dysproslogs | Someday my prince will come // Open

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Someday my prince will come // Open

Who: Koharu & Other Mission Members PLUS anyone walking by
What: Kissing Frogs is...sure a mission.
When: All day!
Where: In a corner of a courtyard in Ironwall
Rating: PG? Kissing of Frogs WARNING

Settled in the corner of a courtyard, the sound of frogs is audible a few streets over. A dozen small boxes litter a circle around Koharu, settled as she is on bench, and a flask of water to one side. A little frog is balanced uncertainly on her palm, croaking. A thousand frogs split between a few girls was still far too many frogs, she thought, but it was a mission she was unfailingly qualified for. No one would let her do anything unless she took missions--or that's what she'd heard.

A little sigh and she leans down to kiss the frog's head--easily the least weird part to kiss--when the frog simply hops out of her hands and across the courtyard.

"No--no come back. Come back!" Raising her skirt to avoid tripping, she gives chase, trying to catch the stupid thing without actually hurting it. It pauses at the edge of traffic and she nearly has it--before it hops just a foot away from her hands.

"No--stop hopping!"

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Koharu laughs, "But you're a scholar. I'm not. Oh--you like those too?"

She perks up a little. Some people find it childish or silly but...

That word still sounded strange to him.
"Heh, I'm... I'm really not a scholar. I mean I like books but I only joined the guild because you weren't expected to fight..."

That makes him sound a little cowardice doesn't it...?
No, no he's sensible for knowing where his limits are. Latvia keeps telling himself that.

"But yes, I'm very fond of romance and poetry. But I think all genres have something that's worth reading."

"I understand, that's why I became a merchant. I didn't really want to be a fighter." Not that she looks it in a dress and hair mostly loose down her back, "I've never read much poetry that isn't Japanese. I don't think it translated well to be honest. But I like romantic stories."

"Ah, that's... haiku and things like that, right?" That's pretty much the extent of his knowledge on Japanese poetry. He would have liked to read more too but as she said, it didn't always translate well and he grasp on Japanese was pretty meager.

"Romance stories are some of my favourite. Some of them are so ridiculous and unrealistic you can't help but laugh!" Latvia smiled.

Surely that was... not quite what she meant.

"They have several different forms but I don't know them all. But haiku is the most simple and beautiful." She smiles and shrugs. Some were ridiculous and those were fun to read in a different level.

"I think I like the stories where things aren't smooth but they still end up together. Romantic stories like that. I guess it's silly to read for the cute stories."

Latvia gives a quiet hum and shrugs his shoulders. His relationship with those kinds of books was... odd. He criticized them for how unrealistic they were but used them as a form of escapeism. There's no place he'd rather be than in a book.

"I suppose no matter how the story is told it's still unrealistic. It would be nice if those kinds of romances could happen in real life though," he mused.

Koharu shrugs a little, "Do you really think romances can't happen like they do in the books? I know a lot of them aren't realistic, but is it bad to want things to be...more well...romantic? Well I guess it's not what really happens, love at first sight or overcoming obstacles, but it happens sometimes."

Latvia scratched the back of his head sheepishly and looked away. Now he felt kind of bad about it but he couldn't help but be pessimistic. Those things just didn't happen in real life.

"Well... I don't think so. I mean they might work out that way for you but not for me," he sighed. "There's nothing wrong with wanting things but sometimes you have to accept that they won't just happen. You have to really fight for them and even then..."

"Isn't love worth fighting for?" Her face has fallen a little but she reaches over and touches his shoulder with a little sad smile, "And there's no reason it can't happen for you. It's no different for anyone really. You have to look for it and try."

Almost instinctively he backed away from her touch. It wasn't her fault, just out of habit and realising how it must look he bowed his head and mumbled an apology. When he looked back up to face her again he wore a sad sort of smile.

"It's a little more difficult than that... I wouldn't expect you to understand so don't worry," he sighed "Even if we look similar you and I are more different than you realise."

She steps back and looks away, not sure what to say or do. She wants to reassure him but he's making that...a difficult task.

"Surely it can't be that different?"

"Well..."

