thefoundation | the truth is, everyone wishes to be saved.

And I told you I was bad at it. Maybe if you keep reminding me, I'll eventually learn—and you should be patient with me, given that I'm an amnesiac and all. [ No shame here, nor does the tone seem to bother him any. This is easy and he has begun to settle into it in a sense, just like he got comfortable quipping to Beniyuri about her style of dress. He's really not sure how he settled into this particular rhythm to be honest, but he's terrible at backing down once he's started so that's probably part of it. ]

I didn't, that would be beyond ridiculous. I've heard stories, though. Too many stories about the food part, but that's the only way she knew how to cheer me up. I could probably write a cookbook at this point. [ It's mostly tucked away now, but the note does resurface at the word stories. ]

My patience has limits, you know. Even dogs have some ability to learn with a little repetition, and they barely have a concept of object permanence in the first place.

[The real question is whether he's actually comparing him to dogs or Date at this point; the answer might be a very oblique, maybe both? The point is that he doesn't have any particular leeway to give for amnesiacs, especially ones that insist on acting like amnesia city is some kind of tourist destination.

There's a sigh as he touches his toes, finally straightens and arranges himself against the nearest wall like a reflex to towel off. He'll have to wash off later, but it's been a light workout for various reasons.]

Oh, so you had a chef back home? [he might be forgiven for the blithe assumption, maybe] I'd say you don't seem quite the type to enjoy a place like that, but then I remember your riveting talk of Disneyworld. Maybe it was meant to be.

Ha, that's not really an adequate comparison. Dogs inherently want to please their master from the start. Besides, aren't compliments supposed to be taken with grace? [ He stretches out here himself, as much as be can in this nook in the wall, which isn't much at all. The allusion is pretty apparent even if not made consciously, he's very much a cat and not a dog if there's a contest between the two, but his real spirit animal is neither. ]

No, but she would have been tickled to be called that. Beniyuri was just someone I was stuck in the mansion with, though it was notable that she was the only girl. I assume you did have one? [ He makes a face at the Disneyworld comment but let's it be. ]

Should I be gracious, I wonder, if you were aiming to test my patience from the start?

[Subete, for his part, navigates the topic airily -- it's one where he can remove himself easily, because when was the last time he thought about animals in relation to himself? Sissel is hardly a proper cat, and they hardly have any reason to go beyond some kind of bizarre interspecies working relationship that is only maybe half-working. His idea of cats may be consequently a bit skewed.

Or maybe it's just the old cliché about cats and dogs writ large and retro. It's hard to say, with so much in the way.]

Beniyuri. [a thoughtful perusal of the name, filed away in a tidy pile of them; he looks a little more amused at the face, because apparently making faces at each other is the theme of today] I suppose you were both odd ducks, then. How nice. We had chefs, yes, but I saw them rarely.

[Yes, plural. Why is his life like this.]

It's a mark of a gentleman regardless, isn't it? And I could have been, but that doesn't mean it was my only intention. [ Still he doesn't commit to there being additional motivation here, but that might just be because he isn't thinking hard on it himself. It's fun to just let the notes and colors bounce without much of a care, he's finding. ]

She was, yes, but that doesn't mean it extends to me. I just let her quack for a while to give her a sense of accomplishment and it was preferable to listening to the dogs growl at each other aimlessly. [ These are ostensibly people, but the animal metaphors can keep for how accurate they are. He huffs at the answer though, more accurately, it's plurality. ]

You must have a large household to need more than one.

Haha, I suppose they do say a gentleman remembers genteel manners under any circumstance, but--

[There aren't many colors here yet, in the early and leaf-lined gloom, nor is Subete bothering to unfurl too much of his own, letting it shade easily to all the hues of grey under scrutiny. But he watches Hikage splash himself all over the hallway and the conversation anyways, appraisingly.]

I wonder if such things are much use in these circumstances.

[He'll leave it up in the air what the circumstances are, because things change quickly both in the mansion and in present company and in neither case is the path clearly defined at all. There's a small quirk to his mouth now, easy to miss.]

Oh, I wouldn't call it a household so much as a village -- it's far more efficient in urban planning if you simply house all your workers in the same space. All the same, it still doesn't sound nearly as wild as whatever was going on in your mansion.

I'd say so. There's fun in keeping to the norms and breaking them, too much of either tends to get dull. [ Not that his opinion was asked of, but he'll continue to insert them wherever he likes, flitting to and fro like the insect he embodies in fashion and everything else. Fun really is the apt word here and it shows in the curve of his lips, at least for now, but he's not looking towards the future where so much back and forth has managed to disturb his flight sense.

