ahappylie | Appointments & Messages

[Okita looks at him curiously as he edges his way inside, then closes the door, trotting off to go find Ayumu and let her know their guest has arrived.]

Make yourself at home in the living room. I'll see about getting us some tea.

[sob. Ramirez will just nod and wait for you there, shall he?

He'll just be standing in the living room whenever Okita returns, possibly examining whatever knick-knacks they possibly have. Particularly if there are books there. :|b]

[There might be some small knick-knacks and books, but probably not many. Japanese spartan lifestyles are like that.

He comes back a few minutes later with a tray of tea and some sweets on it.]

Dinner is going to take a bit-- [He sees Ramirez examining the room and he smiles, setting the Japanese teacups on the table.] Do you see anything you like?

[The spartan room doesn't bother him, but looking at whatever the residents of House 50 kept in their home provides an excellent distraction and keeps him from actually having to make eye contact. And that's awesome.

Speaking of which, he doesn't even look up at Souji's question.]

Where are you from?

[How unexpected to have a question from Ramirez instead. Souji pauses as he sets the second cup down and then smiles.]

Japan. Originally my friends and I were from Edo, but we moved to Kyoto, the capital, in order to serve the Emperor and the Shogun.

Where are you from?

[Souji and Minato's culture always struck him as familiar, though he never experienced Yafutoma firsthand. The fact that the two of them come from the same place only cements it. Japan. Edo. Kyoto. Ramirez only knew bits and pieces of the geography from Earth from his own studies since coming to Luceti, but he knew, at least, that Japan was regarded as being in the east.

Not only that, but the dialect was so very similar. How strange.

...He pauses at that question. He had a feeling it was coming, but answer is still complicated. This was a familiar interrogation, and it wasn't one he ever particularly enjoyed. He...doesn't really want to get into all that, but at the same time, he has no reason to keep silent and look suspicious. Souji doesn't know a thing about his world, and whatever knowledge he may get is likely going to come from Ramirez himself.]

Arcadia.

[...But since that's an extremely unsatisfying answer-]

Your islands were divided by water, yes?

[The pause is odd, but Souji is growing used to them. He nods when Ramirez finally gives him an answer, motioning toward the low table and the floor cushions around them. He's never heard of Arcadia, but he isn't surprised by that as much anymore. So many people here come from places he's never heard of and that is what makes them so interesting.]

Yes, there are four large islands and many more smaller ones. It seems you know much about my home. Are you willing to tell me about yours?

[Oh, he likes standing, thank you. :C]

...I've looked at a lot of maps. "Earth" has the most in abundance here.

[...Oh. Oh, god. Are you asking him to exposit?

We're going to be here all night. But explaining Arcadia from scratch is slightly difficult, so Souji just gets a barebones outline for now.]

A gas-based planet, orbited by six moons. Whereas your lands are separated by water, the continents on Arcadia are divided by sky.

...It's why I asked. Arcadia seems an exception, in that respect.

[Jeez, fine. Souji is going to sit then and take a teacup. Which is good because it provides distraction from the fact that he really doesn't understand what Ramirez is saying - until he gets to the sky bits.]

....Oh! You sound like you come from the floating world. It's a legend in my country.

[8( HE'LL SIT LATER. Maybe. When he's more comfortable and less inclined to bolt. But Souji's answer catches his attention and his eyes dart back to him.

Perhaps Earth was simply a parallel to Arcadia, completely different and yet with too many similarities to be called a coincidence.]

Do you care to elaborate?

[And, to his merit, he does sound genuinely interested, rather than just looking for some reason to deflect a question.]

[Oh, sweet. Souji smiles and motions to the seat across from him.]

If you care to have a seat.

[>:C

Oh, fine, have it your way. Ramirez will comply with the request, although he doesn't sit so much as he kneels down on one knee. It's a good position in case he feels the need to spring up quickly. :|a COMPROMISE or something.

STILL. Sitting. Sort of. He links his hands together and glances over at Souji, before Ramirez remembers he doesn't really like looking him in the face right now and promptly lowers his gaze down to the table.]

Better?

[SUCCESS.

Souji just smiles when he sees Ramirez's somewhat awkward sitting and staring at the table.]

Thank you.

The floating world exists in stories and most recently we've borrowed it to describe... [Well, urban life full of debauchery] ...life as we live it. Originally, however, there were tales of people living in islands in the sky. The stories are old, however, and most people have turned away from them in favor for the more modern interpretation.

[Souji is a jerk. 8( BUT HIS ATTENTION IS CAPTURED. This is actually a safe, comfortable topic and his guard is getting sufficiently lowered.]

