mayfield_logs | Bringing the old to the new, [Closed]

Bringing the old to the new, [Closed]

Who: Satou Kuroneko (

priceofmagic) & Kyo Sohma (

that_cat_that_hates_leeks)
What: Hanging out, enjoying some malts and shakes while taking a tour of the town. Also some unexpected discussions.
Where: The Malt Shop, then Kyo walks Satou home.
When: 3/12, after this thread, after classes.
Warnings: Some language (it's Kyo, what do you expect?)

The two arrived at the malt shop, Satou wanting to treat Kyo on being new to Mayfield. There was a lot he found difficult to work with in his two days of being here, but despite his usual tendencies he endured, somehow. The two looked over the menu as they had just gotten there.

The stares of the drones kept bothering him, though. He knew he wasn't normal, and even without his secret nature from his past life, he kept his hair color. Although, looking at his bare wrists, seeing that he didn't have to deal with his past for now almost entirely balanced it out. It was like a new take on his life, a well-needed breather. The drones were creepy as heck, all the same.

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She stopped waving her hands. Frozen in place, surprised by his response. It didn't take much for Satou to convince herself that someone would leave her. Whether they did so on purpose or not, it was part of the price she paid for her selfishness.

Her panicked expression faded, at first giving in to a surprised look.

Together.

When it was someone else saying it, 'together' sounded nicer. It sounded a bit scarier too and it made her a bit more nervous for when she regained all of her traits. It was going to be pretty miserable when Satou was 'complete' again and everyone in Mayfield realized they should hate her. When Kyo took back that word and replaced it with "alone" or a string of words like "don't talk to me again".

It might almost be easier to give up now. She considered it. Now was the time to run. And tell herself forever that they could have been friends, rather than admit that someone like her probably couldn't really have that.

Her hands came together, clasped tightly to vent her nervousness. Someone else in the building was scared too. She thought those feelings were coming from Kyo. Scared mixed with other upsetting emotions. Satou took a deep breath, trying to forget about her own fear. She could fix that later.

"I'd like that... I'd like that so much. If someone like me would really do... I'd be really happy, um... being friends, so..." She smiled. A forced smile, but a smile none the less. In her attempt to cover her own nerves she lost track of her thoughts, blurting "Please don't be scared." without thinking that she was leaving hints to her empathy.

Months ago, back in Japan some forty years later, he would have still believed himself to be not worth anyone's time or trouble. Kyo grew up so alienated, indignant. His life was full of feeling hated, despised, that it was the only real thing he was used to.

Until someone entered his life...no, they were in his life for much longer than that. But she was always near him in recent times, and he tried to bear with it because of his own past guilt.

Someone he might as well have thought of as dead to him now, were Mayfield to have its way with him. And yet, for some reason, it felt like an ultimate betrayal, seeing so many of her traits in this person and feeling moved by that, having to deal with so many coincidences at once just now.

In the span of little more than a year, he lost two people so very dear to his life.

Caught in this cage, living between despair and not wanting to cause hurt for others, he didn't know what to do. It was far easier for people to run away from their problems rather than face them, and he took to that well.

Seeing Satou there, it steeled him in a way; it helped him decide one thing, that forced him to ignore everything else. Ignoring the drones, ignoring his fears, his guilt, everything about him, if she would insist on being what she was to him like this.

He hoped, with all that he could feel, that his secrets would not come back to haunt him anymore than they already have. He didn't want them here, both for their safety and for his own peace of mind. He didn't want to become that thing ever again. He wanted to just live his life like a normal, human being.

He lost two people so very dear to him. Even if this was a dream of some sort, he didn't want to lose someone like her again. But he kept all of this to himself, ashamed of what he felt, afraid of what Satou would think of him should she ever find out.

Which is why it surprised him just a little when she said to not be scared. Was she talking about him wanting to run away before, or for other reasons, like those he was feeling now? Maybe she could just read him well, too well.

"...Oy, are you some sort of psychic or something?"

Quickly, he continued, "That ahoge of yours is creeping me out, it's like you can read my thoughts with that thing." Kyo said this with a reassuring smile though, returning Satou's own.

He wouldn't run away anymore, at least for now.

