Kanita/Nayan, so tell me about Geffen!
Kanita
Nayan
In which Kanita and Nayan meet! Yaaay first meetings!
Ends of long days were, without a doubt, the best things ever. Granted, he had been teaching for a few hours now, but he deserved breaks just like everyone else, right? And, granted, meeting a girl he had met over the journals wasn't entirely a foreign concept to him, no. After all, he had met Arun and Marlene and he had only spoken to them over the journals prior to meeting them in Juno...
But now he had absolutely nothing to go on as to what this girl looked like. So... what did he do? Did he just sit inside the theatre and wait for her to show up or what?
Yeah good move, Nayan! Hopefully he'd realize it was her by the horrible Ayothayan accent. And maybe the surprisingly strong resemblance she had to Arun!
Kanita had managed to get lost on her way to the theatre, but a polite question of a guide had turned her in the right direction and after some walking, she found the place. She went inside to look for Nayan, wondering if she'd be able to find him because she, also, did not know what he looked like!
There was somebody in here? Was it him? She approached the teal-haired man, looking up at him uncertainly. "Hello," she said. "I am looking for a Nayan."
But he didn't know she was related to Arun, so how was he supposed to know to look for a girl who resembled him?
Of course, then the girl actually came inside the theatre, and he noticed that, in fact, she did resemble someone, but he couldn't exactly figure out who yet. As for the accent when she spoke? Well, he had never been good at distinguishing accents, so that wasn't very helpful to him, either. "You're speaking to him. And.... you... are...?"
Hey it meant she looked Ayothayan, right? Right!
Oh, she'd found him! That was lucky! "Kanita!" she said with a grin. "I came to meet you!"
Oh, so this was Kanita? Oh! She was so cute!
"Hey, honey!" His face lit up and, without even thinking about it, he pulled her into a hug. This was Nayan, after all. He was a very huggy person. "It's nice to see you finally!"
She was a little surprised by the sudden hug, and she squirmed out of it, adjusting her cat-eared headband as she stepped back. "Nice to meet you," she echoed, sounding a little skeptical. She wasn't really used to being hugged by anybody that wasn't family.
"Ah... sorry." Nayan rubbed the back of his neck and looked a bit sheepish. "I like hugging people, so... Sorry if I scared you or anything."
"It is strange," she commented, smoothing out the front of her skirt. People didn't just randomly hug people where she was from! If he had a friend from Ayothaya, shouldn't he know that?
She looked up at him. "I was not scared," she was sure to note.
No, not really. He had flirted with Arun, for crying out loud!
"Er... I guess what I meant was I didn't make you uncomfortable, did I?"
And it made Arun very uncomfortable! See? See?
"No," she said, though she wasn't quite sure what "uncomfortable" was. Best to deny it anyway. Just like denying she was scared.
But he had adjusted! And Arun didn't mind the hugging after awhile.
"Oh good!" Nayan smiled brightly at her. "So how's your trip been so far?"
"Interesting," she answered, with a sort of awed innocence on her face. "It is very different here!"
"I'd imagine it would be. I've never been to Ayothaya, so I don't know what that's like compared to here..."
"Very smaller," she said, holding her hands apart just far enough to indicate a very short distance. "Not so much people."
"I've only ever been so far as Juno before. Not to any of the islands or anything," Nayan confessed, smiling at her. "I can't even begin to imagine what it's like..."
"It is very beautiful," she said, with a grin. "Ask your friend from Ayothaya, he will say so too. What is Juno like?" Sages were in Juno, right? If she didn't find Khaeng in Geffen, then maybe she would go to Juno next.
"It's big," Nayan confessed, smiling a bit. "And, of course, it floats. And you have the library and the Sage Academy somewhere in the...middle of the city, I think? Never actually been inside it, myself..."
Yeah, Juno was where the sages were! So if he wasn't in Geffen, definitely Juno next. Besides, it was floating and she really couldn't pass that up. ...But what if she did find Khaeng in Geffen? Well, she could always see Juno later, right?
"Have you been in Geffen?" she asked.
"Not for too long," he confessed, smiling a bit. "I was only there once a long time ago, but I was going to go and visit a friend who was staying there."
"They say there is a tower! Big, very big!" She held her hand up as high as she could, to indicate height, and then let it drop down to her side again. "The wizards are there, yes?" Was Khaeng a wizard now, she wondered? Would she be climbing that tower to see him?
"Uh-huh!" he replied, nodding enthusiastically. "It's huge. It's in the dead center of the city, too. You can't miss it."
Huge must mean very very very big! "I want to see it!" she said, managing to excite herself over this trip to Geffen all over again. "And the mages. Where are the mages?"
"That I couldn't tell you," Nayan said, looking a little sheepish. "I don't have any mage friends."
"Oh. I can ask, then." That was no big problem. The city guides were friendly enough, as long as you were polite.
