[ With everything imaginable in the Towers, it's more like it's the only place to shop. Everything is self-contained, something he appreciates for its convenience, but there's also the crowd that he doesn't, and sometimes it's nice having to walk from place to place, take a detour through the shrines where it's quiet and he can be with his thoughts. ]
I've only gone in once or twice, actually. Wanted to go all the way to the top floor, see the city lights from the highest bridge at night. I think I was stuck in that elevator for half an hour while it climbed, and eventually I gave up and went back down.
The time you spent going back down could've been used completing your journey, you know.
[ ...but she won't give him too hard of a time, the Towers can get a little much even for someone as good with people and crowds as she is. The further into the area they encroach, the more she looks around; she lingers on the washing station and then the main shrine building, but turns back to him soon enough. ]
If you wouldn't mind being my teacher for the moment, Arisato... Both times I've been here, it's only been for a quick stop. [ In... a way. ] I'm sure there's a proper way to go about that, so...
It's a round trip journey. If I'd kept going, I'd have been stuck at the top by the time the building closes.
[ It isn't like Tartarus and it's instant portalling system from the floors down to the ground, not that he remembers anything significant about Tartarus or anything surrounding it yet. Instead, the shrines are his domain, something of a backyard or a playground when he was a child and even now he feels that sense of calm when walking through the grounds.
It's the feeling of being protected, of something watching over him. ]
Even if you do it wrong, as long as your intentions are there, I don't think the deities are that harsh. Copying me would be fine.
[ Instead of explaining things step by step, he just shows her what he does, taking two coins from one of the side pockets of his bag— one he hands to Elizabeth and the other he keeps for himself to drop into the offertory box. He bows twice in front of the box, brings his hands together quietly two times as well, and then stands there with his hands pressed together and the tips of his fingers almost touching his forehead. ]
[ She does just the same as him, carefully slipping the coin into the box and bowing twice, clapping twice—she closes her eyes as her fingertips brush her forehead, breathing softly. Elizabeth's never felt awkward doing anything, and mimicking a ritual like this is no exception.
No, it's actually... fairly calming, though she wonders if she should direct this to any particular god? The only one she's aware of is Yato... so him, she supposes. Hmmm. There's a certain reverence to this too, so when she speaks, she keeps her voice soft. ]
I've found the one I know to be rather kind... Strong and decisive and with quite a history of delinquency, but kind. A few of my friends are the same way as well. [ Elizabeth hangs with a crowd that's at least good at heart, and that's what matters? That's what matters. ] He's on the app, so perhaps you'll chance meeting him one day.
[ Eavesdropping comes as a second nature for Minato, who keeps quiet about his own conversation with people who aren't exactly gods. In his head, he speaks to his parents, briefly, and then turns inward to those other souls that share the vessel that is his body.
"I am █████. You and I are like two sides of the same coin... Remember that." "I am █████... I was born of thee, and I shall walk by thy side..." "Thou art I, and I am thou. From the sea of thy soul I cometh. I am █████..."
...He heaves a sigh, letting his hands drop to his sides. That wasn't helpful. One more dip of the head for completion and he sits back and waits for Elizabeth to finish. ]
[ Holidays such as New Year's maybe, there would be specific places to go and things to see or buy, but today is just any other day, a little break in between work and study where he can just be and pass time as he wishes. The sun will be his alarm clock, telling him when to go home. ]
Sometimes I walk... Sometimes I sit. Sometimes I find a high place and watch the sun set.
[ Sunsets over the sea... Except I don't know which coast Recollé is on, so it's sunsets over the rooftops of the city. ]
I see. [ It's just a nice place to be, hm. She thinks she can get that; she likes going to the university's practice rooms for the same reason, playing to her heart's content. It's strange how the simple act's become so important to her, but in a way, it's... a way she can still connect to her uncle.
...Elizabeth decides to stop by his house again this month and opens her mouth to reply, but slowly shuts it instead, lips pressing together; there's no mysterious presences that she can feel, unlike the way her other self apparently had been able to, and she wonders if that's because she's still human? And then there's the boy who Minato looks so much like, and the offertory box, and...
was that another million yen, she did mention the fountain spirits again— ]
Those all sound very relaxing, [ she continues softly, forcing herself out of her mind. She's not going to talk about this with him, and she's not going to think about it; she's already made her feelings on this very clear, and she'll refuse to acknowledge it until she's forced to. Even if Minako's already proven that she can be friends with someone outside of sharing similar memories... No, for Minako's sake, she'd really rather Minato not be involved. (If she thinks it's for her sake, she feels a little less guilty about how selfish she is.) ] There are... fortunes, correct? Do you ever get those when you come, or are those special occasion only?
[ That's what it is: a nice place to be, so precious little of those he has outside of his own bedroom. It's where he can be alone, but not feel it, where it's okay to be silent and still and simply be. He really does like this place, and comes more often than he'd like to admit. ]
There are fortunes, but I don't usually get them.