And what sort of interpretation is that?

[DOUBLE SUCCESS.]

People today have reused the term ukiyo to mean the life of careless abandon that many people today have. Well, awhile back. I suppose it's less careless now with the war going on.

[He sips his tea.]

They float above the real world in a...certain sense of the word.

"Careless abandon."

[He repeats the words, frowning slightly at his linked hands.

The island-dwellers were shallow and petty, would destroy the world in an instant if it would further their own selfish goals. Arcadia needed to be cleansed from them, so it may start anew.

...Or so the Elders had always told him. Ramirez was never particularly fond of that belief.

He glances up again once Souji mentions war, but the topic is not pressed- not yet, anyway. He files it away for later. But his eyes don't fall back downward again and he instead actually leans forward in his interest, forgetting momentarily exactly why he had been so reluctant to accept the invitation.]

What sort of sense of the word?

[Souji regards him for a moment, noting the strange amount of interest he's paying and how easily he's following this conversation. Earlier he'd been so stiff and standoffish... Good to know.]

Oh, drinking, gambling, going to the theatre and the pleasure quarters; the things men and women do to distract themselves when the world seems grim.

[As said before, he regards this as a comfortable topic. There's little else to do in the Great Silver Shrine other than read the world's history and mythology, and wait to be called upon as a harbinger of death.]

Maybe they're not too far off the mark.

[...Or maybe they are. He's admittedly seen very little of the world and had the unfortunate luck to be picked up by Valuans. And Valua was never known for its hospitality toward outsiders. Or for its philanthropic nature.

But Upper City nobles still left their impression on him, and a part of him is so very, very disappointed that there are so many people who were exactly like the awful figures that the Elders had always described.]

[He laughs a bit and shakes his head.]

My country has been at peace for over 200 years. The arrival of foreigners has upset the balance we have enjoyed for a very long time. Recently, talk of the floating world has waned, but it is still there, like a flower blooming in the the growing dusk.

Poetic.

[...Oddly enough, that causes him to laugh, though there isn't anything particularly warm about it.]

That sounds familiar. Tell me, do you call them "Men from the East" as well?

I suppose it'd be "West" for you, but the direction is irrelevant.

[Whoa, a laugh. Souji smiles and nods.]

They came in black ships with cannons and guns threatening to destroy our ports if we did not open them to trade. And yes, they came from the east, from far across the sea. They call themselves the West, however.

["Black ships"

"Cannons and guns"

"Men from the East"

Oh, God, it was exactly the same. Maybe not from Ixa' Taka, but everything else was exactly the same.]

...That's terrible.

[He almost wants to apologize for them, but Ramirez bites it back. The Ixa'Takans didn't want apologies, nor did they want his sympathy. They wanted a savior, and they asked for something he couldn't give.]

[He can see something like regret? Sympathy? Empathy? in Ramirez's actions and feel it in his tone of voice. He can guess why, too. That Ramirez would ask about men from the east either meant he had experienced this same thing in his own world, or that he'd heard of it there. It was unpleasant and it meant wars and people dying, but Okita simply shakes his head and keeps the usual smile on his face.]

We could not avoid them forever and knew, one day, they would come. The world is changing...

[He picks up the teacup, looking into it as his smile fades faintly. The world is most definitely changing and he won't live to see it. That is up to people like Tetsu. People who have the hope of the future riding upon their shoulders.

A moment later and the hints of sadness are gone, replaced with his usual expression.]

It isn't so terrible though. That I'm able to help my country is a great thing. I've met my friends through it and I'm going to meet many more before my days are done.

[It was exactly the same, right down to their black ships and barging through foreign lands like they owned the place. Though there was less war with Valua and more an onslaught of massacre. He couldn't stand being a part of it and it makes him think maybe, just maybe, he's not fit for the role of blood and death that had always been laid out for him.

That sadness in his face is hard to miss, but Ramirez presses his lips together and makes no mention of it, letting his gaze drop down to Okita's hands and and pretending not to notice. He keeps it there, momentarily, before he remembers the way he had grabbed his hand and clung to him like a lifeline. His heart gives an unpleasant, lurching little pound and his eyes promptly drop down to the table again.]

You're some sort of soldier, aren't you?

[He raises his eyes and notices Ramirez staring at the table again. He can't allow himself to be so melancholy and picks up Ramirez's teacup, setting it in front of him.]

Not technically. I am a samurai, part of the warrior class, but not a "soldier" in an army as some would think it.

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