"Uh-huh." He nodded again. "The city guides are really friendly. Though the guides in Geffen look kind of funny, really. They have these helmets that make them look like birds."
"Really?" She looked very intrigued by this! "Birds? Why? Do they like birds much in Geffen?"
"You know, I don't know." He sounded amused. "I never thought to ask."
"I will ask, then!" It was very interesting, bird-helmets! She had to know!
"And you'll have to tell me the answer!" Nayan smiled brightly at her. "I want to know, too."
"Maybe you can come and ask too," she suggested, maybe a little hopeful. Nayan was nice, and she wouldn't mind not being by herself.
"I wish I could, honey, but I can't get away right now. I teach classes here and I just took time off a few days ago." It would be interesting to go back to Geffen, though. Maybe he could talk Elliot into coming with him and they could bring Sayo and they could make a sort of family thing out of it...
"Oh," she said, sounding now maybe a little disappointed. Well, she'd come this far on her own, she could make it to Geffen by herself too. And she had been given the money for a warp, so it wasn't like she had to walk all the way there, like she had from Alberta to Payon.
"Well, I will tell you when I ask, then."
She sounded disappointed... Oh damn. He made her sad, didn't he? "I'm sorry, honey..." But... hm. Maybe changing the topic would be a good idea? "So tell me who it is you're looking for in Geffen."
Yes, that worked like a charm! She bounced right back with, "My uncle! He is a mage!" Or wizard or sage she wasn't sure now.
Ha ha! Victory was his! "You're uncle, huh? What's he like?"
"He is..." She trailed off. She really didn't know what Khaeng was like. She just knew what her mother had told her about him. After all, she'd only been two when he'd left, so she could just barely remember him at all. Looking up at Nayan, she gave a shrug. "I was very small when he left."
"Ohh... So I guess you don't really remember him, huh?"
She shook her head. "Only mother's stories of him."
Unfortunately, Nayan couldn't really relate. He still remembered his parents and his sister, although he hadn't seen them in years. He wondered if his sister would even remember him if he actually found her now... "And what do you think of him now that you've heard your mother's stories?"
Big grin. She could answer that question, easy. "I want to meet him! He is very interesting."
"Oh really. What makes you say that?" Aww... she looked cute when she was grinning like that.,
"Mother always said very good things of him. I am..." Curious! But she didn't know what the word was. She said it in Ayothayan, and then tried to define it in Basic. "I want to know more."
"Curious," Nayan replied. "The word for that is curious."
"Curious," she repeated. "Yes, I am curious of him."
"Curious about him, honey." Aww... broken Basic was cute, too.
"Curious about him," she repeated, looking slightly confused. "My Basic is not very good yet. I could not practice much in Ayothaya."
"Well, hey, how about this. You can practice with me any time you want."
"Thank you," she said. "You are very nice." She rather liked him, she decided. Mostly because he was very nice.
"Aww... thanks, honey." He was really glad she had said that. After all, he worked very hard on being nice.
"Why do you call me 'honey'?" she asked; it was something she'd been wondering since he'd first done it, but had just now thought to ask.
"I call everybody honey." He had never really thought about why he did it. It was just something he had picked up ages ago and had done it ever since. "Does it bother you?"
"Oh. No, I was just..." Pause! "Curious about it."
He smiled and nodded at her. Yup! That was the right way to use that phrase! But now, to continue. "I think I must have picked it up from one of my friends."
"Oh. Honey is a nice thing to call somebody?" She'd assumed so but you know, you never could be sure.
"Yep!"
"Okay," she said, smiling. She wasn't sure what exactly it meant, but if it was nice, then it was okay.
After a pause to glance around the theatre, she asked, "You teach, yes? What is it?"
He nodded. "Yeah. I'm a dancer, so I teach people how to dance."
She looked very fascinated. She'd never met a dancer before! "Is it fun?" she asked. "Do you like it?"
He nodded. "Of course. I love it."
"That is good, then."
She stopped, thinking of what to say next. She found herself rather at a loss, unfortunately. With a faint sigh, she reached up to adjust her headband again.
And now he took notice of it. Curiously, he reached over and lightly poked at the headband. "These are cute."
She paused, blinking, and looked up at him again. "You think so?"
"Yeah!"
"My father gave it to me," she said, with a bright smile.
"It suits you. Enhances the cute."
"Enhances?" She blinked.
"Makes you look more cute than normal." Easier way to phrase that and hopefully she wouldn't be confused any more.
"Oh. Okay." So she thought she understood enhances, then. "Thank you. I like it." More because it reminded her of her father than because it was cute, but she didn't need to say that.
"Because it's cute or because it reminds you of your father?"
"Both?" she ventured.
"Heh." Nayan smiled at her. "That's perfectly adorable."
