[Open] | They say goldfish have no memory

[sublimated]

Method: Action or prose
Who: Kanda and anyone who wants to run into him
Where: Byalan Island (various)
When: Feb 9-13
What: Kanda killing things exploring the island's waterways and caverns.

Comments

[crossgraved]

Truthfully, Allen wasn't expecting anything from Kanda. Maybe a disapproving snort or a pointed glare before the other exorcist decided that he'd wasted enough time staring at Allen, but ultimately Allen didn't spend much time expecting things of Kanda.

So when the silence was broken by the swordsman's question, Allen was sort of surprised. 'Sort of', because while he expected very little he was also sure that they would have to break their silence together eventually, and there it was.

"Ah..." But now that he was being asked his mind blanked. He'd gone over various things he had thought about and wanted to say to Kanda during their period of silence, but now it was all gone.

"No, not exactly," he said carefully, giving a small shrug of his shoulder "I was told there was a need for squid ink and that it could be gotten from the monsters down here. That's why I headed down here today."

He cocked his head to the side, looking at Kanda questioningly though perhaps it was a bit unclear what he was wondering. He could have been wondering why Kanda was there when so far the creatures seemed to be either uninterested in any of them, or else they posed no trouble. What was really going on was that Allen had questions but no way of knowing how to phrase them, perhaps not even fully sure what it was he wanted to ask.

A few awkward seconds passed, then he swallowed and cleared his throat again.

"Are you headed in any direction in particular? If you'd rather I can head another way to give you space."

[sublimated]

Through those awkward moments in which Allen grasped for the right words, Kanda watched him with an impassive frown--not a frown directed at him, but simply the frown the swordsman wore so habitually that he would have had to think consciously to make his expression soften.

A beat passed after Allen had finished, and then Kanda just said, "No."

He didn't bother to explain if he meant 'No, I'm not heading in any direction in particular,' or 'No, I'm not telling you to go a different way.' Instead he turned away to look down the passage in which they stood, and presently he added, "They're on this level. The squid-things. They're not hard to find." After all, he had the benefits of having been down here the day before, at least for a time.

Did that mean he was offering Allen his company if he wanted it? Well, Kanda wasn't indicating that very clearly either way, but he didn't have a particular agenda, and for all the people that the swordsman had run into down here on the past several days, there was still a certain feeling of solitude and isolation. Maybe some part of him wanted to know if being around Allen--the one person from his world, the one person who, at least to some extent, knew him--would feel any different.

[crossgraved]

There were a few things Allen could truly relay on Kanda for: to have his back during a mission and to be ambiguous with his words and intent. The 'no', of course, fell into the latter of the two things Allen could depend on Kanda for. Of course, the latter of the two didn't actually help Allen much.

He was about to take the 'no' as a sign that he should turn and retrace his steps, but when Kanda spoke again he began to reconsider. He looked mildly surprised then, his brow furrowing slightly as he watched the other exorcist. One of two possible outcomes would happen if Allen motioned to travel with Kanda: he'd either be told to stay the hell away, or he'd be left to come along. It didn't really put Allen in any lesser position than he already was.

He nodded slowly, looking around at the various examples of wildlife ambling along around them.

"I haven't seen any yet," he said carefully "...how big are they?"