Day 58: Cafeteria

[gald_digger]

Anise woke up feeling lucky to be alive. She still felt a bit waterlogged, even though her skin, hair, and clothes were completely dry. During last night's adventures, she'd swallowed a lot of water, and it still felt heavy and disgusting in her stomach. Her arms and legs were tired from treading water. Lying still in her bed, she still kind of

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[ofthemotions]

She said that, but her expression had shifted to something else after saying that that spoke of something unwanted. She seemed nice; it could be that she'd prefer otherwise and just wasn't telling him to be polite. If it was that, Mikado could try to call her just by her name. It seemed so intimate, but if it was really that strange to her.... His mouth opened to try it out, but almost instantly he flushed brightly, and he dropped his head, giving up. Lily-san for now. He didn't even call Masaomi by his first name in casual speech.

Luckily, Mikado had something else to think about. He watched her as she spoke, half of what she was saying lining up with the brief view he had of her, the other half becoming something new. Slowly his brain was working over what she was saying. She seemed nice, and young, despite her actual age. But having to fight things? Constantly? Thinking this place was nice and being pleased to go outside. He would have thought she didn't have a home except for that last part. Why would she be pleased to go outside if she was something close to homeless? The boy tilted his head. A part of Mikado wanted to consider his words carefully, but despite his inclination for internal development, Mikado was a person of action. Someone who spoke what they thought, even perhaps where they shouldn't.

"Were you... like a child-soldier, maybe?" He asked this with an open expression, as if this was something to ask any he came across. Child-soldiers seemed something more fantasy than reality in the decade and area Mikado grew up, but if there were things he was learning, it was that the line between fantasy and reality often crossed, with effects to be enjoyed. If she hadn't said fight, he might not have thought about it. She could have been in jail before, but her personality was too innocent for that, he thought.

...And then, he realized he might have been rude. "Ah- Uh, do you like cats, Lily-san? I haven't been around them a lot." That she had described it how she had was really... Pretty cute of her.

[unit67]

Lily bit her lip and looked down, realizing that she might have made an error in being so frank when she really just meant to explain why she thought the place wasn't so terrible. Was it a bad thing to be a child soldier? It didn't necessarily imply that she lost control, that she was capable of hurting her friends. It didn't reveal anything about the dark voice, about her own weakness against it. There were others, those who weren't a threat...people like Heine, like Giovanni, like most of the others. Anyone would want to be friends with them. They wouldn't be scared. Still, she chose her words carefully, a bit nervously and not entirely free of shame. Her last memory, her hands slick with Heine's blood, coated her memory with warm red. And Giovanni...

But she couldn't talk about that that. Not yet. Not ever. No one would be friends with a person like her, and as much as Lily hated twisting the truth, she hated her loneliness even more. And the voice, it fed on that emotion. It whispered most forcefully through weakness, clamored for revenge against those who would reject her.

So no. She wouldn't talk. She'd answer his question, give the answers Heine might have given. She'd hide for as long as she could.

"Yes," she finally said. Lily seemed to have lost interest in her food, not that it was that interesting to begin with. "I mean...I think that's what you could call it. We were going to escape, though." That, or degrade into monsters. "I didn't want to hurt anyone."

It was safe. A safe enough answer. Mikado couldn't guess the truth from that. Could he? He didn't sound disgusted when he asked the question. She watched him for a second, trying to read his expression, but his mention of cats quickly raced past her anxiety.

"I love cats," she said with a grin. "They make this quiet sound, like their whole body is vibrating, and they have little pink tongues, and they rest against you when they're going to sleep, and-" And again, she'd gotten carried away with excitement. Mikado knew what cats were like. Everyone did. "I'm sorry," she said, glancing down. "It's just that back home, we...I never saw a cat before."

[ofthemotions]

Her expression seemed to fall, and Mikado half-wished he could take back what he asked. Except it was there, for better or worse, and the truth was what was important in the end. Even if he didn't have the right to know it. Her expression had guaranteed the answer before she even spoke it, and the way she spoke, without coyness or subterfuge, made him believe her. When Lily paused, Mikado smiled, nodding once. "Then this place is better, then. I'm glad that you did get out, one way or the other."

He thought for a moment, then continued. "And maybe you'll end up seeing your friends here? I've met someone I know, and I heard there's a couple more as well." The fact caught up belatedly. Wow. A child-soldier. Had she been kidnapped to... Africa or China? Mikado had no idea what countries still used those. She looked too European--did Russia have child-soldiers?

Mikado thought of Simon suddenly, and mentally shuddered. He could have been one, for certain.

His smile widened peacefully as she spoke, watching her. Yes, it was really cute. She spoke without shame or embarrassment--ah, he spoke too soon. He waved a hand. "No, no, it's fine, Lily-san. It's nice that you have something you like so much." If all she knew was fighting, a cat must be something so unique. "And it's called purring. They do it when they're really happy, I think."

Part of him wanted to question her fiercely on the fact of her background, curious about the details. He asked nothing. She seemed on guard about it, and there might be some unpleasant memories attached. Maybe some other time....