Edited 2012-03-18 10:51 (UTC)

"Hm..? Ah..!" Satou's smile nearly slipped off her face, if that was even possible, when he hit the nail on the head. Her instinctive reaction was to wave her hand again and giggle nervously, responding to his comment with a lie. "N-no way, no way! Someone like me is too stupid to be psychic!"

It felt wrong to reassure him with a lie. Saying that out loud reminded Satou of what a horrible girl she was to tell a lie so quickly. They'd just agreed to be friends and she'd immediately followed it with something so unfair.

"But um...!" Even so, she was a bit hesitant to tell him. In her home world, witches were hunted and killed by certain people. Even someone you trusted and who meant no harm could get you killed if they spoke to the wrong person. Similarly, having a friend who could read your heart like a book probably wasn't very much fun. Satou imagined it would be scary and make people reluctant to be around her.

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other again, unclasping her hands and biting her lip. It was hard to say what had possessed her to say this. Maybe her fear of betraying someone, or maybe Kyo's burst of courage was contagious. Satou managed to regain her smile, though it was nervous and a tad bit timid.

"No um... not psychic... I-I'm empathetic though...? I guess it... it's similar...? I'm sorry..." She explained quietly, reaching up to try to hold her ahoge down against her head. To be less creepy, she hoped.

"Joking, joking, jeez!" Kyo sighed, more at himself than her. He wasn't very good at jokes in the first place.

He sat down again, regardless of any commotion the two might have caused. If the drones said anything, he didn't hear them. He didn't even care. His disdain for them was still strong, but he wouldn't think twice on it if he felt like punching one out at this point.

"Someone I knew from before was a psychic, using electric waves or some weird thing to tell vibes. I didn't get to know her very well, but she always..." he paused for a moment, thinking back to an earlier, better time. "...seemed to be right about people."

If Satou was still concerned about the ahoge at this point, he would go on to say, "Stop trying to hide that thing already. It's... sort of cute, anyway." Kyo averted his eyes, still not sure what to make of how he felt about her.

"Cute?" She tilted her head, debating what she thought about that. There were a few people who had said things like that in the past. Masume would have said that. They'd be fighting over which of them had the cuter ahoge.

She smiled.

"um thank you. Kyo-kun has cute hair too-! Or well. Handsome hair!" She beamed, proud of herself. He seemed okay with her being empathetic too. Maybe it would be okay to tell him she was a witch someday. "I'll try not to invade your privacy. I-I can control it a bit so..."

Satou reached out for her milkshake again.

"thanks... For not being angry with me."

"T-there's nothing special about my hair." It was one of the things he was usually more self-conscious about, it being such a rarity wherever he went.

"It's not like you can actually see what's in my head or things about me like a real psychic, so do what you want." An assumption, but Kyo was nothing if not socially naive.

Empathy belonged to good people. People like her, but he felt too shy to say that much.

"...Mm," Kyo emitted, drinking from his own milkshake from feeling thirsty. Now where were they before this whole scene started?

"nn-nn. I think it's really nice." She knew that orange hair was uncommon though. At least, it was in Japan. Satou stirred her milkshake with her straw, listening to his reassuring words. He was right. The only person she could full out "mind read" was her friend from home, Mikale, and that was because he barely bothered to hide his thoughts.

"Back home, I have to be careful about my empathy because people would kill me over it... So um! If you could keep it a secret..."

It felt like a good time to change the topic. Satou thought back to where their conversation had branched off.

"Um but. If something scary happens here then don't worry! I'll come find you."

Kyo raised an eyebrow at Satou as she talked about her empathy. Was it really that big of a problem? ~~Things Kyo does not get: Mayfield Edition.~~ "Yeah, sure. I don't have a reason to blab about that anyway," he answered her request.

That again? "Who said I'll be scared!" Kyo replied. There was no telling just what the town would think up though. "... Same for me, I'm not going to trust this place and let you die again. Where do you live? I'm at 1332 Benny Road."

"Where do I live...?" Satou tilted her head. Thinking... She really shouldn't have needed to think about this. She had lived in that house for enough time now that she should have memorized at least the address.

She knew that.

So it made her feel a bit stupid to not immediately know the answer.

"Um... I... live down... a street." The witch answered. As if this qualified as a real answer. "It's... a nice house. And probably looks exactly like yours?"
Specific.
"... I don't know the address. Just how to get there."

