maskormenacelogs | Locked in a room with your memory far

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Locked in a room with your memory far

WHO: Nagachika Hideyoshi and Annie
WHERE: Around Nonah
WHEN: Tuesday around noon
WHAT: A date that Annie doesn't realise is a date.
WARNINGS: Blood, maybe. Someone's getting punched eventually.

Enter your cut contents here.

Just as promised, Hide's pretty on the ball with showing up on time. Maybe it was because he can now run at a speed that's uncomfortably fast; but it's more likely that he doesn't want to be late for the first date he actually successfully managed to get in his life.

Even if the other party might not have taken the invite quite as seriously as a certain rabbit-boy did.

He'll take a minute outside to make sure he didn't catch a part of his clothes on fire--trust when he says he's done this before--before he knocks on her door. He hoped she was inside and didn't stand him up--it was his first 'date', okay, he had fears--and waits for her to answer.

...

Wait, shit, weren't people supposed to bring gifts to first dates or something.

Or was it second dates...

Said thoughts are going to cloud him up a bit by the time she answers the door, so don't mind the weird face he might be making at that point. When she does answer, though, said strange expression will be replaced with that infectious-or-irritatingly bright smile, and a wave of his right hand.

"Aaaaaannie-chan! Good morning! Are you ready to go?" Not that he's rushing or anything--

Oh my god calm down.

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She shakes her head, but it's not a strong denial. "Kaine and Aracely are still here. Most the people I know from home aren't." She doesn't claim them as friends for good reason; they're enemies as far as anyone cared to discuss, and reluctant allies in the face of a world unilaterally alien to them all.

She gives him a considering look, no longer examining the advertisements and their bright colored boards. "Is it because they're not Japanese?" She means the names. Aracely she knows now has a relationship to Hispanic cultures. Kaine is more Western European; Bertholdt ends up having a certain Germanic nature, though having looked at Germany, Annie can't say it's where any of them are from. Her own name ends up sounding French.

It's a mess of odd interconnections that don't line up to any clear picture of home. If they're from Earth, it's an Earth that's forgotten or not yet learned these different segregated nations... but she tends to suspect it's an aftermath scenario.

Like hell she's telling anyone she thinks she's actually from a future instead of the past that's generally assumed. It's a bit too dark for her to want to roll that theory out.

Instead, she shivers, shoving her hands further into her kangaroo pouch. The minutes tick down until their train arrives. "I don't know how you can stand it. Heropa's the smallest out of all the cities we have easy access to, and it still feels too cluttered. Someone described Tokyo to me before... if it's even more crowded than the cities here, I would be. Until I found a way to shut it out."

There's no indication that she doesn't believe she'd find a way. It's an insight into how she's handling this anyway - Annie compartmentalizes, and she lets things flow past for the sake of not drowning in the sheer overload of information.

"Then again, I can't imagine you'd think anything except how rustic and sparse the population is in the Walls. People talk about losing millions of lives in war here..."

She falls quiet. There aren't millions of lives to lose back home. Even in taking down the Walls, even in forcing the "last bastion" of humanity to break free and probably die as the lie perpetuating it was torn apart, there aren't millions to lose. The sheer scale of historical wars here is breathtaking in all the worst ways. Japan, she finds, has an unfortunate hold on parts of that, ones that drive the nation they're to ridiculous lengths out of what she presumes is fear.

Is it rude to ask? She looks away from Hide as the train approaches. What do you think about the fear over nuclear war? After all, at least here, only Japan has ever had to deal with the fallout of that kind of war dropped on their doorstep.

"Haaa... maybe that's it. There's not a lot of real interesting names like that, all of the ones back home are pretty same-y. I guess it's just a culture thing."

He shrugs his shoulders, a little grin moving over his face. "I can't imagine living in a place with low population, surrounded by walls like that. My entire life is pretty much to be a person who travels the world--international interest and all, you know?"

Stuck inside a place where Annie lived... his dream would be cut off pretty immediately, wouldn't it. Maybe there's a small look of pity on his face. His finger moving to scratch the side of his cheek as he lets a smile move up and over his face.

"...Sorry, I don't mean t'bring up such difficult topics. Ain't really a great sort of conversation to entertain someone with, is it?"

