innocence was never lost, though it may have been insulted.

[mingling]

who: Takashi Natsume, Cain (currently Romulus)
what: A chance encounter could lead to better chances.
when: 6/17, late afternoon
where: Some charming little park.
warnings: There may be some exploration of abusive themes—slavery, a bad childhood, and the way those things shape a person.

[He hadn't meant to fall asleep. It's completely ridiculous that he has. It's just the sun is nice, dappled through gaps in tree leaves as it is, and he gets so sleepy when he's warm like this. The grass is soft, like the grass at home is soft. There are birds to be heard. You wouldn't think this is any sort of strange place, unless you do think about it, unless the details start nagging you...

But he's tired of being nagged by them, so they've been put on the back burner for now, while he lies underneath this tree, eyelashes fluttering—he opens his eyes, squints and tries to steel himself, before his eyelids are just too heavy for it and fall shut once again. Natsume could be called tenacious, but eventually he gives up. The manner of his breath and the relaxation of his open hands is just as soft as the rustling of tree leaves.

Until something spooks him and rips him out of his little doze. A few heads throughout the park, scattered about, turn his way when they hear a high, sharp yelp. They go back to their own business when they see it's just a floundering boy. He's wrenched himself upright, eyes flown wide open, blades of grass falling from his shoulders slowly as if to remind him to calm down. An open notebook had been resting on his chest during his almost-nap; it's fallen off to the side, now. Natsume scrambles, twisting until he can balance on his hands and knees. He looks like he's starting in on a frantic lecture... Maybe a stray cat or something like that has disturbed him? Whatever it is, it's on the hidden side of the tree trunk, obscured. The lecturing continues, and then once it's finished, Natsume still doesn't seem entirely satisfied, but he tilts his head back as if he's watching something run up the side of the tree trunk. Perhaps a squirrel, in that case...

Well! That nap is certainly ruined. He looks resigned to that as he pulls himself up so he's standing, dusting grass from his legs, his hands. He bends to retrieve his notebook and wayward pencil, but standing back up too quickly affects him, and when he tries to take a step, he veers off awkwardly to the side. He catches himself, at least, by settling a hand against the tree trunk, before instead resting against it with his shoulder so he can rub at his forehead with that hand.

He doesn't look upset, at least. Not concerned. More exasperated than anything else, notebook clutched like a lifeline, the face of a teenager who's tired of being nagged at. But he's also gone quite pale, and he's not sure he's ready to take a steady step.]

Comments

[aeturnus]

[ It isn't every day Romulus sees something like that. Before he came here, anyway. This whole city is teeming with so much strangeness that his mind feels ready to burst apart any second now, but this one is at least a somewhat more familiar strangeness. Animals, nature, the park is soothing to him over the tall, harsh city.

He hasn't gone out much int he daytime thanks to all of the eyes on him, people with curious and worried and concerned looks when he can't stand their eyes and flinches into the streets or the walls or whatever's there when he tries to move out of their way. The park is... nicer. Perhaps not nice enough but he likes it for now and it's let him see something familiar and bizarre at once.

Romulus has seen ghosts. Seen the spirits of the dead and seen people die, seen those people rise from their bodies and be tugged into the afterlife by the creatures sitting alongside them the whole time. This is... not that. At all. It isn't that, but it's strange and there's something just as strange as those creatures are. Certainly more colorful, though. When the boy reacts to it, Romulus himself has a start because no one's ever reacted to something like this aside from himself or Remus. That's...

He doesn't have words for that, but he finds himself coming closer out of desperate curiosity anyway. ]

Are you all right?

[mingling]

[Seemingly distracted, Natsume's caught up in his own wobbly exhaustion. He looks about ready to roll his eyes heavenward, until...

The first steps he hears in the grass make him jump, an inordinate startle, but then he sees that it's a person. He blinks then sets his eyes wide, before straightening. Embarrassing. This never ceases to be embarrassing. Natsume goes from a little incensed to now drawing back his shoulders, stiffening his spine. He folds his hands around his notebook.]