... Somehow, he shouldn't have expected much more than what information she gave him.

"Oy, how long have you been living here? Jeez..."

There was only one way to solve that, that came to mind.

"I'll have to walk you home after this then." And then, realizing what that could have made it sound like, he blushed a bit, adding, "B-but that's only because you treated me to this, that's all!"

"Would you really?" Satou didn't seem to be very bothered by the offer. It didn't strike her as an odd thing for two people to walk home together. Kyo's embarrassment didn't sink too deeply into her empathy, probably because she was so relieved and happy.

"I'd really like that! It would make me feel better if I had someone walk home with me." She said cheerily, "Maybe you'll have a better memory for my address too!"

Through the simple happiness she exhibited, it did something for calming his nerves. Maybe he could get used to this life here. Maybe.

"...Fine, we'll do that. You should try to keep your address handy in an emergency too, you know."

While he was still looking off to the side, he looked at the drones again. They didn't seem to pay as much attention as before, yet he couldn't help but feel they were keeping track of him, giving him side-looks and having small-talk with each other from time to time.

"Nihaha... I suppose... perhaps..." She didn't say anything about how weird it was to have a home. It had been years since she had a permanent place to live, so she hadn't thought much about memorizing the address. It wasn't something she expected to have last, so why did it even matter?

The drones momentarily caught her attention, largely because Kyo had spared them even just a second of his. Satou watched them, wondering what they were talking about, then returned her attention to Kyo.

"It's okay, they're not all bad people. My house is full of them, so... I feel like I'm allowed to say that much about them."

Kyo leveled a thumb away from him, to mark the drones. "You mean you're cooped up with these freaks all the time?" He had only seen the "mother" of his household as a drone, thankfully, but one alone was more than enough.

"... Well, as long as they don't bother you too much, I don't care." He did, but he'll have to trust her on that. What could he do, beat them seneless? And if it would make her feel lonely, what was the point?

Soon enough, the waiter came by with the check for the order. Kyo glanced at it briefly, if just to get an idea of how much things cost here and find a way to pay Satou back later or treat her similarly. Not that he had any idea how to get money in town in the first place, but one thing at a time.

Satou paid promptly, making no effort to hide the check. Being paid back was a foreign concept to her; it hadn't even crossed her mind that it was even possible for Kyo to check the cost and even think about treating her back. After all, as their little outing came to a close Satou was reminded of the grim reality: Spending time with him and becoming his friend were all ultimately pointless decisions. He would forget her eventually.

"Well then! Shall we be on our way?" She put her wallet away, tucking the depressing reality aside as she did so. There was no sense worrying about such a thing. Not now, anyway, when she was having such a nice time talking to Kyo. "Thanks for joining me for milkshakes, by the way. It means a whole lot!"

"Mm, it's not a problem, really." Kyo brushed the back of his head. He answered, "Yeah, sure. You'll have to lead the way again," and began to wonder about things himself. Without anyone he knew, life would certainly be a struggle here, nevermind how he would miss them. Well, most of them; Yuki and some of the other aspects of his life were things he wouldn't miss. Or so he told himself.

Such was on his mind as they were walking together, going uptown to the residential area. He wasn't paying attention to his own melancholic face though, checking the avenues and streets every now and then, without saying much else the rest of the way.

"Oy, this feels like it's halfway across town from where I live..." was what finally came to his lips, realizing the distance they were traveling.

"It is a bit of a walk... I guess walking to school together would be inconvenient..." She tried not to concentrate on Kyo's feelings. It wasn't her place to spy on a friend, even if the emotions coming from Kyo were a bit worrisome.

Finding Bunker Street wasn't very difficult; Satou walked more by instinct and automatic memory than by any actual sense of direction. She had no idea where her street was compared to Kyo's, so trusted his opinion. "This is where I live! It's kind of full of drones, so I guess you don't wanna come inside..?"

Noting the address in his head for later, he stared at the house Satou lived at.

"... Is it lonely for you here?" A simple question in a not-so-simple place they ended up in.

She thought for a moment. Debating. Considering. Her standards for lonely... were pretty skewed. It had been over a year now since anyone acknowledged her for more than a week... outside of Mayfield, anyway.