[ Because he comes here so often, they become meaningless if he could change his fortune from day to day with a slip of a paper. Maybe he was supposed to learn something from that, how one can always start anew at the beginning of each day, but instead he pulls one fortune on new year's day— "bad luck," last new year's— and weathers that for the entire year. ]
I think most people only go to the shrines for special occasions, so they get them then. Since they're already there. Since you're already here...
[ No one's stopping you from doing it if you want. ]
No, I'll simply save it for when I come back in a few weeks.
[ It'll be a very special occasion then. Maybe that gives it too much weight... well, it isn't as if she takes them very seriously. Fortunes are in the same vein as card readings, or horoscopes. ]
Sure. You're coming back for new year's? It'll be a lot different, then. More crowded.
[ A lot more crowded, with constant noise everywhere and the smell of food infusing the air, a certain level of energy enveloping the grounds and the people within it that's charged with celebration, a certain vigor that comes from "starting anew," as if waking up from a restful sleep to a new morning.
Minato's still on the fence about how he feels about it then, and will try to stick to the very early morning before too many people wake up and trickle in. ]
I suppose I should count myself lucky that I don't mind crowds...
[ ...unlike most of the people she knows. How does she keep ending up with groups like this—? Not that she minds, honestly. She likes the quiet too, after all. ]
I'm certain it'll be of a different make than the usual affair as well. [ She smiles a little, tilting her head slightly. ] They may all still be strangers, however... Perhaps the atmosphere won't be as stuffy as what I'm accustomed to on new year's.
[ It's lucky and he wishes he didn't mind the crowds as much. They're fine as long as he's off to the side watching? But not if he has to walk through it and the only way he can is with headphones over his ears and a hood pulled over his head. ]
New year's is... parties, usually, isn't it? Thought it'd be more wild and cheerful than stuffy.
My family's a little more [ pause, trying to think of a nice way to put this... ] formal than most, you could say. Our parties—socials—erred on the side of traditionally uptight.
At least until enough alcohol was imbibed, but even then, it wasn't particularly... "Wild and cheerful."
[ ......... ]
Most of my family is incredibly boring. [ SHE DID HER BEST AT THE NICENESS THING, yet unfortunately. ] The uncle I have here thankfully is a little more like myself though, so I'm sure any parties he'd hold would be far more fun than what I've experienced thus far.
With those endless dining room tables and everybody in suits and gowns? ...Were there chocobos?
[ They're part of the family too, right? Being birthday presents and all. He's probably erring on the side of royalty, but he has no basis for parties outside of movies, and the community social events he'd gone to when he was five or six. Those were decidedly not very interesting to him, and he'd contented himself with food and not speaking. ]
[ A beat. She's thinking... Were there chocobos. Horses. Chocohorses. ]
Not in attendance, no. Any and all riding animals were shown outside, rather than inside, should any be gifted. [ ...ahaha. ] There was quite a lot of business talk as well—it was quite dull. I'll never have a need for such a thing, so I used to simply nod and find somehow to excuse myself from the conversation. Eventually, I started taking books to socials, and after doing the required introductions and formalities and so on, so forth, I'd go outside and read until I was needed for this or that.
[ Not that she could do that on her birthday, but... ]
For the record, I've never gotten a horse or a chocobo or anything like that as a birthday gift. I did get a bird once, however. She was a little parakeet, and I named her Pollyanna... I wasn't allowed to keep her when I moved though.
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I've only gone in once or twice, actually. Wanted to go all the way to the top floor, see the city lights from the highest bridge at night. I think I was stuck in that elevator for half an hour while it climbed, and eventually I gave up and went back down.
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[ ...but she won't give him too hard of a time, the Towers can get a little much even for someone as good with people and crowds as she is. The further into the area they encroach, the more she looks around; she lingers on the washing station and then the main shrine building, but turns back to him soon enough. ]
If you wouldn't mind being my teacher for the moment, Arisato... Both times I've been here, it's only been for a quick stop. [ In... a way. ] I'm sure there's a proper way to go about that, so...
[ Be her senpai, or something. ]
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[ It isn't like Tartarus and it's instant portalling system from the floors down to the ground, not that he remembers anything significant about Tartarus or anything surrounding it yet. Instead, the shrines are his domain, something of a backyard or a playground when he was a child and even now he feels that sense of calm when walking through the grounds.
It's the feeling of being protected, of something watching over him. ]
Even if you do it wrong, as long as your intentions are there, I don't think the deities are that harsh. Copying me would be fine.
[ Instead of explaining things step by step, he just shows her what he does, taking two coins from one of the side pockets of his bag— one he hands to Elizabeth and the other he keeps for himself to drop into the offertory box. He bows twice in front of the box, brings his hands together quietly two times as well, and then stands there with his hands pressed together and the tips of his fingers almost touching his forehead. ]
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No, it's actually... fairly calming, though she wonders if she should direct this to any particular god? The only one she's aware of is Yato... so him, she supposes. Hmmm. There's a certain reverence to this too, so when she speaks, she keeps her voice soft. ]
I've found the one I know to be rather kind... Strong and decisive and with quite a history of delinquency, but kind. A few of my friends are the same way as well. [ Elizabeth hangs with a crowd that's at least good at heart, and that's what matters? That's what matters. ] He's on the app, so perhaps you'll chance meeting him one day.
