[closed] Despite the interminable distance, in a brumous and sunny path

[onehundredswords]

Date & Time: March 8th; 8pm
Location: Somewhere outside the city you have a good view of it all
Characters: sensei and student
Summary: goodbye

[He'd arrived a little earlier considering he wanted to be there before she was. Seated on the ground and looking out to the city, his memories of these place really were fond. A lot fonder than anything he could remember in the past 100 years.

That in itself was kind of sad, now that he thought about it.]

Comments

whups here I am

[payback]

[Crunching footsteps on the gravel ought to alert him of his student's approach, if he wasn't tracking her energy signature in the first place. Dressed for the weather and sword at her side, Rin looks prepared for a normal training session... not that she suspects him of malicious intentions, but that much wouldn't come as a great surprise.]

Hey.

[In spite of being a grouchy little shit about coming out here, she doesn't sound too mad. A little tentative, maybe. It's rare to catch him looking contemplative like this.]

heh

[onehundredswords]

Hey.

[Not the usual smile; a little softer, a little more genuine.

He pats the ground beside him, asking her to sit beside him.]

No need to look so on edge, we're not fighting today. Your training's over.

I'm already having a feeling

[payback]

I'm not on edge! [She's mostly not. Though it pays to be a little wary when Gin is your teacher. She frowns at him, puzzled, before she just goes along with it and... yes... sits.]

What are you gonna do?

[onehundredswords]

[He lifts a little basket from the side and places it in between them; it has a few bagels, danishes and cookies, mostly leftover gifts that're still good because the future can handwave excuses for everything.

He pops it open and takes a cookie.]

Help yourself.

[That's the question though, isn't it...]

Me? I'm going home, I guess. Had planned on it since day one.

[And he takes a bite of his cookie.]

[payback]

[... This is WEIRD. This is pretty unlike him. Well, he's bribed her regularly with food all along, when she whined and complained and wanted to lie down and quit, so it's not a total departure - even so. She gives him a sideways look...

... Then gives up and picks out a cookie. If he wanted to poison her or something, well, why would he bother? He could just kill her anyway.]

... So, what does that mean?

[It occurs to her that she never knew.]

[onehundredswords]

[...she had to ask, didn't she.

A part of him hoped she'd go along with it without any fuss, but...]

It means I'm going home.

[...not convinced she'll accept that.]

[payback]

Yeah, but what do you even do? I mean... wait... didn't you tell me you were a ghost?

[Curious, yep. No escaping it.]

[onehundredswords]

Yeah, I was.

[Still is while he's here, really.]

Does it matter? What're you going to do?

[payback]

I guess... I'm going to go with Vanadi. His place sounds like a pretty good deal. You can still travel... [She's really done with getting dragged willy-nilly from world to world at this point, anyway. A sideways glance now, directed his way.]

... Maybe you should come with.

[onehundredswords]

Not interested.

[He laughs it off, shaking his head.]

Maybe if I was a little younger, but I'm too old for adventuring. I've already gone grey, see?

[He lifts a strand of his hair, obviously more silver from being anime than grey from being old.]

[payback]

Oh, don't be ridiculous.

[She gives him a pointed look. She knows he's just kidding around.]

You could just lie around there if you really wanted. And you'd still be able to go home.

[onehundredswords]

[how do i lie my way out of this. He doesn't regret organizing this meet up, he wanted one last little talk, but the conversation topic is less than ideal.]

Aw. You'd miss me, huh? Is that it?

[payback]

[Good move, Gin - she makes a face.]

Don't make it like that! I just think you're being stupid.

[onehundredswords]

I guess I am.

[You don't know the half of it.]

But it's just important I go home, alright? That's it.

[payback]

But... I mean... you still could. Through that world. [She fiddles with her cookie.]

[onehundredswords]

I'm not going anywhere else.

[He almost sounds a little annoyed by how insistent she's being.]

Being here was great an' all, but this is it. Show's over, alright?

[payback]

[She's almost fiddling with the cookie more than eating it, now.]

... So what do you have to do...?

[She knows she should stop... but it's sort of become her business, hasn't it? He invited her here and sort of horned in as her teacher without ever giving her a chance to say no. So now she gets to ask.]

[onehundredswords]

[On that day, all he wanted to do was annoy her a little. He never expected to end up wanting to teach her how to fight.

He never expected his decision to backfire on him either.]

I have to go confront someone. My person I hate.

[He'd said it to her once; one person to hate and one person to protect as a means of motivation.]

[payback]

[This, though, is what she understands more than anything. She ducks her head down immediately. Cookie crumbs fall out of her hands.]

... Who is it?

[onehundredswords]

[Explanations, huh...

It'll take more than just a name.]

Someone who hurt a friend of mine. The only friend who matters to me there.

[He's quiet for a moment, but then-]

When I was a kid, I didn't have any family or friends - though the friend bit was more my own choice than anything. But I found her out on the street one day, really badly injured. I ended up bringing her back to my place and nursed her back to health. She was my first friend...and my best one ever since that day.

So when I found out this guy was the reason for her being the way she was when I found her, I decided I'd kill him...but not just for her. At this point, he's hurt everyone one way or another. He's even worse than the United Earth.

[payback]

[One part of her goes, shit, I knew you were an okay guy. Most of her just bows down a little more. She stuffs the remains of the cookie in her mouth and chews and swallows it quickly, then looks at him out of the corner of her eye.]

That sounds pretty important.

[onehundredswords]

Yeah.

[He takes a bite out of the one in his hand, nodding...he doesn't speak again until he's swallowed his food.]

Before I got here, I had a plan to kill him - he was only able to plan against everyone cause everyone else is stupid enough to blab about what they can do.

But not me. I kept my weapon's real ability a secret from everyone, lied about what it can do. He couldn't possibly know about it either.

[He's wording this all very carefully.]

[payback]

Okay...

[She's just... listening. Rin is still a sucker. If he's careful, she really won't pick up on the parts he's sliding by her.]

You mean how your sword gets longer?

[onehundredswords]

[He turns his head to look at her, his more typical grin returning.]

Nope! You-

[...hah.]

No, before I move on, how long do you think my sword can extend to?

Don't say you don't know. Take a guess.

[payback]

Um... [She blinks. It's, in a weird way, reassuring to see him leer like that. She was getting pretty serious there and this feels so much more normal.]

I don't - [He already told her not to say that. She'll just spit out a random number.] Um... six miles.