"... No. For someone like myself, this is more than I deserve." Satou answered after a moment. It was lonely. It was very lonely, but she didn't have the right to think that. The Witch of Sins was being spoiled by fate to even have a roof over her head. "Your house has 'normal people', right?"

"It has a blonde pretty-boy father that has a horse living in the house, and a blue-haired sister that insists on having leeks everywhere," Kyo flatly stated. The role model of a normal family, for sure. As if remembering something, he turned and pointed towards Satou. "And don't ever give me leeks, I hate them!"

He lowered his arm and looked back at the house, but this was more so he wouldn't have to keep eye contact with her. He couldn't take it anymore. "Dammit, you remind me a lot of someone where I came from." A pause, putting his hands in his pants pockets. "She would think it'd be alright for her to suffer without a word. She would think it's better to be selfless if it's for the sake of others, or whatever she believed in. It annoyed me so much that she would keep things to herself, and you talking about how you deserve living alone, or worse, is bugging the hell out of me too.

"So I'll tell you the same thing I told her... You don't have to be like that, being alright with suffering alone." He stopped to let that sink in. "I can't stand hearing others' troubles, but if it's for your sake, I'll listen." Even if it's for his own sake as well, his own peace of mind here. "You can.. be selfish if you need to feel it." Because he's being selfish himself. "You can complain to me if you want to."

Edited 2012-03-23 05:45 (UTC)

Satou listened. Standing very still, with her gaze directed at the house rather than at Kyo. It wasn't as if this was the first time she'd heard something as kind as this. She could no longer keep track of the number of people who had offered to hear her problems, to be her support, and to never forget her. That same number was the amount of people who forgot her. It was the same as the number of times she'd had her trust broken by something so mysterious as memory.

"... I see." Her voice was soft. There was no tremble of the tears that she wanted to cry, nor was there any trace of the pain she was feeling. It was worse than being stabbed over and over; she knew. She had the experience to compare it to. Satou clenched and relaxed her fist. Inhaled and exhaled. Then turned to Kyo again, smiling her best. "I'm not sure you want to say that. You don't know very much about me."

It annoyed him? She was annoying?
Annoying
annoying
annoying.

The word repeated, molded, lost meaning in her head. Her hard work, wasted
wasted.

"I'm afraid I've no reason to complain. My situation is as it should be. I'm far too lucky to be allowed to do such a thing."

If this person standing in front of him was the same as the one Kyo was reminded of so painfully, she would tell him how she really felt, at least that she was lonely. What Kyo did notice, finally, was the soft, almost-hollow voice that she was using. Kyo turned around on that, to see her smiling face. A mask of someone he hadn't considered the entire time.

One person that had always strove to fight his fate, to become properly accepted into his family.
One person that seemed resigned to her fate, feeling they deserve nothing more, possibly far less.

A moment that felt too long passed by, the realization that the girl had been through much more than he fathomed for a normal life. There had to be some reason why she would let herself dangle on the thread of fate she apparently accepted. And, with him keeping his own secrets, wasn't in his right to know just like that.

"You're right, I don't know what you've been through. I don't know what's wrong with me, getting irritated like this." He bared his teeth, shaking visibly. "I can't explain my feelings well, that's how I've always been. Why am I giving such a damn about this?"

Then it hit him, like a brick out of nowhere. Satou was avoiding the issue entirely. She wasn't like her...Tohru. One could at least tell something was wrong when it came to her. That mask, that voice... she had given up a long time ago, in some way. Heavy breathing.

"DAMMIT, I CARE ABOUT YOU!!!" Kyo sharply yelled to the ground, his eyes closed from frustration. The rest of what he said came out softer in tone, however.

"...Tell me then... why do you want me to be your friend? If you're so alright with how things are, why do you reach out for others rather than stay alone?"

His eyes softened as well, still staring downward. "I'm not asking you to tell me your life or your secrets. I'm asking you to be my friend, too."

Edited 2012-03-24 04:30 (UTC)

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Bringing the old to the new, [Closed]

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(I think this icon should have been swapped with the last one haha)

( so many cute icons!)

(Yours are far cute, imo)

( ah thanks! I need to draw her more icons ;; )

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