Yes! Ah. I'm sorry. I guess I caused a commotion, even though it's so quiet here. There was, it's just, an acorn. It startled me, but nothing bad happened. Silly, right?

[It's a babble but not at high speed; he must be accustomed to this, mouthing through whatever stream of consciousness he thinks will fix the situation. Like this, he could just come off as odd, maybe kind of spacey. But not impolite, he hopes:]

Thanks. It's nothing. I won't shout like that again.

[aeturnus]

[ That's just confusing. There wasn't an acorn that he saw at all, and the babbling is more than he's used to. It takes him a moment to process and figure out what to say to such an odd display. ]

It... wasn't the creature? [ That's disappointing. He looks disappointed even if he's trying to keep it hidden. ] I guess if the acorn distracted you...

[mingling]

[Now Natsume slows more fully, until he comes to a stop. The angle of his head tilts; he looks like he's sizing up a situation. Like fight or flight is just below his surface.

He swallows.]

You mean like a... did you see a squirrel? Or...

[Innocuous to most: any normal person can answer yes or no, "oh, a squirrel, that makes sense." But if this man had seen... what was most decidedly not a squirrel, more like a stubby creature&mdashs;did it have webbed hands? Was it reminiscent of a frog? Natsume was too busy scolding it to pay much attention.

But above all, he's gauging the situation. He knows more people now who are accustomed to spirits than he ever did before, but that doesn't mean it isn't scary to encounter them with someone else.]

[aeturnus]

No.

[ He doesn't quite know how to describe it, but a squirrel wouldn't be it. He's seen those before. Knows what those are. This one was different, and he still looks discouraged for the direction. Perhaps it wasn't like he thought it would be after all. ]

I'm sorry, Sir. Forget I said anything.

[mingling]

[All the muscles in this man's face are gut-wrenchingly familiar. Natsume's looked at his own downtrodden face before, shutting himself in bathrooms and staring at his gloomy weirdness in the mirror. Looking at this person feels so much like that. Natsume takes a sudden breath, an urgent one, like he wants to break a dam of explanations.

But he takes a moment to do it gently, instead.]

No, I, um... I'm sorry. I don't... [Go on, go on.] Think there was a squirrel, either. Could you maybe—sorry, do you mind if you tell me what you saw?

[But that's unfair and he knows it. He wouldn't describe anomalies to a random person if asked point blank. Halfway, Natsume. You can do that.]

It was... maybe... it was bigger than a squirrel, wasn't it?

[The tenterhooks on which he waits are practically tangible.]

[aeturnus]

[ Something twists in his chest and Romulus looks up partway at the boy, then looks over to the tree. As if that thing will still be there to give him a reminder, or as if he would have already forgotten it. It feels like some kind of test, maybe one of the sorts you can only fail, but he wants to believe what he saw. This young man reacting to something no one else was able to see, things that only he and his brother have seen. ]

Lots of colors?

[mingling]

[For a heartfelt moment, tenuous and hopeful—more hopeful than Natsume ever used to be—he searches the man's face with his eyes. Whatever he does or doesn't see must mollify him. This probably isn't a prank, at least. And all at once, Natsume lets out a great gust of a breath, shuts his eyes, and loses the polite posture. His shoulder meets the tree again and he sags heavily against it. It's like a great unwinding.]

Yeah. Really, really colorful. It's probably impossible for it to hide from... [A smaller breath, now.] From anyone who can see it.

[Exhausted as he looks, he's got a little smile.]

[aeturnus]

[ Romulus looks at him, uncertain but feeling unwound in something similar to peace. He only watches briefly before he smiles, too, moves to better regard the person in front of him without being too presumptuous. ]

So... you saw it, as well. How—do you know how?