He might as well just come out and say it. Latvia didn't normally keep it a secret so he wasn't sure why he was so hesitant to say so now. As ridiculous as it sounded, this conversation did sound like it could come right out of a book, maybe he was secretly hoping it would end the same way.

"I'm not exactly human, so relationships like the ones in novels aren't exactly feasible for me..."

"..." She pauses--wait. Wait is this...Is he saying. ...Well she shouldn't assume he is saying that. The other two introduced themselves as it--

"What are you then? If it's not...too personal?" She's trying to withhold judgement.

He shakes his head. It was fine.

"My name is Latvia, I'm a small nation situated between Lithuania and Estonia on the Baltic sea." He tried his best to avoid describing himself in terms of Russia. Even though it was easiest and most people knew where Russia was even if they didn't know Latvia, it still left a bad taste in his mouth.

She slowly bites her lip and looks at him, then fiddles with her necklace. Three. There's three of them. And she knows some people are from different worlds. So it could be possible...

"You really are, aren't you? I met Lithuania and Spain--and I didn't think--but you all really are?"

Any hope he had of this ending like a normal conversation had vanished. He gives a light nod in response but he still seems somewhat surprised that she already knew of his colleagues.

"That's right... I didn't know you'd already met some of us. Lithuania's nice and Spain normally is too but... he's been acting strange since we got here. I wouldn't take anything he says to heart," Latvia replies.

"I didn't really...believe it. Just silly, I guess? W don't have people nations?" She laughs softly, tucking her hair back. "But I don't understand? Why can't you fall in love?"

"It's not that I can't fall in love..." he started, wringing his hands together and wishing he didn't really have to explain it. "But it's just impractical. You'd outlive any human you had a relationship with and even with other nations... would you still feel the same way about each other in fifty or a hundred years?"

Latvia scratched the back of his head again, it was starting to become a bit of a nervous tick and he tugged a little at his hair as he spoke.
"So I can't really have those kinds of novel romances. I even realistically, I can't settle down, start a family or grow old with anyone. I've barely aged a day in about two hundred years now."

"So you--you don't even want to fall in love if it can't last forever?" It seems silly. Sometimes things happen. Love can be forever, sure, but it always ends. It just ends after a long time. It could end sooner...Circumstances changed.

"You could fall in love. You could love someone, even for just a little while. Do nations really never love anyone else? That seems just...unbearably lonely."

"Isn't that what those fairy-tail romances are all about though? You live happily ever after for forever and ever..." he sighed. This was depressing.

"What I mean is is it even worth it? It's a little irresponsible to deprive a human of what could be a healthy and normal relationship and with nations there can be so much politics involved. In the end it's just a pain."

Latvia shoves his hands in his pockets and wonders if he should just end the conversation now.
"It's not that we don't, some of us more than others, it's just not something worth pursuing, I think."

Koharu shakes her head, "Well I don't think you should resign yourself to loneliness forever. Happiness doesn't always last forever, shouldn't you try to get happiness where you can?"

She smiles, a little sadly.

"You might find someone who doesn't mind. But I'm sure this isn't what you wanted to talk about, I'm sorry." She bobs her head apologetically, "I shouldn't...I just don't like seeing someone so convinced they'll never find love?"

Loneliness, huh? Latvia is only reminded more and more about how he wants friends and siblings.

"I don't think I ever will, but it isn't the end all of happiness. I have lots of things to be happy about..." he trails off, thinking about how they're all back home. Even though he had a few of his colleagues here with him he only felt lonelier.

"Heh, no it's fine. I should be the one saying sorry. Should I just leave you to your, uh... frogs then?"

Koharu bobs her head again, looking over her shoulder at the frogs. She doesn't really want to go back to those but she definitely should.

"I--well I should be going back, but I don't have to...But I should let you go back to wherever you were going." She bows, "I'm sure it'll be a little less awkward next time?"

"Uh... y-yeah, next time..."

If anything it'll probably be all the more awkward next time.

"I'll let you get back to that then. It was nice talking to you miss... um..." All this time he'd been talking to her and he still didn't know her name...

"Koharu. Izaki Koharu." She smiles slightly and waves, "Until next time Latvia."

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balzams - 2013-06-15 20:36 (UTC) - Expand

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