Open: Liangyu's Request, Getting in Trouble Around Town, and Training

[totallysane]

Who: Mikado Ryuugamne and You!
What: Catch-all log for interactions with Mikado, both mission and otherwise. Anyone is welcome!
When: Variable! Current-ish, if you need a specific date, name one in your thread.
Where: Around town. I'll toss up a couple setting options, so just choose one.
Rating: PG, one would think.



1) Liangyu's Request

Mikado's excitement throughout the entire "mission" was quite apparent: in fact, he's practically bouncing before, during, and after Liangy's talk. He doesn't bother trying to hide how excited he is about it, despite the fact that people might think him nerdy. He does want to learn as much as possible about the world he's in, and he also enjoys just learning anything he can.

After the talk, he can be found sitting down outside, already poring over the book he was given, his eyes wide and his entire attention on it. Feel free to approach him, call him a nerd, pick on him, or even nerd-gasm with him about how exciting learning about culture is!


2) Exercise time

Despite arriving injured and continually being banged up since then, Mikado is constantly training. Not just inside the fighter's guild, but outside it as well. He's determined to become a better fighter, but that requires more than just learning to use a weapon. He's never had good stamina, and now he's determined to work on that.

This is why he can be found around town, anywhere he can find space that isn't crowded. It's kind of a funny sight: the boy runs for a few steps, then walks for a few, then starts jogging again in a dogged attempt to keep moving. Approach him with training tips, laughter, or sympathy for his pain!

Comments

[orderispeace]

The wave was greeting enough. He likely wouldn't have fully understood the bow any better than those people who had laughed at Mikado's formality anyway. They were used in England to demonstrate respect of course but not really to the level that the Japanese used them.

"Then this place holds the same history as any other. Songs and stories of love and loss are popular in nearly every age. People are drawn together and then torn apart, due to family affiliations, uncertainty, war... I'm not surprised to hear that cycle has continued here."

And yes, racial and class differences as well. Haytham had seen similiar stories play out before. The class system of England was really very strict. You had to be born into a proper family, had to associate with the proper people... Had he not been pulled here even Haytham would find himself in a relationship broken by cultural differences and his deep desire to change the world into the kind of ordered place he believed would bring peace. But, for now at least the relationship he had with Ziio held. They even found themselves allies in the same guild.

"Do you read sheet music? I believe there are actually a few songs in the book, towards the back."

[totallysane]

"I can, but I'm not incredibly musically talented or anything. I just learned at school," Mikado said, sounding almost apologetic about it. He wasn't particularly extraordinarily talented at anything, so he felt awkward saying that he knew a lot about it, even if he could read it. Still, he felt a need to expand on what he'd been saying.

"I think that's why I like talking about music though. Because even if the worlds are a lot different, it shows you how much the people are the same, when you look at the themes. The same emotions come through, and it..."

He paused, turned the book over in his hands, as if cherishing it.

"Those types of things can make you feel more at home, wherever you are. To know that someone else has felt that same way you do. There are even songs about feeling displaced, like we feel now."

[orderispeace]

"Still that is more than some can do. It might even help you in your study of that book."
There was no need to be modest or apologetic about possessing a skill especially one that in this circumstance could only be useful.

Haytham's jaw tighten slightly as Mikado spoke. Whereas the similarities filled the boy with a sense of familiarity even hope perhaps, for Haytham it brought more of a feeling of dread. He had thought in this very structured society some of those human failings might have been overcome. The more he heard of this place the less likely it seemed that they were really any better off than than had been at home.

"I imagine some comfort might be gained from that feeling of fraternity and shared experiences. However, also observe that there seems to be far more music based on loss, betrayal, and conflict then there is based on peace and common understanding. This place may be a bit too much like the one we found ourselves pulled away from."

[totallysane]

Mikado's expression, which had held excitement and curiosity when they started speaking, suddenly became far too serious. Stopping to think those things over was perhaps not the best idea, even if it had to be done once in a while. Thinking about life at home was a very dangerous thing: he might have to face things that he'd been too busy to consider all the implications of while they were happening.

The choices he had made might weigh on him too much if he let them.

He didn't look at Haytham as he spoke.

"I don't think I would be able to believe in a world that was any different. If I had come to a place where there was no fighting, no danger, no betrayal, I might have thought I was merely dreaming after all. Or that somewhere there was an underbelly I had simply not found yet.

At least here all I had to do was turn down the right alley, instead of peeling back layers of false smiles to reach it."

[orderispeace]

He might not have understood anything Mikado had gone through on his world but at least, unlike some of the others here, the boy was not nearly as naive. Mikado didn't know this, but that was something Haytham looked for in allies. People who could see beyond what they were told and search out what was real... even if the reality could be painful.

"How can you be so certain there are no 'false smiles' here?"

[totallysane]

There was a certain temptation to turn his head and smile at the man, at that. Mikado ignored it, because he was trying to make a more honest connection. There wasn't any need for the violence he'd acted out before leaving his own world: this man had done nothing to deserve either pain or lies from him.

"I know there are. That's the kind of thing you'll find anywhere. But it's better not to be so surrounded by it that you forget to be careful, don't you think?"

[orderispeace]

"I agree entirely. It is much better to be certain where a person stands rather than rely upon their good nature as a guide."

There was nothing more dangerous than a false smile yet so many people fell for that, or as Mikado had warned... surrounded themselves with people like that. They were dooming themselves for a fall.

"Well, as nice as it is to find some one of like-mind I should allow you to return to your studies."

[totallysane]

Mikado smiled up at the man, considering those words. He wondered what this man would think of him, if he told him the truth. About the people around him at home, who smiled and aimed to destroy him. About his own smiles, like the one he wore when he "signed" the deal with Aoba's blood.

No, he wouldn't say any of that, not yet.

"I do thank you for stopping to talk to me. You're very kind."

[orderispeace]

Unlike those people he was more used to Haytham did not pretend to like people and there would be no false smiles from him. The boy had impressed him with his knowledge of human nature but that was all. Haytham deemed it too soon for compliments and flattery so he barely acknowledge the compliment leveled at him and did not offer one in return. They did not know enough about each other for there to be anything deeper but maybe it time that situation would change.

"We are both searching for a greater understanding of this world. It is only natural that we should speak on occasion."

With that he took his leave. This mission had really brought more questions to mind than answers and he wouldn't discover the truth of this place by standing around chatting.