3 - Action/Video

[bossybrows]

[Action]

[When Izumo finds herself back in the village post-mallynap, the first thing she does is head home--she'll talk to Rin and Shiemi if they're around, but regardless she doesn't wind up staying too long. Why? Because after searching the house, she's come to realize that the fox kit she got for Christmas is missing. Hoping he hadn't been gone for too long or gotten too far, she'll wander the village asking people if they've seen a tiny gray fox in town lately.]

[Video]

[Later in the day Izumo sits in her room, making sure to keep the fox close now that she's retrieved him--after a lot of searching, she found him with Ran Fan.]

I've had a long day and I don't think going to the library would do me much good anyway, so I'm just going to ask--does anyone know what kinds of foods are best to eat when you can't smell?

[Izumo lets out a sigh, pausing for a minute as the baby fox tries to crawl up her and onto her shoulder...which frankly wouldn't make a very good perch for him.] Get down...

[Grabbing him and placing him in her lap, she returns her focus to her journal.]

...Anyway, before anyone stupid asks? Yes, smell and taste are connected.

Comments

[fierybluebird]

Oi. If I was going to tell you to fight someone, it'd be me. And I don't think you can handle me, so you wouldn't be able to handle Ace either.

[bossybrows]

Then be more careful about what you say!

[fierybluebird]

Or maybe you could just try to listen. But perhaps that's asking too much.

[bossybrows]

I was listening!

...This is a stupid argument.

[fierybluebird]

Agreed. I wouldn't recommend challenging Ace. I'm pretty sure he's learned a lot more restraint over the years, but it still seems like a bad idea, eh.

[bossybrows]

[It's definitely a bad idea, considering the only way she knows how to fight is to summon her familiars and...well.

No summoning in Luceti. Oops.]

Going out of my way to do something like that would be a pain, anyway. Especially with someone I don't even know.

[fierybluebird]

Aye. Besides, he needs to meet more people, not fight them, eh.

You ever had a friend like that?

[bossybrows]

I'm not really the type to keep a lot of friends, so no.

[fierybluebird]

Aha, so you are that kind of friend.

Normally I'm that way myself, but the little brat conned me into meeting more people around here and then somehow got out of it himself. Punk.

[bossybrows]

Wow. Your life is fascinating.

[Sarcasm. Oops.]

And I'd have to say I'm no kind of friend if I don't really have any.

[fierybluebird]

None at all?

[bossybrows]

...Just one, but it's not like I really see her anymore or anything. Even before I came here, we...had to part ways, for awhile.

[fierybluebird]

I see. And here?

[bossybrows]

I don't have any here.

[Which isn't true, she definitely has a few at this point--plus the two from her world she lives with--but tsunderes gonna tsun.]

[fierybluebird]

Do you want to?

[Everyone has friends. Even if they don't want to. But he wants to get a good beat on her thoughts about it first.]

[bossybrows]

No. Trusting someone like that...it's not something someone like me needs.

[fierybluebird]

No? And why not?

[bossybrows]

It makes you weak. Vulnerable. Few people are worth that--they're just going to turn on you when it's convenient for them.

[fierybluebird]

And you know all that from the friends you don't have?

[bossybrows]

Anyone who isn't stupid would realize. And I've seen enough of it firsthand to know I'm right.

[fierybluebird]

How so? I've had over two thousand friends in my lifetime and I've only ever been betrayed once. If you had even a fifty-fifty chance at casinos they'd never even make any money.

[bossybrows]

...How do you even manage to have over 2,000 friends?

[Locked 50%]

[fierybluebird]

[Laughs.] I cheat.

I'm a pirate. I've got sixteen hundred brothers and sisters that my father adopted. There have been others throughout the years that died or retired, or simply were adopted by my old man, but didn't join the crew officially. Whitey Bay, the Delculvan brothers, Squardo, Little Oars Jr. Several dozen allies and their crews. And so on, eh?

My Pops and one of my brothers though, they're the real cheats. They've had over fifty thousand friends. I can't even keep that many names in my head, eh? Much less faces.

Same for them though, only one of out all those friends and allies ever betrayed us.

It's easy to say you're protecting your heart so it won't get hurt, but your heart is a muscle just like your brain or in your limbs. If you don't use it, it's not protected, it just won't ever get strong.

[Locked 50%]

[bossybrows]

[Wow she was not expecting that. She's just gonna. Stare at him, for a moment...]

..."Friendly" isn't exactly the first term that comes to mind when anyone thinks "pirate," you know.

As for what you've said...ha. I'm already strong enough, it isn't a matter of "protecting myself"...I'm just not being foolish.

[Really grasping at straws there, Izumo.]

If it's something worth locking, why did you tell me that, anyway? I'm not someone you know you can trust or anything like that.

[Locked 50%]

[fierybluebird]

And normally that's valid. But as pirates, we do whatever the hell we want, eh.

[He grins quietly, trying to find a polite way to say this, but seriously lacking in one because there is far too much ego on his part in the way.]

I don't have to trust you with it, there's nothing you could do to use it against me. I locked it because I'd rather not have the rest of Luceti hearing that last part.