She gave him a cute smile. "Thank you."
Nayan
In which Kanita and Nayan meet! Yaaay first meetings!
Ends of long days were, without a doubt, the best things ever. Granted, he had been teaching for a few hours now, but he deserved breaks just like everyone else, right? And, granted, meeting a girl he had met over the journals wasn't entirely a foreign concept to him, no. After all, he had met Arun and Marlene and he had only spoken to them over the journals prior to meeting them in Juno...
But now he had absolutely nothing to go on as to what this girl looked like. So... what did he do? Did he just sit inside the theatre and wait for her to show up or what?
Yeah good move, Nayan! Hopefully he'd realize it was her by the horrible Ayothayan accent. And maybe the surprisingly strong resemblance she had to Arun!
Kanita had managed to get lost on her way to the theatre, but a polite question of a guide had turned her in the right direction and after some walking, she found the place. She went inside to look for Nayan, wondering if she'd be able to find him because she, also, did not know what he looked like!
There was somebody in here? Was it him? She approached the teal-haired man, looking up at him uncertainly. "Hello," she said. "I am looking for a Nayan."
But he didn't know she was related to Arun, so how was he supposed to know to look for a girl who resembled him?
Of course, then the girl actually came inside the theatre, and he noticed that, in fact, she did resemble someone, but he couldn't exactly figure out who yet. As for the accent when she spoke? Well, he had never been good at distinguishing accents, so that wasn't very helpful to him, either. "You're speaking to him. And.... you... are...?"
Hey it meant she looked Ayothayan, right? Right!
Oh, she'd found him! That was lucky! "Kanita!" she said with a grin. "I came to meet you!"
Oh, so this was Kanita? Oh! She was so cute!
"Hey, honey!" His face lit up and, without even thinking about it, he pulled her into a hug. This was Nayan, after all. He was a very huggy person. "It's nice to see you finally!"
She was a little surprised by the sudden hug, and she squirmed out of it, adjusting her cat-eared headband as she stepped back. "Nice to meet you," she echoed, sounding a little skeptical. She wasn't really used to being hugged by anybody that wasn't family.
"Ah... sorry." Nayan rubbed the back of his neck and looked a bit sheepish. "I like hugging people, so... Sorry if I scared you or anything."
"It is strange," she commented, smoothing out the front of her skirt. People didn't just randomly hug people where she was from! If he had a friend from Ayothaya, shouldn't he know that?
She looked up at him. "I was not scared," she was sure to note.
No, not really. He had flirted with Arun, for crying out loud!
"Er... I guess what I meant was I didn't make you uncomfortable, did I?"
And it made Arun very uncomfortable! See? See?
"No," she said, though she wasn't quite sure what "uncomfortable" was. Best to deny it anyway. Just like denying she was scared.
But he had adjusted! And Arun didn't mind the hugging after awhile.
"Oh good!" Nayan smiled brightly at her. "So how's your trip been so far?"
"Interesting," she answered, with a sort of awed innocence on her face. "It is very different here!"
"I'd imagine it would be. I've never been to Ayothaya, so I don't know what that's like compared to here..."
"Very smaller," she said, holding her hands apart just far enough to indicate a very short distance. "Not so much people."
"I've only ever been so far as Juno before. Not to any of the islands or anything," Nayan confessed, smiling at her. "I can't even begin to imagine what it's like..."
"It is very beautiful," she said, with a grin. "Ask your friend from Ayothaya, he will say so too. What is Juno like?" Sages were in Juno, right? If she didn't find Khaeng in Geffen, then maybe she would go to Juno next.
"It's big," Nayan confessed, smiling a bit. "And, of course, it floats. And you have the library and the Sage Academy somewhere in the...middle of the city, I think? Never actually been inside it, myself..."
Yeah, Juno was where the sages were! So if he wasn't in Geffen, definitely Juno next. Besides, it was floating and she really couldn't pass that up. ...But what if she did find Khaeng in Geffen? Well, she could always see Juno later, right?
"Have you been in Geffen?" she asked.
"Not for too long," he confessed, smiling a bit. "I was only there once a long time ago, but I was going to go and visit a friend who was staying there."
"They say there is a tower! Big, very big!" She held her hand up as high as she could, to indicate height, and then let it drop down to her side again. "The wizards are there, yes?" Was Khaeng a wizard now, she wondered? Would she be climbing that tower to see him?
"Uh-huh!" he replied, nodding enthusiastically. "It's huge. It's in the dead center of the city, too. You can't miss it."
Huge must mean very very very big! "I want to see it!" she said, managing to excite herself over this trip to Geffen all over again. "And the mages. Where are the mages?"
"That I couldn't tell you," Nayan said, looking a little sheepish. "I don't have any mage friends."
"Oh. I can ask, then." That was no big problem. The city guides were friendly enough, as long as you were polite.