He turns to face her as she's gone quiet, his head tipping to the side as he attempts to catch her eye.

"But I guess I'm left to wonder--what do you prefer, being here, or there?"

"Mm." She shakes her head. "It's fine. They're the sort of things I expect people to ask about... I know the place I come from doesn't make sense to people who aren't from there. It's confusing enough for those of us who do."

She doesn't look toward him until he's asking the question others have asked her before. She's never liked her answer to this one. There's an ache that follows that won't abate no matter what she tells herself logically.

"I prefer being free to move around. I only have that while I'm here." World travel, anything like that, it had nothing to do with those grand ideas. "The chance that I would have ever seen my father again anyway is so low... he's the one thing I had left to lose. Maybe it's better if I never really know if he was even around to lose anymore."

She doesn't know how she'd really deal with surviving that, when the last person obligated to care was no longer there. Being well and truly alone, left with the ghosts of the people she's killed... Annie looks troubled. She brushes that away as the train pulls into the station. "But most the time, you'll just hear that from people who've actually died. I'm not quite there." Yet.

He'll be the first to walk towards the train, change already in his hand to pay for his way on board. He didn't have a pass like Annie did, so it'd do well enough for now. If he planned on visiting more often, maybe he'd purchase one.

"I don't blame you, really. Being free to move around sounds much better than any other alternative, if I'm going to push my opinion here." the comment about parents, though, makes him a little quiet. Leaving parents behind... wasn't really easy. No matter who you were.

He still remembered how damaged Kaneki was when he lost his one and only.

"...Then maybe it's a bit better that you are here, huh?" He turns something that he hopes is a comforting smile to the blonde woman, nodding his head. "...I mean, if he was your father, I want to imagine he wants what was best for you. Right?"

He grips one of the overhead straps on the train, settling before it starts. "So I'd like to think a place like this would have been a place he'd like to see you living. Ne?"

"My father trained me to infiltrate the Walls and help destroy an empire." She cuts to the point, holding on to one of the poles rather than the overhead straps. "I don't know if he registered what any of what we were doing meant until the order came down for the mission to begin."

No... her father would not fall among those parents who wanted the best for his daughter. Maybe forgiveness for the unforgivable, but even his parting words had been a sort of heartbreak. Make the world your enemy... and remember, I will always be on your side.

"He gave me the happiest memories I have from home. He also trained me to be a killer. You tell me if that means he wanted the best for me, or just what he believed in for so long for himself." She doesn't sound bitter. It's something that tends to be lacking when Annie talks about her father. Looking out the window, Annie just... shrugs.

At this, he goes quiet. Her father... trained her for such a heavy task? Someone close to his age, so young, having to go through something like that? There's no way she should be kidding, either. Annie just wasn't the type.

He turns to look at her a little more fully, his eyes settling on her face, as if he was expecting her to be wearing a morose expression. She... seemed pretty calm, despite just telling him something that heavy.

He wasn't sure if that made he amazing or ... something else, though. He'd hold judgement, still, though. Annie was... Annie. He couldn't see her like that; just like he couldn't see Kaneki as a monster.

"...I guess I don't know what to believe. I'm not you, or your father. I'm not from your world, either, so for all I know. Destroying an 'empire' was the right course of action."

He shrugs a shoulder, a hand scratching against the side of his cheek.

"I guess for me... all that really matters is the life you're living here and now. The past makes for a good story... but the present is what should be lived for."

Edited (i made a derp ignore that) 2015-03-25 03:07 (UTC)

She snorts. It's not that she doesn't appreciate his distance on the subject, or the honesty. He really can't know, and she won't explain enough of her world to let anyone really agree that what she and the rest were doing was the best answer. What is best, anyway? It's relative to where any one person stood.

"Is that something you remind Ken about?" She looks back to Hide, pulling her attention in from where it had wandered to in watching the city pass by. One more stop and they'll be walking again. "This present is a lot more precious than the past no one can change. Especially here... when there's even less of a guarantee on how long we'll be anything on this Earth."

Her tone of voice is more contemplative, but she doesn't seem to mind that reality. Annie means it when she says it's precious. What is gained or lost here is only gained or lost here. It touches nothing else.

