knowing a trifle about everything

[patration]

In the time since Zhuge had arrived on the island, he'd managed to learn a great deal in a number of subjects. Language had, of course, been his very first priority upon discovering the magical bookshelf in the rec room, which was handy in supplying countless dictionaries and other aids for his perusal. Though he wasn't a great fan of limiting

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[yeah_wow_lovely]

It's surprising to find him with a weapon. She's not really thought of it, how dear Liang made his living at home, but he's so gentle. Not only in the way he speaks to her, but with his animals, the baby horse and his lovely birds, in everything, from his measured nods to his quiet smiles. Not once has it occurred to Cassie that he might need to defend himself, and neither has it occurred to her that anyone could ever want to do him harm.

"But," she says, slippered feet all but silent on the forest floor. "Where did it come from?"

[patration]

Back in his world and his time, war is nothing more than a fact of life. Sometimes, it's hard for Zhuge to remember that other places aren't the same. Every land has their periods of peace, it's true, a brief span of time when people respect authority- or, at the very least, fear it. When they are content and able to believe that a leader has their best interests at heart, and in addition to that, has enough strength and conviction of will to maintain it. But underneath all of that always exists some level of fear, of tension, knives hidden under pillows and fires carefully kept burning, just in case it should all tip over at the flip of a coin.

The island is most strange to Zhuge, not because of the seeming magic that has pulled everyone there, but because people on the whole trust one another.

Which is why he doesn't expect to see quite the expression that Cassie wears, as she approaches him from the side. Zhuge looks calmly from her to his weapon, then back up again. Where, he understands. But, he understands

[yeah_wow_lovely]

Cassie comes close enough to touch, pale fingers on the wood of the crossbow, pressing and falling away. It's very well made. Cassie puts bits of paper together sometimes, bends and twists and shapes and folds, and at times it's intricate, but it's never useful. Not like this. Nice, clean lines, each piece of wood fit together to perfection. Strangely, it makes Cassie's stomach rumble to look at.

"I like...boar," she says with a tiny smile. "Is that why you've made it? Hunting?"

[patration]

As much as Zhuge knows that Cassie's made efforts to protect him, often found somewhere in his periphery with her eyes wide and watchful, more often than not Zhuge feels that the impulse to shield her in turn. In some ways, she's like the flame on a candle, beautiful and bright, shining a light on everything around her, but delicate enough that a strong gust of wind might put her out. When it comes to people, Zhuge isn't necessarily the most perceptive, choosing to spend more of his time on their behavior as a collective on the battleground than individually in their private lives, but it's a feeling that he gets from Cassie nonetheless. She's not a very ordinary girl.

Carefully, he tries again for her words.

I like. Is that why you? Hunting?

"Yes," he says, watching her fingers fall away from the wood as he holds up the weapon. "Yes, hunt. And protect. You like..."

He unearths his dictionary from the hidden pocket in his sleeve, looking to Cassie for help in finding her words. "Boar?"

[yeah_wow_lovely]

"Oh, you've a dictionary," Cassie exclaims, delight on her face when she clasps at his wrist, pulling the book down and herself up to look at it. He's so clever to have found something to help him already, and Cassie would help him find the word, but inspiration takes her elsewhere.

"Boar," she says, trying not to giggle when her foot paws at the ground, throat closing up around an unladylike snort and a snuffle. Next she lifts her hand, feigning tearing off a great big bit of something with her teeth. "Good food!"

[patration]

"Di-ke-shin-ary," Zhuge parrots back, trying for a wider smile, as silly as it makes him feel; he hasn't smiled like this or joked around with such abandon in years, something about Cassie's open nature pulling out Zhuge's in turn. He waits patiently as she flips through the pages, then lifts the book when she finds the word at last, both brows raising in comprehension as he nods.

"Boar. Ye zhu," he says slowly, before tilting his head, mentally running through English phonetics instead- it'll be easier than trying to teach her syllables that they simply don't use in their language at all. "Yeh zoo."

Then he mimics holding up a pair of chopsticks, shoveling food from the makeshift dictionary of a plate to his mouth. "Good food."

[yeah_wow_lovely]

"Yeh zoo," Cassie beams up at him, and pats first his stomach and then her own. "Good food. Hǎo. But Liang," she continues, happy expression falling almost immediately into worry. Perhaps he's more capable than she knows, but she doesn't like to think of him out in the jungle, surely in danger of being trampled at any moment.

"Will you hunt them yourself?" She holds up her arms as if aiming the crossbow. "You, Liang, shoot boar?"

[patration]

His eyes follow the progress of Cassie's hand in amusement, Zhuge finding it for once hard to stifle a laugh as she pats his stomach, a gesture so foreign to him- most young women her age would find themselves nervous, standing so close to a man with that amount of power and influence. Unless there's class or occupation to bolster a girl's position, generally Zhuge has very little to do with them, his job taking him in the opposite direction entirely. Having a break from all of that isn't even just relaxing, it's an entirely new set of experiences, and Zhuge only smiles more for it.

Until, of course, Cassie's expression falls. And maybe it's because he's learned that she's tactile, that touch can in of itself be its own language, but Zhuge does then what he so rarely has for others, reaching out for her cheeks and smoothing over them with the pad of his thumb.

