Lost

[misono_soup]

"Genuemon?" Misono poked around on deck, looking for her family. She found him chatting animatedly with strangers in a language she didn't know. She looked down at the picnic basket in her hands. She'd snuck in to the kitchens and charmed the cooks into giving her a lunch for two...but she knew her family and she knew he wouldn't want to leave

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[faysounds]

He was never, ever, EVER getting on a boat again. There was no question about that. The cursed thing was a shell of iron that kept him exhausted even if he didn't move. No matter where he settled the boat kept rocking. No matter where he tried to find fresh air, disease and death and dirtiness lurked. The humans were irritable and tired and weak and fearful. Even the children at play were hesitant

[misono_soup]

She could feel the magic happen, something bright and fizzy-tasting in her mouth and on her skin. But nobody answered her. She peered into the dim. She knew somebody was there. "I SAID 'hello'!" she called again, put out

[faysounds]

She-- Misono? Where did that name come from? Not Europe, for sure-- wasn't going away. Instead she was coming closer. Speaking a strange language that he could make sense of only because he wasn't human, and having to concentrate to do so and trying to stay invisible...

Clement shivered and the air around him fluttered. Damn it. He was going to have to give it up. He let the air go, though he remained in the shadows, and cocked his head at the strange girl. What kind of spirit was she? He'd never felt anything like her.

"...Je ne suis pas un géant. Je ne suis pas fait mal."

His voice was scratchy from disuse, but that shouldn't matter. Frankly the fact that he spoke French and she seemed to speak a funny language that mixed English shouldn't matter. Unless it did. Clement frowned thoughtfully. Would she be able to understand him? Maybe her kind didn't work like his? That would be awful. He was fairly certain he didn't have the energy to make her understand.

"...Pouvez-vous me comprendre?" Clement asked hopefully.

[misono_soup]

The magic in the air seemed to bubble, fizzy and then fizzier then not so much. She looked around in the direction that seemed best and then there was a voice and she snapped to it. But it sounded a little off, like that person didn't talk very much at all. It was a lonely sort of voice, one that shouldn't have been that way

[faysounds]

Clement knew that humans kept themselves together in units they called families, and he knew that humans considered those units important. But Clement had only ever needed one human - His Human - to be content. He kept watch over the family unit His Human created, but it was secondary to the human him or herself.

He looked up and tilted his head curiously at Misono. "Be your family? But you have one. Can you have two?"

He'd never seen a human have more than one family before.

"I don't mind exploring," he added.

[misono_soup]

Misono took another bite of her apple and chewed slowly. Two families. She only ever had one. But sister got married and had two families. Three, even, if you counted husband's family. "Yeah! I think I can totally have two!" Well. "Not for always? But it'd be like getting married in only we wouldn't be married. Well, we could but it has to be ceremonial and maybe I'd have to get a special permission because you're not Japanese." Now she was just confusing herself

[faysounds]

"It's okay - I don't mind," Clement said. "Some of my humans asked a lot of questions."

He leaned back and chewed slowly on a bite of apple.

"Humans have families. I have humans. Fay have humans. We watch them and stay with them but they aren't family. Not like human families. We don't need them.

"I can have friends, though," Clement added slowly. "You're Good, so it's okay."

[misono_soup]

Misono would have to remind herself not to abuse his indulgence. Not everybody put up with her questioning with good graces. So she gave him her best twinkling smile, "I'm happy you don't mind! I like to know things!"

Fay. He was fay. She knew those! Well, in theory! "So you have, like, a favorite? Sometimes you pick a favorite?" That was the closest she was going to come to it, thinking of it as a family of one, or a favorite. But she couldn't imagine not needing a family. "So, if you don't need a family...but you want one?" she asked carefully. "Because I always, always want a family. I like big families. Lots of people!"

Oh. But he didn't like lots. "But right now it's just me and Genuemon so if you want to come to our room at all, you don't have to worry! Totally don't!" Genuemon didn't bring his new people back to their room. At least not yet. "Because friends spend time together! And we're friends! Even if I'm sometimes not good because I misbehave. Sometimes manners are boring," she defended before he

[faysounds]

Kazunari watched, dazedly, as Misono stepped into the wind and then turned a circle. He watched her clothing sleeves buffet and her hair whip away from her face. The ship moved through a wave large enough to kick up spray and Kazunari's nose was assaulted with damp sea-salt. He blinked from the harshness and turned back to Misono.

Misono who commanded him to come out.

He smiled faintly and took her hand, stepping outside. The wind circled around him immediately, caressing and playing over his skin. Several locks of hair fell into his face and he was startled to remember that his hair was tinted red. When had it gotten so long? What else had he forgotten about himself? Kazunari pushed it back and used the wind to twist it into several thin braids.

"It's been a long time," he said, half to himself.

[misono_soup]

Kazunari-kun had hair the color of fire. And a lot of it. That he had a lot of hair she'd figured out down in the hold but in the dim she hadn't seen him very well. She'd only glanced at him as he'd stumbled. In full light, it was obvious he wasn't Japanese. He had a strange and foreign face. But he had a nice smile, even if it was tiny

[faysounds]

"I'd nearly forgotten," Kazunari admitted. "It's just always been like this." He twirled a braid absently around one finger. "I'm going to have to get it cut. It's gotten too long."

He watched her sleeve in the wind and took a seat on the rail of the ship. The boat was moving steadily, but up here they didn't feel like they were moving so far. It was bumpier to stand on this deck, though. Kazunari wasn't sure he liked it.

"Yes, many of them do. Not all, though. You'll probably see more of it when the boat gets to America. A lot of the people from England have moved there."

