I see you in another place//I extract a familiar face

[weaver_girl]

Characters: Kagerou (weaver_girl) and YOU
Date/Time: 27 to 29 April 2011
Location: The Bar/The Clinic on Wellspring/Section Three/The Dojo/etc.
Rating: A blanket PG-13 should cover everything.
Summary: Kagerou gets back into things after a side trip into the Attic and an unscheduled dream dust nap. So many things to see, people to do-no wait. Come bother her

Comments

[proudambassador]

"The park, yes, this will do." He wasn't a big fan of nature and the great outdoors, but he had pleasant company. It would be fine. As long as there were not too many bugs, and the not-too-many bugs did not insist on biting him.

His smile faded at the question. Of course Mr. Grift would come up. Even months later, he was not free of... whatever that had been. Ambassador's voice was quiet, a very rare occurrence. "Yes. Yes, I knew Mr. Grift." They walked a few steps in silence before he spoke again. "He was my greeter. The first person I met, it was the good Mr. Grift. He was not impressed by me, I was not impressed by him. It was... a good thing." Ambassador laughed. "A good thing, yes. We argued and bickered like a couple of idiots, but it was right! A good type of arguing." And now there ws a sigh. "It felt like home. Mr. Grift... through the arguing, he made me feel at home. And then, of course, the idiot went and got himself killed."

Ambassador waggled a finger at Kagerou. "You, my good Kagerou, you had best not get yourself killed. If you do, I will be very cross. And not forgive you, hm? Ever. Because you, you are not at all like home, no. But it is nice to see you. And to hear you.

[weaver_girl]

Kagerou walked in silence, save for the occasional obliging "mm-hm" to let Ambassador know he had her attention. Speaking of the lost was never easy, and as he talked, she understood that she had asked a more personal question than she had known it would be.

"Oh, I do get it, yes. I'm not very good at arguing with people for, well for fondness." She'd almost said love, but that didn't seem a word Ambassador might appreciate. "But many of my friends do it, and I can tell they care about each other, anyway."

She levelled a quite serious look at him at the finger-wagging, not quite able to soften it with a smile. "I won't die again. I promised myself I wouldn't put my friends through that again."

[proudambassador]

"Me, care? Pah." He waved a hand dismissively. He'd said too much, really, let down the barrier for a sweet girl who hopefully would forget that. He wanted no sympathy or even empathy, he was sure of it. All he wanted was for someone to listen to him. Sometimes. Not even often. He liked to think he had very little needs, very small wants. An ear. Every now and then. When she could spare it. Ambassador both liked and disliked attention, and he was suspicious of his craving for it. "He has left, that is done."

Her promise got a nod. "Good. I am sure those you care about will be glad of this." Ambassador wasn't about to presume he was part of that. He was strange and a loner, and not even human on top of that. The outskirts were where he would stay. And hey, it was safer that way too. Then departures just wouldn't hurt.

[weaver_girl]

Kagerou hummed at his dismissal, somehow unhappy but unsure what she could add to that. Pain did that to people, she thought, made them close up and ward off concern and sympathy. Did they seem too much like pity? Who was she to say?

Not dying again was a good decision in principle, but she was aware that she might not have any say in it, at the last. Edensphere was as dangerous as it could be wonderful. "But you would be cross with me, Mr. Ambassador? I suppose I'd better take care, then, if I don't want a tongue-lashing." She tilted her head away from him, watching the stalls as they strolled by. There was a tiny glint of laughter hiding in her voice.

[proudambassador]

Oh, he was sure that some didn't mean it as pity. But it implied weakness, when things hurt, and Ambassador did not want to be weak. He was fine, and strong, and independant, and himself.

The change of mood, of tone, was welcome. "Oh yes. My tongue-lashings, they are things to be feared. They are long, hm? And cutting. Yes. Very cutting. And insightful! That, it is one of few times I am insightful, you will find. All other times, I cannot remember which is a duck and which is a cat." This was a much better topic. It was safe. It wasn't delicate.

"Now. What would you care to talk about, my dear girl? Earther things, Centauri things... sometimes, they overlap, I find."

[weaver_girl]

She laughed brightly, genuinely amused. "Ducks and cats don't look that much alike, Mr. Ambassador."

By now they had wandered to the edge of the Bazaar. She peered ahead towards the Park as they crossed onto the rope bridge, then his question drew her gaze back to him. "Centauri? Are they your people?" Her face lit up with sudden, avid interest. "Um, would you mind telling me something about them? I hope that's not impolite, but you're the first one I've ever met. You have two hearts, right?"

[proudambassador]

"No, no, that they do not." He smiled, taking joy in her amusement. It was good to have that effect sometimes.