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"I am █████. You and I are like two sides of the same coin... Remember that."
"I am █████... I was born of thee, and I shall walk by thy side..."
"Thou art I, and I am thou. From the sea of thy soul I cometh. I am █████..."
...He heaves a sigh, letting his hands drop to his sides. That wasn't helpful. One more dip of the head for completion and he sits back and waits for Elizabeth to finish. ]
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Maybe by the time she gets to go on New Year's she will, and she gives him a quick glance before she does the same and steps back. Well, well. ]
What next, Arisato?
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[ Holidays such as New Year's maybe, there would be specific places to go and things to see or buy, but today is just any other day, a little break in between work and study where he can just be and pass time as he wishes. The sun will be his alarm clock, telling him when to go home. ]
Sometimes I walk... Sometimes I sit. Sometimes I find a high place and watch the sun set.
[ Sunsets over the sea... Except I don't know which coast Recollé is on, so it's sunsets over the rooftops of the city. ]
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...Elizabeth decides to stop by his house again this month and opens her mouth to reply, but slowly shuts it instead, lips pressing together; there's no mysterious presences that she can feel, unlike the way her other self apparently had been able to, and she wonders if that's because she's still human? And then there's the boy who Minato looks so much like, and the offertory box, and...
was that another million yen, she did mention the fountain spirits again— ]
Those all sound very relaxing, [ she continues softly, forcing herself out of her mind. She's not going to talk about this with him, and she's not going to think about it; she's already made her feelings on this very clear, and she'll refuse to acknowledge it until she's forced to. Even if Minako's already proven that she can be friends with someone outside of sharing similar memories... No, for Minako's sake, she'd really rather Minato not be involved. (If she thinks it's for her sake, she feels a little less guilty about how selfish she is.) ] There are... fortunes, correct? Do you ever get those when you come, or are those special occasion only?
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There are fortunes, but I don't usually get them.
[ Because he comes here so often, they become meaningless if he could change his fortune from day to day with a slip of a paper. Maybe he was supposed to learn something from that, how one can always start anew at the beginning of each day, but instead he pulls one fortune on new year's day— "bad luck," last new year's— and weathers that for the entire year. ]
I think most people only go to the shrines for special occasions, so they get them then. Since they're already there. Since you're already here...
[ No one's stopping you from doing it if you want. ]
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No, I'll simply save it for when I come back in a few weeks.
[ It'll be a very special occasion then. Maybe that gives it too much weight... well, it isn't as if she takes them very seriously. Fortunes are in the same vein as card readings, or horoscopes. ]
Thank you for the offer though. [ really. ]
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[ A lot more crowded, with constant noise everywhere and the smell of food infusing the air, a certain level of energy enveloping the grounds and the people within it that's charged with celebration, a certain vigor that comes from "starting anew," as if waking up from a restful sleep to a new morning.
Minato's still on the fence about how he feels about it then, and will try to stick to the very early morning before too many people wake up and trickle in. ]
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[ ...unlike most of the people she knows. How does she keep ending up with groups like this—? Not that she minds, honestly. She likes the quiet too, after all. ]
I'm certain it'll be of a different make than the usual affair as well. [ She smiles a little, tilting her head slightly. ] They may all still be strangers, however... Perhaps the atmosphere won't be as stuffy as what I'm accustomed to on new year's.
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New year's is... parties, usually, isn't it? Thought it'd be more wild and cheerful than stuffy.
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At least until enough alcohol was imbibed, but even then, it wasn't particularly... "Wild and cheerful."
[ ......... ]
Most of my family is incredibly boring. [ SHE DID HER BEST AT THE NICENESS THING, yet unfortunately. ] The uncle I have here thankfully is a little more like myself though, so I'm sure any parties he'd hold would be far more fun than what I've experienced thus far.
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With those endless dining room tables and everybody in suits and gowns? ...Were there chocobos?
[ They're part of the family too, right? Being birthday presents and all. He's probably erring on the side of royalty, but he has no basis for parties outside of movies, and the community social events he'd gone to when he was five or six. Those were decidedly not very interesting to him, and he'd contented himself with food and not speaking. ]
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[ A beat. She's thinking... Were there chocobos. Horses. Chocohorses. ]
Not in attendance, no. Any and all riding animals were shown outside, rather than inside, should any be gifted. [ ...ahaha. ] There was quite a lot of business talk as well—it was quite dull. I'll never have a need for such a thing, so I used to simply nod and find somehow to excuse myself from the conversation. Eventually, I started taking books to socials, and after doing the required introductions and formalities and so on, so forth, I'd go outside and read until I was needed for this or that.
[ Not that she could do that on her birthday, but... ]
For the record, I've never gotten a horse or a chocobo or anything like that as a birthday gift. I did get a bird once, however. She was a little parakeet, and I named her Pollyanna... I wasn't allowed to keep her when I moved though.