[misono_soup]

Misono desperately wanted to touch his hair. She took a mincing step toward him. "I can cut hair," she said. "There are scissors and razors and things on this ship." And she really COULD cut hair. If she cared, she was almost pretty good at it! "I do okay sometimes!" She sidled another step closer. The wind was still catching at it, toying with it. "I--wait, a lot? And in America, too

[faysounds]

Kazunari flushed a dim glow and ducked his head. He nearly brought a hand to cover his mouth, only the string was there and he didn't want to mess it up before Misono got to make the next shape. "It's okay. I can't like you more than my Favorite, but it's okay to like you the same. Your family is important like my Favorite will be."

If he could ever bring himself to find a new one. If any human out there could still call to him the way they used to. Kazunari watched Misono work the string onto her fingers.

"Explore where? Are there that many places on the boat?" he asked. He eyed the string, trying to remember what he was supposed to do next. When it came to him he reached out and worked his fingers carefully, pinching, pulling and gingerly settling it. "We can, I'd like it, I just always thought boats were kind of not-interesting."

[misono_soup]

Misono nodded absently. Family and Favorites were the absolute absolute. But what she and Kazunari were, or could be, was something just as special in a different way. It would be nice to have each other when affection was scarce.

She held up her fingers and watched Kazunari work it delicately free. "Boats are boring," she agreed as he settled it in his own hands. "If you stay where you're supposed to." And so far, she had. "I have mostly because I am trying to Be Good. But it's boring and I know there are interesting places to go." The smoke stacks came to mind and so did the boiler rooms. But she wondered how up for it he really was. He'd looked so tired and his magic had felt so worn down, down in the iron belly of the ship. Maybe a quiet day of rest would do better by him

[faysounds]

"I liked the picnic though," Kazunari said. "But I think I wouldn't mind staying in one place for now."

Exploring would be interesting, but there was only so much boat to explore. Even the places they weren't supposed to go were limited. And if they had a long time to wait until they made it to the United States of America, then maybe they should save some of them.

And he was tired. He felt better for having sat in the sun and felt the wind caress the folds of his wings. Nonetheless there was a lot of damage to be undone; particularly after the trick with Misono's funny language.

He waited for Misono to finish working with the string. She looked like he was concentrating. They had gotten to the point where soon Kazunari would have to concentrate, too, so he knew that she probably wouldn't want to be totally distracted.

[misono_soup]

"Yes, but I still made you do it. It's not like you'd have had a picnic if I hadn't made you come out." But she smiled. She was really good at stuff like that. "We can watch the clouds if you want or look over the front edge of the ship to see if we can see dolphins." She settled the string, finally, and held it up. "But I don't really like looking down at the water for too long. It's all churn-y and whirl-y at the front, without the foam and bubbles like the back."

She smiled up at him, looking away from the string and blinked. "Your hair is completely really red." She remarked. It startled her and she wondered how long it would take to get used to. It, unlike his name, could not be changed so very easily. She wondered idly if it matched his wings and then widened her eyes. "Hey, hey, you know you don't have to keep your wings all closed up out here. Nobody will see!" Well. "Except me! I'd see. I might even stare." She'd really only seen the shape of them, the suggestion of the colors

[faysounds]

"I used to watch palm reading, before it was considered witchery before witchery was considered evil. The gypsies would come in and everybody would gather to watch for as long as they stayed. Even though most grandmothers could palm read the mothers went to the gypsies instead. Sometimes some of the kids would try to sneak off with them when they left and everybody went into a panic over it."

Kazunari shook himself and laid down on the deck next to Misono. He curled on his side and propped his head on one arm. "The gypsies had a lot of stories," he added, half in apology for rambling. "Sometimes they made them up on the spot. They were good at that. They were good at entertaining." He paused. "They were also good at stealing."

[misono_soup]

Misono didn't know what gypsies were. But she liked the sound of them. "I like gypsies," she said cheerfully. "They shake things up and that's nice sometimes." Always being shaken up, that wasn't, but a little bit of panic and clamor over where littlest sister was or where little brother had sneaked away to, that was fun. "And I like stories. Japan has a lot of--well, that's not true. Japan has some stories, like Noh, and they tell them over and over and over. But otherwise there are the creation stories and the Gods and everybody today thinks they're just stories." She pulled a face. "Bean-washer ghosts exist!"

If Kazunari rambled, at all, ever, Misono would never have noticed. "I like stories. Do you? Did you like their stories? Can you make them up? I'm not good at that part." She rolled on to her side and beamed at Kazunari. "But I have stories from stuff I did. Not too much stealing. Just bride-stealing. That's always, always fun. Stealing is a good skill." It wasn't the nicest, but it was certainly useful.

[faysounds]

"I have stories, I guess, if memories are stories," Kazunari hummed. "But I don't know if they're good as stories. I can't make stories up, I don't think. I'd get all confused and start qualifying everything fake with things that really happened."

He rolled onto his back and looked up at the mostly cloudless sky. The sun wasn't really overhead anymore, but it wasn't really sinking. "I used to steal a lot, but I never kept anything. Sometimes I'd put everything I took in other places and watch the owners try to find it. It was good practice in tracking. Sometimes I'd just get what my favorite wanted and give it to them."

He'd known it was bad, but he hadn't cared at all then. He didn't really care now - they were just things. He hadn't stolen anything in a long time, anyway, and he had a much more important question.

"Why do your ghosts wash beans?"

[misono_soup]

Memories were not the same as made up stories--they were real, but sometimes they did make for good stories to tell other people. Misono was pretty sure that's really where the store of MomoTaro had come from. "That's what I do, when I try to make up stories," she said companionably. She rolled over and nudged her face against Kazunari's arm