I accept that it's time for a change

[firesealed]

Who: Sol Badguy (firesealed) and Ky Kiske (juste_ou_mort)
Universe: Guilty Gear Universe
What: Ky, Sol, something something, Ky fussing at Sol
Warning: None now

It's a hot, sticky kind of day. Sol's mostly immune to temperature at this point, but it doesn't make him feel much like doing anything. There isn't that much that needs to be done that he can do now.

Which is why he's found his way into a local restaurant, where he's on his second meal and his fourth beer.

Comments

[firesealed]

Charity work was an odd phrase to use for giving the kid something to focus on instead of Sol, and Sol certainly wouldn't have thought of it in that way. Ky had enough money to feed himself sufficiently, almost certainly, he simply chose not to. It might be closer to mothering the kid, if Sol were inclined to do anything more than shove a plate of food towards him when he'd already joined Sol at his table.

Really, it was just a simple little decision, no need to make something of it. And Sol was going to make an effort not to let it become a thing, tucking into his own food as soon as the plate was brought out.

Eating surely precluded talking, right?

[juste_ou_mort]

He fed himself fine, managed his life fine, crossed every T and dotted every I. He just didn't overdo it, and he hadn't been hungry; food and heat went terribly together. It had been more of a joke, though Ky's sense of humour often slipped past others. As dry as it was, it had long since stopped surprising him when people missed it. Humour wasn't his forte and he knew it. Open kindness wasn't exactly Sol's, either, and it all left Ky skeptical. Then again, finding a means to avoid Ky's questioning or commentary was Sol's habit.

Rude, Sol.

"Is it bounty or information that brings you to France?" Because that might partially be out of spite, talking now. If bounty, it probably wasn't one the IPF put out; maybe something independent or local that led out this way. If bounty at all, of course. "I don't recall seeing any that would have caught your attention."

[firesealed]

In Sol's opinion pressing him on his reasons for being in the country when all he'd been doing was enjoying a silent meal by himself was much more rude than most of what he'd done.

Sol shrugged, and kept focusing on eating, with a grunt the only sort of acknowledgment that he thought Ky's question deserved. Not his fault taht Ky asked questions that he knew Sol would simply refuse to answer. Sometimes he could avoid answering Ky's pressing on a subject simply by not answering it, and he had some hope that this would be one of those times.

Certainly Sol's not accountable in any way to Ky, stopped having him as a commanding officer long ago. Ky has no authority from which to demand an answer from Sol.

[juste_ou_mort]

He wasn't demanding, it was... Honestly, it was more like an attempt at conversation--evidently a poor one, given the response. Ky couldn't handle not being occupied in some manner, didn't know how to not be caught up in doing something or other. In that, though, he smirked in a sort of flat manner, shaking his head. Unsurprising.

"Where is the point in asking." Not a question, a statement. Well-aware of the fact that if Sol didn't want to answer, he wouldn't, Ky let the question go for the moment. He still wanted to know, but there was no chance for now. "If it's a bounty we've put out, try not to unsettle the young man at the desk too much; we've had some problems, lately." Meaning Ky'd had to physically remove people from the premises. Just because Sol wouldn't answer didn't mean Ky couldn't continue on the subject.

[firesealed]

Maybe the problem was trying to have a conversation with Sol at all, or assuming just because they were sitting together there had to also be words exchanged. Or maybe it was Sol's fault for not having thought this through enough and having done anything at all to encourage Ky to stay once he'd joined him. Still, the kid needed to eat something more than what he'd ordered, and for them both eating out to be priority over talking. Ky didn't need to make conversation when he was sitting by himself, and Sol was even less inclined to it than the open air.

Which didn't appear to be making any real difference, Ky apparently finding it so important that they talk about something that he was willing to ignore the fact that Sol didn't have any interest in it. "I'll make sure to leave the severed head out back." A joke, certainly, and likely one that Ky wouldn't take very well, which was admittedly at least half of the point.

[juste_ou_mort]

It was too awkward to sit in silence, for one, and he really didn't need to eat anything more than he already had. Which just had this rolling back around to the quip about charity work. Really, that whole "flicking a forkful of food at Sol" idea earlier just kept coming back at this point. Not young enough to get away with it even if he wanted to do it, though.

At first, Ky met the statement with a wary expression, not entirely sure whether it was something to take seriously or not. After a moment of internal rationalization, he turned back to the food that'd been set in front of him. His expression turned to a flat sort of wry, and Ky spoke without facing Sol.

"I'm sure he'd appreciate that." Because despite what most people thought, sometimes Ky actually picked up on bad humour; all things considered, it's not something Sol'd announce if he meant it. "Though I should hope it's not a human bounty; severed heads are difficult to interrogate."

[firesealed]

Flicking food was such an immature thing to do, and it was certain that Sol wouldn't react in any way that Ky wanted him to. Might just laugh it off, certainly the idea didn't fit the image of Ky that the kid was so very careful to cultivate. So careful to live too, and certainly flicking food for the fun of it wouldn't occur to him.

Sol watched Ky's expression with a lazy sort of interest, bemused at least by seeing how he reacted. Better than expected, at least, and while Sol didn't bother with feeling amused or pleased he did note it with a certain level of satisfaction.