The disturbance of the moment is the way he just kind of stares a bit incredulously, another huff added to the mix. Does Hikage even know what urban planning is? That's not important. ]

...right. And how many workers is that? And why am I suddenly the caretaker of a group of idiots? [ Not that he's disputing the fact that it's his mansion, mind. ]

Are there norms here to break? That is news to me. But maybe that part is your role, hmm?

[There's still a lazy, airy quality about it -- he's thrown off so much of what he really should be in some ways, and in other ways he's barely stepped beyond everything still looking back at him in the mirror, but here where the funhouse parallels aren't just in the hallways... just taking a step forward is enough to warp all kinds of things.

For the moment that warping can still be a cabinet curiosity, rather like the creature perched in the hallway, but it is a bit of a vanishing art after all the displays yesterday. There's a quiet laugh at the sudden influx of questioning, but he doesn't seem to mind that so much.]

Ah, I hadn't had the chance to review the details of our payroll, but headquarters would have been in the thousands. We are a major employer, you know. [Hikage does not know this, but Subete also is not being particularly accommodating, just because he can] And aren't you the one who called them a group of dogs and ducks? Or are you saying that the dogs and the ducks were your keepers?

Edited 2020-05-29 05:27 (UTC)

I almost want to ask what you take me as. [ But he stops short of actually asking. The fun is in the play, in the mystery, or in any other number of things. Eventually, maybe very eventually, there will be a time to be blunt.

His stare kind of says it all though, because yeah he had no idea. Also what is capitalism proper? He sits up a bit trying to get a better sense of a topic he has little knowledge on. ]

A major employer of what, exactly? And I did, yeah. But it's not like I care for them in any formal way.

It would be a good question, wouldn't it?

[But he doesn't offer an answer either; verbally dancing out of the way like this is easy for him, and usually much easier where he comes from, just the straightforward exchange of words, taunts, and blades. Here the stakes are ostensibly lower for the moment, but the small smirk he's wearing is somehow satisfied anyway.

Maybe his eyebrow is raised as a challenge, then, or maybe he's just amused that Hikage seems so engaged in discussions about capitalism. He's not exactly the first one, just the most overdressed.]

Haha. I could give you the whole spiel, but that might be a bit dull. We're a network management company -- you could say we're the lifeblood of the modern world? [does that sound like part of a spiel, it definitely sounds like it, but the lightness in his tone rolls with it] As for your little flock... Informally, then.

[ His only response to that is a huff and a small shake of his head. This can be tabled for some time in the future when it could be less seen as curiosity or anything of the sort. Which it totally is, but the dance is important.

And really, his engagement is just one way of him trying to hide that network management was more likely to apply to some type of fishing as far as his knowledge extends. When you can magic up cellphones you don't exactly need to understand how they work and all. ]

If you need that many workers, then blood isn't a bad metaphor. [ He swings his legs down to the floor from his perch, though he doesn't stand up just yet. ]

Informally works. As long as you're not calling me a shepherd.

[The real networking was the catfishing we did along the way...?

The real travesty is that they've thus far failed to consolidate any cellphone shenanigans -- alas, some select models are just as doomed as their owners, forever fated to be consigned to the dusty corners of a not-so-world wide web.]

It's a metaphor that works on more than one level, I suppose, as all good ones must.

[He tilts his head, catching the movement, and straightens from his wall-leaning to do some proper final stretching, a brief yawn.]

Hmm. Who knows where you'd shepherd that flock off to.

[ Truly. But maybe the new models will make up for it, twenty years of shenanigans and then some considering the phone plans involved. ]

A garden, of course. [ With a tap, tap of his heels against the floor he stands and tucks his book under his arm. ]

But I wouldn't call it shepherding either or they might realize they're getting corralled somewhere. It's easier to lead the flock from inside it.

Edited 2020-06-03 06:39 (UTC)

If that's your final destination, you've been holding out on me here.

[Not that Hikage's shown overt signs of being a proper gardener either way -- really more of a garden ornament at this point, though he has nothing on their amazing living lawn ornament twenty years from now -- but it's something he'll poke at in parting anyway.

There's a tilt of his head at the following metaphor, or perhaps it's a leading metaphor in this case.]

And I'd say that's a little scarier than a shepherd or a duck. [he rolls the word scary like it's going out of style] A wolf in sheep's clothing, then?

Maybe I'll invite you one day.

[ He meets Subete's curiosity with a wry smile. ]

Something like that. But I wouldn't fancy myself a wolf, they're not vibrant enough for my taste. [ Which may be most of the point really, because he is all about showmanship when he makes his move. And with that he'll turn to leave before he gets caught in any other kind of nets, given he is a butterfly and all. ]

the truth is, everyone wishes to be saved.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject