Someday my prince will come // Open

[ourparadise]

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!"

Comments

[balzams]

"Well, you know one already," he smiled."Truth be told I don't know many other people in the guild either."

With a content sigh he looked back to the streets and the people. It really was intereting. Latvia couldn't quite place the architecture and the clothes people wore were so varied and interesting.

Yet...

"I suppose it is but... Do you get the feeling that it's a little tense around here?"

[ourparadise]

Blinking at the question, she thought it over for a moment. Perhaps she just didn't pay much attention--or tense was something she tried not to pick up on.

"I don't know, I try not to get involved in conflict? But what do you mean? The townspeople or the guilds? I'm sure a few dozen people showing up on their doorstep must throw off things..."

[balzams]

"Just the atmosphere in general..." he trailed off. Maybe it was because he was a few hundred years older and had gotten used to these kinds of nuances. She had a point though.

"I think it must be, as far as I can tell they don't know how we got here any more than we do."

[ourparadise]

"I think we'd all be a little shook up if it happened at home--I mean... for both sides. Aren't you? Confused, shook up--tense?" She hid it very well but she was herself. Of course she was. No one just found themselves somewhere with a group of strangers and wasn't bothered.

Not a person who wasn't lying to themselves at least.

[balzams]

"Well... there was that one Christmas..." He then trailed off, thinking it would be better to save that story for... Well, there never really was a good time to tell that story so he quickly changed subjects.

"Of course I feel tense though! I can't stand being so far away from home with no way to get back. It makes me worry..."

[ourparadise]

"I think they worry for themselves and maybe for us as well. So they're tense--and we're tense as well." She uncertainly looks back, "...I shouldn't have brought it up though. I didn't mean to make you feel worse about it."

[balzams]

"Ah, don't worry about it!" Latvia responded in a fretful manner. "I would have worried even if you hadn't brought it up..."

He really didn't want to make her feel bad. Somehow he felt like he'd gotten himself stuck in a conversation neither of them wanted to be in. Again he tried to change the subject. Maybe it would be better to excuse himself...
"S-so! Uh... Do you like reading? I really like reading, I was surprised to find such a big library here! What kinds of books do you like?"

[ourparadise]

"Oh--well yes. I haven't really looked in the library...And I'm afraid to ask them if they're anything but books on magic and such." She twirls her hair around a finger and flushes as she admits it, "I never read much nonfiction outside of school. I much preferred romance and fairy tales. Silly things like that honestly. And I'm sure they don't have that in the library."

[balzams]

Oh no she sounded like a girl he could really connect with. So much for making this less awkward.
"Oh, no I don't think they're silly..." Latvia smiled. "If you like, since I spend a lot of time in the library I can look for you."

Was he blushing? Nope, not at all.

Okay he totally was.

[ourparadise]

"Oh..." She flushes and shakes her head, waving her hands in denial, "Oh no, you don't have to. It's just...sort of intimidating." She laughs shrugging her shoulders a little, "All those books and scholars looking for things. I should try to go in anyways. Look around."

[balzams]

"It's not as intimidating as you might think... If someone like me can spend the day reading there I'm sure you can too," Latvia jested lightly. The sheer number of books there caused him more curiosity than intimidation.

"Besides, I'll probably be looking for books like that myself. If I find where they are I'll be sure to tell you."

[ourparadise]

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...

[balzams]

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."

[ourparadise]

"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."

[balzams]

"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.

[ourparadise]

"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."

[balzams]

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.

[ourparadise]

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."

[balzams]

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..."

[ourparadise]

"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."

[balzams]

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."

[ourparadise]

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?"

[balzams]

"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..."

[ourparadise]

"..." 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.

[balzams]

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.