[ His question is hardly a breath. He certainly doesn't know the hows or the whys, just a single what. It's not a good one. ]

[mingling]

[Gently, Natsume leans the side of his head against the tree as well. He shuts his eyes again. He's trying to gather himself up, it seems. But he looks no less peaceful for it, and sounds soft.] I think, with this, it feels like it just happens. [He doesn't really talk to people, much, about his grandmother, Reiko, but...] I've heard it can happen in families, a bit. Or at least that it's more common.

[All that familiarity, again, in Romulus' face. Natsume knows he must have looked this way every time he was offered the barest scrap of hope from somebody who saw something strange. To say nothing of making friends who understood...

What he wanted most, when he looked like that, was for someone to tell him it was okay.]

I... I've met some people before, who would have seen it, too. Who see things like that often. For a long time, I thought it was just me. But, actually... [He opens his eyes again. If there's a worthwhile time to share his heart, it's now.] I see things like that a lot, you know. Even if I don't know how or why, I see them. But it means I see things you see, too. So it's okay.

[aeturnus]

[ His shoulders just slump in relief as Natsume talks. Not that he would ever think that something he shares with Remus is a burden but the fact that it isn't just them in the entire world, that they might find kindred spirits out in the world and they aren't totally alone... It's heartening and terrifying and has him momentarily tongue-tied as it all whirls around in his head. ]

My brother, too. He sees these things with me. [ He pauses, tentative. ] With us. It's usually just spirits but here... there's been more things.

[mingling]

[A brother, huh. Natsume can't even imagine. He's not bitter over it, just wistful. And even then, it sounds scary.]

For me, they've always been... They've always looked like all sorts of things. Animals, or things that are like animals... And some of them look like humans, too. Sometimes... [He breathes out, a little puff. It's almost a laugh, equally exasperated and self-conscious in quality.] Sometimes I'll think they are a human, and then... [And then no one else can see who he's talking to.

His fingers worry at the spiral of his notebook. He's quiet for a moment before pushing himself away from the tree to stand upright. He only sways very slightly, which in his opinion means he's fine.]

I'm Natsume. It's really nice to meet you. Even if your brother isn't here, you don't have to look at things alone.

[Back home, Natori did this for him. It had cowed Natsume at the time—he didn't want anyone else involved and he was mistrustful for some time. But here, being the one to reach outward... he's not guiding anyone else into his own mire. Hopefully, he can guide someone out, instead.]

[aeturnus]

They've only looked like humans for me. I might prefer the creatures.

[ He doesn't have to worry as much what it means when dead people start wandering through the estate or otherwise. When someone's died nearby and sometimes others follow quickly behind. It's special and scary and quite a lot of things. ]

Natsume... I'm Romulus. It's my honor to meet you, sir.

[ And that offer, that weird closeness with this person he shouldn't feel attached to but does because of this amazing coincidence, makes him smile. It's just too much like hope for him to not. ]

[mingling]

[Having done lots of favors for spiritual beings, and having a great deal of power he frankly would rather not have, Natsume is used to being called sir or other notations of respect by haunters and special beings. It is what it is. But it has a different feeling, coming from another human, and Natsume shifts from foot to foot. He opens his mouth to respond to it, but closes it just as quickly. He realizes he doesn't know what would have come out of his mouth, and it's important to try and choose words carefully.

...Eventually, he's nodding along.]

It's nice to meet you, Romulus. It's really nice. I...

[He wonders if there's a better way to go about this. If he's the best he could be, for Romulus.]

Well, so, there's a place nearby, if you wanted to get tea... Would you mind?

[aeturnus]

[ Being offered time and attention specifically to just hang out with someone else is... new. New and frightening, but Romulus really does want to go because this feels like the sort of thing that should be okay. It's outside the parameters of what he knows, a new type of relationship defined by something no one has any rules on. ]

No. [ His nose wrinkles up and he shakes his head, tries again because that doesn't sound right. ] Could we? Please?