It's worth finding something in all this overwhelming chaos to hold on to for herself. She's selfish enough to have been doing that all along, after all.

"Guess you could say we agree," she says, wondering at what point this will touch on what is it about this empire that needs to be destroyed? She can say in limited ways. Has said, to Wally, before. But only when asked. Annie only offers what she's asked for.

"Heeeeh, was I that transparent?" he laughs, that bright grin gracing his features again as he waves a hand near his chin. "I'm constantly reminding him of it. But lately, you know. He gets really..."

He makes another gesture, his eyes kind of getting far away. Kaneki was so in his own head lately, Hide wasn't sure the guy even knew which way was up. It was a worry for him, and it's clear by the look on his face that all he probably did WAS worry.

"You're right. This place is like a breath of fresh air compared to home. Somewhere where there's definitely more worries--what with us having to fight as a way of life and live as some weird 'super hero' incarnates--" especially for Hide, as he gained more than Kaneki, and probably Annie did upon arrival. "--But here, he doesn't have to hide. Pretend..."

He shrugs again, tilting his head up and towards Annie as the train gears to a stop. He gestures, to let her get off the train first--a gentlemanly gesture, he was aiming for, here.

"I'm glad you agree. If anything, this place, I think...

It's kind of like a semi-permanent vacation from reality. Somewhere you can get lost until whenever it is we're sent back home, or... whatever."

He still wasn't... sure. What happened to imPorts when they weren't... 'needed' anymore.

Her opinion would be based on history here in the United States. Truly unnecessary, truly proven a liability, it'll be the same as five years ago. They'll be sent home, regardless of personal preference. Outside of some who escaped... or at least one.

Quisma wouldn't be the only one.

Annie precedes him out of the train. "He gets lost in his own head," she says, returning to the topic of their mutual friend. "But that's not someplace you can chase him down. Just hope that you can ground him back in tangible reality, and not wherever he's living when he escapes."

It's not a pleasant place. The number counting, the way he acts, his hands... she can empathize with Hide's concern, but she has no real advice to offer in handling it. Annie has no clue what you'd do. (She has no clue what she's doing now.)

"Is it East or West of here?" This time she gestures for him to take the lead - he'd done the directions work. Annie's honestly waiting for his lead, much as she waits and follows where this conversation goes, interjecting in her own ways as they go along.

Hopefully with fewer things about home. Nothing there ever lightens a mood, and never gains anything for anyone, let alone Annie.

"Yeah. He's always been like that. Dealing with things up here instead of out here." He gestures appropriately when talking, a little sigh on his voice. "I've tried to chase him down before. But it doesn't really work."

A laugh, and he shakes his head. "Have you noticed, though?" He tips his head back a little, moving his hand to rub against his chin with his left hand. The gesture obviously showy in nature. "He's hiding the most when he touches his face with his left hand, like this. He acts like he's a good liar, but honestly..."

He shakes his head. Pointing, with the hand that had been against his chin.

"East. We'll have to walk for about five... maybe ten minutes. But I doubt that's too much of a problem, ne?" a smile still settles over his face.

He'd gotten into the habit of just running full-force places lately, so having to wait... ah, well. At least the company was lovely. Despite the heavy topics.

She'd noticed the tick before, but not tied in in specifically to lying. (In her opinion, he'd been someone who lied to himself, too; tells weren't always reliable for such things as self-denial so consuming as that might be.) It's a curiosity to her that Hide is sharing this with her now.

Annie would say she's been running full force for a long time, but it's less literal, more metaphorical in her case. As it is, she shrugs. "Friends still try. Even when the people they're trying for can't quite see the reasons why." She's witnessed it enough between Eren, Armin, and Mikasa. She wonders sometimes if that isn't part of why Armin is so unhinged here.

There's nothing she can do about it either way, so she brushes the thought to the side.

"Ten minutes of walking is very little, in the scheme of things."

Kaneki would probably--definitely--be annoyed at Hide for pointing out something like that(It's possible Kaneki himself doesn't even know of that habit existing, Hide's never told him.) but honestly... he can't bring himself to be concerned. Kaneki could learn to be a little more honest.

And maybe this would help.