"Uh-huh." He nodded again. "The city guides are really friendly. Though the guides in Geffen look kind of funny, really. They have these helmets that make them look like birds."
"Really?" She looked very intrigued by this! "Birds? Why? Do they like birds much in Geffen?"
"You know, I don't know." He sounded amused. "I never thought to ask."
"I will ask, then!" It was very interesting, bird-helmets! She had to know!
"And you'll have to tell me the answer!" Nayan smiled brightly at her. "I want to know, too."
"Maybe you can come and ask too," she suggested, maybe a little hopeful. Nayan was nice, and she wouldn't mind not being by herself.
"I wish I could, honey, but I can't get away right now. I teach classes here and I just took time off a few days ago." It would be interesting to go back to Geffen, though. Maybe he could talk Elliot into coming with him and they could bring Sayo and they could make a sort of family thing out of it...
"Oh," she said, sounding now maybe a little disappointed. Well, she'd come this far on her own, she could make it to Geffen by herself too. And she had been given the money for a warp, so it wasn't like she had to walk all the way there, like she had from Alberta to Payon.
"Well, I will tell you when I ask, then."
She sounded disappointed... Oh damn. He made her sad, didn't he? "I'm sorry, honey..." But... hm. Maybe changing the topic would be a good idea? "So tell me who it is you're looking for in Geffen."
Yes, that worked like a charm! She bounced right back with, "My uncle! He is a mage!" Or wizard or sage she wasn't sure now.
Ha ha! Victory was his! "You're uncle, huh? What's he like?"
"He is..." She trailed off. She really didn't know what Khaeng was like. She just knew what her mother had told her about him. After all, she'd only been two when he'd left, so she could just barely remember him at all. Looking up at Nayan, she gave a shrug. "I was very small when he left."
"Ohh... So I guess you don't really remember him, huh?"
She shook her head. "Only mother's stories of him."
Unfortunately, Nayan couldn't really relate. He still remembered his parents and his sister, although he hadn't seen them in years. He wondered if his sister would even remember him if he actually found her now... "And what do you think of him now that you've heard your mother's stories?"
Big grin. She could answer that question, easy. "I want to meet him! He is very interesting."
"Oh really. What makes you say that?" Aww... she looked cute when she was grinning like that.,
"Mother always said very good things of him. I am..." Curious! But she didn't know what the word was. She said it in Ayothayan, and then tried to define it in Basic. "I want to know more."
"Curious," Nayan replied. "The word for that is curious."
"Curious," she repeated. "Yes, I am curious of him."
"Curious about him, honey." Aww... broken Basic was cute, too.
"Curious about him," she repeated, looking slightly confused. "My Basic is not very good yet. I could not practice much in Ayothaya."
"Well, hey, how about this. You can practice with me any time you want."
"Thank you," she said. "You are very nice." She rather liked him, she decided. Mostly because he was very nice.
"Aww... thanks, honey." He was really glad she had said that. After all, he worked very hard on being nice.
"Why do you call me 'honey'?" she asked; it was something she'd been wondering since he'd first done it, but had just now thought to ask.
"I call everybody honey." He had never really thought about why he did it. It was just something he had picked up ages ago and had done it ever since. "Does it bother you?"
"Oh. No, I was just..." Pause! "Curious about it."
He smiled and nodded at her. Yup! That was the right way to use that phrase! But now, to continue. "I think I must have picked it up from one of my friends."
"Oh. Honey is a nice thing to call somebody?" She'd assumed so but you know, you never could be sure.
"Yep!"
"Okay," she said, smiling. She wasn't sure what exactly it meant, but if it was nice, then it was okay.
After a pause to glance around the theatre, she asked, "You teach, yes? What is it?"
He nodded. "Yeah. I'm a dancer, so I teach people how to dance."
She looked very fascinated. She'd never met a dancer before! "Is it fun?" she asked. "Do you like it?"
He nodded. "Of course. I love it."
"That is good, then."
She stopped, thinking of what to say next. She found herself rather at a loss, unfortunately. With a faint sigh, she reached up to adjust her headband again.
And now he took notice of it. Curiously, he reached over and lightly poked at the headband. "These are cute."
She paused, blinking, and looked up at him again. "You think so?"
"Yeah!"
"My father gave it to me," she said, with a bright smile.
"It suits you. Enhances the cute."
"Enhances?" She blinked.
"Makes you look more cute than normal." Easier way to phrase that and hopefully she wouldn't be confused any more.
"Oh. Okay." So she thought she understood enhances, then. "Thank you. I like it." More because it reminded her of her father than because it was cute, but she didn't need to say that.
"Because it's cute or because it reminds you of your father?"
"Both?" she ventured.
"Heh." Nayan smiled at her. "That's perfectly adorable."
She gave him a cute smile. "Thank you."