Now his smile grew. "Yes. Myself, I am a Centauri, and your questions, they are not impolite. Two hearts, yes. I have two, Fred has two, everyone else here, it seems, has one. My hair, it grows like this. Up. Yours, it grows down. And I do not mind answering any questions you have, my dear friend."

[weaver_girl]

"She does? Oh, I think she has mentioned that." She spoke guilelessly; it was in her nature to accept most differences between people in stride, when she contemplated them at all. At the moment, she was mostly simply content that she'd found a topic he seemed glad to talk about. That it fascinated her, too, was even better.

"You're... not from Earth, then. Where do you come from? Do you know? I'm sorry if I sound like such a--a wide-eyed child, it's just that, well. People from other planets is really a step up from people from my world's future, I think."

[proudambassador]

"She has, yes." If Fred hadn't, Ambassador might not have realized that having two hearts was different. And then it turned out that nearly everyone had one. He still didn't know what exactly to make of him being so strange compared to everyone else when it seemed like it should be the opposite.

"It is fine, my dear girl. I do not mind at all. What I can answer, I would be glad to, for this, it is something that I think about a great deal. Myself, my world, my people. I have only recently found out, after all, that I am called a Centauri. My world, it is called Centauri Prime. Fitting, no? A prime place for Centauri." He chuckled at his own joke. "For many this, it seems to be the case. They do not know space, they do not know other worlds. A sadness, this."

[weaver_girl]

"I don't think my world really had the technology. Not that I know very much about it." Kagerou clasped her hands behind her back.

"It sounds wonderful, to be able to travel so far. Were you at Stellaris's planetarium opening? I thought I saw you there! I think she comes from the same place as I do, but definitely not the same time."

[proudambassador]

"Technology, it is something that eludes. If we were to all have and know our worlds' technology, surely we would no longer be trapped here, hm?" He figured it made some sense, though he wasn't sure how much he would have known about the tech of his world even without memory loss. It wasn't something he was very interested in.

"Yes, I was. Her stars, they are not my own. But it was nice, yes. Very nice. To see stars, that was a good thing. I am sorry that I did not see you there, but my thoughts, they were not all there." He'd spent a lot of time thinking as he moved around the party, wondering about his stars and world.

...I kinda had to handwave Kage being there, but... she was.

[weaver_girl]

"Not all there? How do you mean?" She tilted her head a little. She loved space like she loved most fantastic vistas and landscapes; the idea of really travelling there still seemed head-spinningly foreign. At the same time, she could accept that he came from a distant place and time easily enough. He was there, wasn't he?

"But... if we had our memories, I don't think we could be stuck here. That is true."

That's fine!

[proudambassador]

"...Did I get another thing wrong?" Ambassador sighed. "Not... focused, yes? Not entirely watching the crowd? I was thinking of other stars, in other places, and thus I was not looking for people. This is... a nice place, in some ways. But I think that I would like to go home still." He shrugged. "I am not so attached to this place."

He nodded in agreement with her last statement. "We would be free. And so we are prisoners to our unknown past and to this place both. It is sometimes exhausting."

[weaver_girl]

Kagerou nodded. "Oh, no, you got that exactly right. I just didn't catch it quite right, I think. So maybe it was me who wasn't all there right then? I'm sorry. My mind wanders sometimes." She made an apologetic face.

There it was again, the conundrum of whether to stay or to go, if given the opportunity. Given how obscure the chance itself was, the question was on her mind a great deal, and it seemed to have a way of intruding on the most everyday of conversations.

"Would you think it strange that I'm not really sure if I would go home?" Kagerou let her eyes veer to the surrounding greenery as if seeking refuge in the springtime calm of the Park around them.

[proudambassador]

"I see, I see. Do not fret over it, hm? Normally it is me who does not understand the things correctly." He shrugged. While it didn't happen too often, he still had a habit of mixing up words and phrases. There was no way he would hold it against Kagerou. "At times, we are all not there. No one can always be focused."

Ambassador sighed, looking at the park. "I... I do not know. There is too much I do not know. What is going on back home? Will the little few I care about stay here or continue to vanish? I do not think it is completely strange, no, but here, there is too much flux for me, I think. There is too much I do not know, and too little I do know. Sometimes I think I can be happy if I have a drink in the evening, and then I see the faces of the women I have left behind, hear the eagerness in the voice of my aide, and sometimes, sometimes I wonder."

[weaver_girl]

So many questions, strung in the air like pearls on a string. Kagerou had tried to keep track of hers, but always there were more, and every new piece of information brought a plethora of new uncertainties.

"That's how I feel almost every time I get a memory back," she said quietly. "It's like there's this sudden huge wave of homesickness, and if someone told me right then that they could take me home... Well, I might not think twice.

"So, I understand. Very well."