"That's the way friends are, isn't it? You look in, and try to do everything you can. Even if sometimes, all you can do is watch." He waves a hand a little, stopping at a crosswalk, waiting now for the light to change.

"You're right. Time isn't really a big bother here, anymore. 'least not to me. ...I really am enjoying it here."

Considering Annie's general tolerance for bullshit, it might. She calls Ken out often enough. Doing so more often will simply be upping the ante. Much as with anything else, she only acts when she sees a reason or purpose to act.

With Ken, it's when she feels he needs to get shaken out of his own head and the cycles of self interest he falls into.

As for the comment on friends, she shrugs, not sure if it is or isn't. "You tell me. Is it?" Watching is all she does - or did - for a long time.

"... I'm glad." This is not the conversation she expected to be having as they approach the restaurant. It's strange. "This isn't an easy place, in it's own right... but I'm glad you can find joy in it."

He turns his head only to smile at her, the expression somehow brighter than even the sun that's lazily hanging overhead, brighter than the lights that'll no doubt be buzzing above their heads at the Korean restaurant.

"Yeah. It is. I've known Ken for a long time, and through that experience--I don't think there's much that'd stop me from doing everything to protect him." He turns his head, nodding. "All of my friends--maybe Ken is a little more important, but you know."

Looking up at the flashing light, pointing for Annie to follow along, he drags a hand back through his hair.

"I think it's important. Enjoying the little things in life. This place isn't easy, but heck. I got cool superpowers. I went to Disney World. I got to meet up with Kaneki again. And now look."

A gesture with a hand.

"Going out for dinner with a real nice and pretty girl. What's not to enjoy, right?"

"More like lunch," she says, pedantic in the face of agreeing. "Given the time of day." She can understand what he means either way. There's much to appreciate in the fragile time they all have here. The people they find, the experiences they have... or the ways they drive themselves to distraction staying sane.

"Is this the place?" Disney World she knows about in passing mentions from peers at school. Theme parks are far off her map of amusing, fun times, but more normal for people from times closer to this one, on Earths similar to this one.

"Haaa.. lunch, you're right." but better earlier than later. Even back home, he didn't like to be out after dark with another person. He could make quick getaways himself, but...

He looks up a bit when she asks if they were there, and a wide grin is already stretching across his face. It had to be pretty obvious, the sign outside boasting 'Korean Barbecue'. He points to it, as if she hadn't already seen it.

"Yep, this is the place. Good eye. Looks like we made it in good time after all."

And just their luck, it didn't look too crowded inside yet. He'll pull the door open for her, giving his best gentlemanly 'after you' gesture. "--Hoh. It smells good already, huh?"

The gesture earns him a quirked eyebrow. What's the deal with holding the door, anyway? People are prone to it here, and it's usually men. Are they that unwilling to enter first?

Annie shakes her head. (Hearing that Hide preferred not to be out after dark when she knows what she does of his world would make sense; particularly so, being what she is, too. It's not like she hasn't snapped a man in half with her teeth alone when she's defended herself while attempting to kidnap Eren.) He's right about the smell of the restaurant.

Annie doesn't know what it is, but it smells amazing. (She's going to love all the pickled things...) "Yeah. What kind of food did you say this was? Korean?" She stops inside the door and looks for any sign that says please wait to be seated. With one near the front, a woman toward the kitchen doors peers out and calls for how many. Annie holds up two fingers in return.

Though it does look like she's giving the other woman a peace sign.

Maybe later, when he describes the qualities of a date to her, he'll also explain why letting a lady go first was something that was common. Maybe.

"Yep! Korean barbecue. It's more than just meet and grilled vegetables, sure, but the cooking your own food bit is what makes it so popular, you know? You get to grill things just the way you like it, and it's fun, too."

A perfect first date, something like this, he'd think!!! ...Not that Annie had any real idea that that's what this was. "Unless you're not a good cook. In which case, I'll just show you how it's done, yeah??"

If he does, she'll note how little outward appreciation she has for the concept. Then again, it's part of a sort of cultural cue based on gender she doesn't have in the same respects in her own. As far as she'd be concerned, shouldn't they both equally hold the door for each other?

The idea of grilling things on their own where they sit is curious. Annie blinks, looking around the restaurant with greater care, noting how it is the other people here are comporting themselves. Ah... no. She understands.