Not that it demanded any sort of response. He cracked a joke, Ky took it well, and there was still food to be eaten. Maybe Ky would be able to focus on that now that they'd had some sort of a conversation.

[juste_ou_mort]

Maybe the immaturity was the very reason Ky should pull something like that. He wouldn't expect much from Sol in terms of reaction; he'd just be presenting an entirely different manner of attack, and that would be good enough. Not to mention, five years of frustrations. But there was the matter of Ky's self-image... He'd had to be careful with that, forming it, do all he could to make sure people had seen him for what he did instead of his age. It was easier to feel at ease with your commanding officer than it was a teenager. He'd continued the upkeep on that as a matter of logic and course; just because he'd lost rank and taken up a civilian occupation (as civilian as the IPF really was) didn't mean he'd let his standards slip. Sol always could bring out the petulant child in him, though. He had rather a knack for it.

But yes, some level of exchange achieved, Ky felt that bizarre sort of awkward lift to some degree. In the Order, it had been easy to go without interacting with Sol in the same room, in the same camp. Now, it was strange. Frequency was probably what it boiled down to; frequency and the nature of it. Routine versus rarity. Ky ate in silence, occasionally just pushing food around. What was Sol's thing with feeding him, though? He couldn't quite get his head around it.

Actually, he could think of two others who kept trying to feed him... He'd end up too caught up in work to think about breaking for a meal or... three. Sometimes. It just didn't line up that Sol would do this for the same reason.

...More weight to the "flick food at him" argument. No. No, he was an adult. Maybe if this wasn't a public place...

[firesealed]

Sol'd make the point that no one really felt at ease with Ky either way, that the boy clearly wasn't even at ease with himself and that people tended to pick up on that sort of thing. He wasn't here to make points, though, and certainly not to point out to Ky that what he was doing was stupid. No amount of devotion to duty would change a kid from being a kid, even if he forced himself to stay serious and took on responsibility for what the world might become in the aftermath of what he'd already accomplished. If Sol brought out the child in Ky, that was just because Ky wasn't as mature as he wanted to be. Which wasn't even a little bit Sol's problem. Dressing up in adult clothes just made it more obvious how small children were, and not giving himself any time to live made it more obvious that Ky didn't know how to.

Sol decided just once to give Ky some food -- at least half as an attempt to cut off any attempts at conversation or questions that Sol wasn't in the mood to answer -- and Ky had to make a big deal out of it. Wasn't worth the bother for the future, certainly, so it was hardly a "thing" about feeding him. A one-off event. Certainly not worth making any parallels with anyone else who might be trying to feed Ky. Although the fact that he hadn't been the only one to try probably meant Ky should just do a better job of feeding himself.

As for the issue of this being a public place, well, Sol could fix that. Could fix the problem that Ky might ask him a question as well, since he was done with his food, and that meant leaving. Presumably leaving Ky behind, because the don't really have any business with each other. He swallowed the last of his beer, tossed some money down onto the table, and stood.

[juste_ou_mort]

Being told that, Ky'd probably find it comedic. To think that all his efforts were ever in vain, that no matter what he did, few would see past his age, would see past a mask constructed so carefully as to have forgotten what laid beneath it. He'd taken pains to hide his age so that he could be better received on the battlefield, because it was important to him that he would be. He couldn't lead with people doubting him at every turn, and he'd been sure that it had worked. And now? Now he'd come to be so at ease with who he'd been, defined by duty and responsibility, that it was all second-nature. It was nature, period. To have that stripped away from him would render him as he was before he joined the Order, lost and very much alone with little more than too-loud and too-vivid emotions to point him in any direction.

Was it really a surprise that Ky'd make some sort of deal out of being fed by someone he was (unfortunately) sure wanted little to nothing to do with him? And, well, it was really more of a sarcastic line of thought that happened to amuse him terribly than it was a particularly big deal. Amusement that Sol'd opt for that as his method of keeping Ky out of his hair (whether or not it made sense given location was really beside the point).

Sol could easily fix location and avoid any further questions, but there were other things that could interrupt those efforts as well. Like an unfortunately placed fork and subsequent series of movements that meant for one of Ky's earlier thoughts to be given better form than he'd really intended, considering that he'd just completely accidentally launched a bit of something right at Sol's face as he rose from his seat.

[firesealed]

Thankfully for everyone in the restaurant, the food hit Sol on the cheek, instead of getting blasted with flame in order to keep it from arriving. Sol made a snorting noise and reached up to scrape it off with the heel of his hand, then to lick off as much as he can get with a single go.

Ky got a flat, unimpressed look, then Sol went back to standing up.

"Got better things't'do than get tossed out 'cause'a food fight," he said, still fully intending to leaving. The attack of food was very immature, and not what he would have expected from the uptight little blond, but Ky was still a kid underneath all that posturing, even if he didn't realize it himself. If he wanted to throw a little food... there were some circumstances where Sol might've encouraged it, but not when it was being thrown at him.

Not when he himself wasn't twelve. (Kid should get himself some friends he could do a food fight with, but hell if Sol could even imagine that actually happening.)