanning his arms and legs in the snow in order to make shapes on the ground. Glee lit up her cold, red cheeks, and she pointed him out. "Hey, that looks like fun! Have you ever tried it before?" she asked Kratos, bounding ahead a few steps without waiting and then flopping down onto her back with a laugh, copying the motion with as much gusto as she would put into a new art piece.

[spandexorgtfo]

"...on occasion, perhaps." It could be exciting to the average person, he decided. "I was a mercenary." And time and room for a question of his own, even: "You've spent most of your life indoors?" That would certainly explain the curiosity. Kratos supposed he could understand somewhat; he hadn't always taken well to being shut up in Derris-Kharlan for extended periods of time.

They continued walking through the park until a familiar head of spiky hair emerged in the distance: their fearless leader. Kratos smiled inwardly at the sight of Sora enthusiastically engaged in the creation of his snow angel. Circumstances had forced the boy into an unenviable position; it was almost relieving to see that he could still be able to enjoy some lighter fun.

It didn't take long for Rapunzel to find incentive to join Sora, and Kratos watched with some amusement as she likewise flopped down in the snow--which was alright. She seemed to be at the age where that sort of mindless activity still held some sort of appeal. He, on the other hand...Even if he weren't injured, Kratos was sure that there was no way, short of total inebriation, that he would ever be willing to actually make a snow angel. It didn't seem remotely interesting; at best, he could only see himself drowning in humiliation, something that he - and surely most of his fellow patients - preferred to not do.

So he settled for crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow in the perfect image of mild disdain. "I'd rather not."

[hairraising]

It was understandable that Kratos didn't want to join in. Rapunzel could guess that even though it involved lying down, he didn't want to upset his injuries by moving around a lot. That didn't mean she couldn't enjoy herself while still talking to him, though, she figured. And so she giggled to herself, watching her arms form what looked like butterfly wings and her legs form a dress. She fancied the shape a fairy, like the ones from some of the books she'd had as a child.

"How'd you guess?" Rapunzel answered with a laugh when asked if she had spent most of her life indoors. "Yeah, that'd be a yes. I don't really know a lot about the outside world yet. Like what is a mercenary, anyway? I wanna know!" she asked.

[spandexorgtfo]

"It was a lucky guess," Kratos deadpanned, shifting his weight from one foot to another as he patiently waited for Rapunzel to finish. She would probably make several, in which case, there was a bench nearby. But he would give in to that weakness only when he absolutely had to.

In a way, Rapunzel's naivety reminded him very much of another young woman - a blonde as well - who had been so eager and amazed by her every experience in the "outside world". And that other girl too had once asked him this very same question. He answered without hesitation: "A mercenary is a professional soldier whose loyalty and skills are bought by whomever requires them. It is not the most honorable occupation, but it serves."

For one, it was probably the most effective cover he'd ever concocted.

[hairraising]

That answer stopped Rapunzel's merriment for the moment. "Oh..." How many soldiers was that now? Other than the ones in charge of the institute. It seemed that almost every other person she met had some kind of fighting experience. Was that why Soma and Kratos were friends? Could they relate to their experiences in combat? Rapunzel was suddenly feeling very, very out of place, even though Soma wasn't around.

"Why did you become one of those?" she asked, unable to place the word "mercenary" on her tongue again now that she knew what it meant.

[spandexorgtfo]

That was an interesting reaction. He would have hardly expected just the description of his job to be so sobering or surprising; most people whom he told seemed to find it reasonable given his personality and his demeanor--well, not always. He frankly had never lost much of his old, knightly persona, which did occasionally clash with people's perception of how a mercenary might act. It usually didn't matter in the end; they weren't paying him for appearances.

Kratos laughed quietly, although there was no humor to it. "My entire life has been spent on the battlefield in some way or another, so it is a logical occupation for a person who has little idea of how to live a peaceful life." He shrugged. "It also pays decently."

He tilted his head to the side. "Is it difficult to believe?"

[hairraising]

"I guess not," Rapunzel answered, sitting up in her snow fairy. "I could see you as that sort of person, sure..." The "but" hung in the air as their cold breath did in front of their faces.

"I just have never really met anyone whose life has been like that, I guess," she continued with a short puff of a sigh. "It's hard to imagine growing up like that. It's just so different from what I know."

[spandexorgtfo]

"Hm." He would hope it would be different from what she knew; as he had told Castiel the other day, he had been raised both in and for war. It was not admirable at all to wish his sort of life and experiences were more commonplace. Kratos bowed his head and scuffed the snow with the edge of his shoe. "To most people it probably seems extreme, but in truth, I could think of worse ways to grow up."

He looked back blankly at Rapunzel. "What about you?"

[hairraising]

"But isn't it really, really dangerous? Weren't you ever afraid of... of dying or anything?" Rapunzel didn't get much of an answer before Kratos moved the conversation elsewhere. She supposed it was probably rude to ask too many questions about the man's personal life; maybe she would get more details out of him at another time.

"I grew up on the other extreme, sounds like," she answered, brushing snow out of her hair (no easy task). "I've lived my entire life in a tower with no door or stairs. I always dreamed of what it would be like to go outside, but-" A small shrug. "-that wouldn't have been safe. At least according to someone."

A nearby tree took the place of Mother Gothel for a moment, taking the brunt of the Rapunzel's sudden sour expression. It only lasted for that moment, though. She had promised herself she wouldn't let the woman get to her so much. That was letting her win, in a way. ...Well, even moreso, anyway.

[spandexorgtfo]

Kratos' first instinct was to blurt out, How did you eat?, but that was a stupid question because obviously Rapunzel had plenty of energy and seemed relatively healthy - unless she had only gotten that way thanks to the care of the Institute.

...now there was a thought for the ages.

"I see." It was indeed true that the outside world held many real, tangible dangers - and he would know that better than anyone, wouldn't he? "Either way, for someone who's spent her life in a tower, you seem to be taking this all" - Kratos waved a hand at the snow and trees around them - "in stride well enough." Actually, for a girl who'd lived her whole life in a tower, she seemed more normal than some of the people he'd met, hair aside.

"As for your earlier question, in my line of work, death is inevitable--in life in its entirety, death is inevitable. Danger, personal risk...in the end, the only difference is whether you have things to live for or not. So long as you have those, you will fear death, no matter what you do."

He sighed and focused his attention on some point over Rapunzel's head. "So, to answer you properly, I would say, 'it depends'."