"Good or bad is relative. I haven't done anything like this before - so if you want to demonstrate, I'd prefer to watch." She can throw right in, too, but it seems easier to take advantage of the offer he's giving.

Particularly once they're seated and she's looking at the menu itself. "How does ordering work with something like this, then?"

He flashes his companion a wide and cheerful grin, waving a hand at her. If there's one thing he doesn't mind, it's showing someone how to have fun--even if it's something like cooking in a Korean Barbecue restaurant.

"I'll demonstrate for sure. And Here, see..." scuse him, Annie, he's going to lean in a little closer to point out the things on the menu. "You can order noodle dishes or kimchi dishes that are pre-cooked for you, but these items here, the platters--they're uncooked vegetable and meat sets. I'm kind'a particular to the pork one, but I'll let you pick today--"

Yes, he sounds very pleased about this.

"They bring out the food in a neat little plate, and we use the table here--" he points to where they were seated, and there's actually a little grill, already hot, in the middle of it. "To cook and season the meat and veggies whatever way we prefer. It can be pretty fun in small or large groups."

Coming here with a bunch of school friends... it was always a fight to see who would pinch up cooked meat first.

Meat is still such a largess in her eyes that the fact it can be so easily purchased and so readily consumed still feels novel, even after almost a year in this place. Sixteen years plus of something otherwise makes it a surprise each time she remembers.

"Pork? I don't mind pork." She indicates the one that reads as pork on the menu, tapping a finger on the number to its left. If he enjoys it, then better for that. Annie doesn't live to service herself on those kinds of pleasures. She won't eat so much of the meat, so having something that Hide will eat without reserve and enjoys simply makes sense to her.

"This looks fine." She withdraws her hand, shifting her attention to the grill while the waitress comes back with two red cups of water. She figures he can order for them.

"Then that's what we'll have, the pork and vegetables set." a grin already moving over his face. If she's fine with it, then--! "We can also order drinks, tea or soda pop, if you like that sort of thing." the bubbles always were an unpleasant feeling to him, personally. Water was always the first thing they brought you, and he was just fine with that.

"--Ah. And right." he speaks up again, only after Annie had placed the order with the waitress, the menus being taken away. "They always serve this stuff with different sauces on the side. You can smear them on your food while it cooks on the grill. It either adds flavour--or spice."

A grin.

"Do you like spicy things, Annie-chan?"

"Ah?" She looks over to him, sitting back and dragging her waterglass closer. "No, not really. Not if you mean spicy like hot?" Even spices in general could wreak havoc on her digestive tract. Part of what had made her introduction to spices slow and steady is the unpleasant reactions she had earlier on by accident.

She shrugs her shoulders, planting her elbows on the table. "Which shouldn't stop you if you like spice. What I can't handle is my own problem to deal with. For your other question... water's fine. Tea might be nice after."

She quirks up her eyebrows, looking to him for confirmation. That so much food can be had in one place is still a novelty, but she does enjoy the relative freedom to linger over a meal. Tea seems like a decent way to do that... extra bonus that neither of them would have to handle dishes here.

"Yeah, that's what I mean. But honestly, spice isn't my biggest favourite. If I'm to be honest, my favourite flavour is sweet stuff.

Like honey, or cream coffee, things like that, yanno?" he flashes her a smile as the waitress comes back with their drinks, two glasses of water with a little lemon stuck at the top, for garnish. Of course, Hide's quick to push the lemon into the water itself.

"Do you have a favourite flavour? Or anything like that." Look at all these pushy, invasive questions he's asking. Are you suspicious, still?

She is... his game at throwing her off is strong. He gets a beat too long of a contemplative look before she breathes out, giving a small, definitive shake of her head. "Not really. I avoid things that are too sweet... if I'm not careful, they make me sick."

She traces the top of her water glass with one finger, briefly looking across the restaurant. The decor, the scant paintings hung on the walls, all are little details that registered when she came in. She's bringing them into sharper detail now.

"I've been told I'm boring before. Boring flavors are probably the ones I enjoy." There's a joke underneath all those words, but she doesn't pursue the joke all that far.

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that icon is so cute

True sunshine child 1000

he's too adorable for these worlds

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