"Liang maybe shoot boar," he nods carefully. "But Liang... make arrow is good, hunt is not that good. Farm is not that good, too. Cassie think worry?"

[yeah_wow_lovely]

The touch stuns her into stillness, save for a sudden tremor in her chin, quickly spanning up to her bottom lip. This place isn't like home, and it isn't like the lonely urban wilds of New York. She has friends here, true friends. The tenderness in the way his thumb smooths over her cheek only serves to prove it, and all at once Cassie is terrified for the thought of something happening to him.

"Yes, worry," she says, her pale, slim fingers wrapping around his wrists. "Boars are big, Liang, bu xiao. It's dangerous, I don't want you to be hurt."

[patration]

Normally, he'd be smiling from ear to ear at her use of his language. As it is, however, there's something about the fear apparent in her words, her expressions, that brings everything to a halt. His gaze lingers around her lip, the way it trembles, before he brushes the pad of his thumb there to try and ease the worry away as best as he can. He's had people concerned for his welfare before, but never quite like this

[yeah_wow_lovely]

"Careful," exhales Cassie, the relief so great that it very nearly steals the strength from her legs, her knees locked tight against it. She could do it, she could demand that he only make the arrows, demand and see what happened, but she doesn't want to. Liang has worked so hard, and he's so kind, not wanting to sit idle but to help those on the island find food, and while she's still afraid, she's more afraid that she'll be the one to hurt him, taking the things that make him happy.

"Very careful," she says. "Very. And more practice." Eyes darting to the tree and back, Cassie tries not to be too accusing, but there are rather a lot of arrows on the ground. "Better arrows."

[patration]

The look that Cassie shoots towards his fallen arrows is a little too deliberate to ignore, Zhuge's grin lingering as he nods in understanding. He doesn't need to know the precise meaning of each word that comes from her mouth, and that's something that seems to be very consistent between himself and Cassie, a level of empathy that they share. What's less clear to him now is how to react. Some part of him wants to listen to her every word and put her heart at ease- but another part knows that it'd be stifling himself in the process. The difference between Cassie and Liu Bei isn't so much the caring that they have in their hearts, but instead the fact that Liu Bei gives Zhuge more of a free hand.

That Liu Bei needs Zhuge to push out of the box.

So the look that Zhuge gives Cassie is, for once, slightly conflicted. "Careful," he agrees, brushing the pad of his thumb over her cheek. "But... Liang at home, do this."

[yeah_wow_lovely]

"You made weapons?" asks Cassie, casting a surprised glance towards the crossbow. It's finely made, and it isn't difficult at all to believe that's due to both Liang's skill and practice, but still it seems odd, this gentle man creating weapons.

"Liang," she says, "at home, were you a soldier? Shoot men? Or hunter? Shoot boar."

[patration]

There's no reason to feel shame about what he's done. No reason to bother hiding the fact. What stalls Zhuge's response is not shame, is not concern over whether or not Cassie will shy from him or shun him for what he does; anyone with half a mind should realize that many strategists help shorten the length of a battle and help to contain the carnage, and that he engages in such work doesn't at all mean that he devalues human life on the whole. But, for all the life in her, Cassie's fragile. It doesn't take someone markedly observant to see that.

War isn't meant for fragile people, even if some take better to it than anyone would expect.

"Liang... help war. Think about war. Help teach soldier how to war," he slowly explains, hands remaining still if only because he's not sure what kind of gesturing might make his point more clear. "All here." He taps his temple.

"Not here." In contrast, Zhuge waves his arms purposely about, the stance that a soldier would take up if engaging in hand-to-hand combat.

[yeah_wow_lovely]

"So clever," breathes Cassie after a very long moment of merely looking at him, her small body still while the picture of Zhuge in her head realigns itself, becomes something even more intriguing that before. Cassie's never been to war - only with herself and her broken heart, been consumed by the need for little violences, but never towards another. The only skin she's broken is her own, the only body she's abused the same. She couldn't do more than that, she's sure of it, even when she hated Sid with all her heart. That hatred hadn't made her powerful, only madder than before, but she thinks it isn't hatred that's made Zhuge what he claims to be, what Cassie can now see that he is.

"You protected them," she says, and believes it with all her heart. "You make people better."

[patration]

She doesn't respond with fear, nor with repugnance, nor any number of things that Zhuge hadn't felt outside the realm of possibility, and he breathes a slow, full exhale, feeling like some weight has been removed from his shoulders. He's never been a person who leans on others, but there is a distinct difference between a good citizen and a good leader, and Zhuge has never felt particularly strong at being the latter. Life is easier when he has someone to follow, be that a government official or a young and frail girl with hair the color of the sun's rays. Having walked around the rest of the island's populace, however, and knowing that the greater part of them come from a time close to Cassie's own, Zhuge can't help but make comparisons.

Noting all the small things, the shadows still lightly dabbed under her eyes. He reaches out, cupping her cheek briefly.

"Cassie make... Liang better," he adds with a smile. He doesn't need credit for his work, doesn't care much for compliments. Giving them, however, feels nice. When they're