nysalogs | Captcha Strikes Again

[ Ah?

Hearing a voice he recognizes causes a quick shift in countenance, glancing up with curious surprise. Even making friends and people that would of course recognize him in town that wouldn't give him reason to bolt on sight... it's a little strange to him still to be recognized, especially performing. It's been a long time since he stayed in any one area long enough for that. ]

Slaine? [ Ah..

Slowly, he raises a hand in greeting with a sheepish quirk of a smile. (How does one who's doing nothing wrong look so caught somehow...?) ]

I didn't know you were there... [ hi ]

I didn't know you were a clown.

_{[Wait. That totally came out wrong, didn't it? Did it? Immediately it shows on Slaine's face as he raises a hand, seemingly trying to backtrack on what he just said, but not really managing to figure out what he could say instead. What a disaster.]}

I mean...I meant you juggle very well.

[ ...Slaine, were you..

... did you actually feel bad for calling someone painted up as a clown so? That actually—Allen chuckles a bit weakly at that. It's not an insult but should he feel insulted??? ]

I am one though..

[ Still, setting the top hat aside with a hum, he sits back on one of the larger balls he'd been balancing on before and kicks back, rocking back and forth and balanced as easily there as someone would in a chair. ]

My father was a traveling Pierrot. When I was very little I used to perform with him.

[ It's the easy, normal answer. ]

I see.

_{[There's something charming about the mental image Slaine suddenly gets, although he knows that what he's thinking of right now is probably not what reality was like for Allen in the slightest. Still, he can relate to the travelling with father part. That had been his entire childhood, after all.]}

You must've traveled a lot then.

Mn. All over, really.

[ Where they lived hand to mouth and barely got by, but... they're also some of Allen's most precious memories. Ones that can nearly consume him.

Still, he imagines that's not traveling to the extent that Slaine knows it, being someone who left an Earth he spoke fondly of to be on another planet entirely. Which admittedly... doesn't really register to Allen, other than it being somewhere Very Impossibly Far Away.

He takes a second to fish out a cloth however, so he might start to rub some of the paint off his face. It's a little weird even for someone like him to stay in costume when he's done performing... people will keep asking him about it. ]

But we never really stopped anywhere. [ which is because of a bit of a sad and unsettling reason why, so: ]

Did you travel much when you were back home, Slaine?

Edited 2017-09-27 03:21 (UTC)

...Before my father and I moved to Mars he had us traveling all over Earth, ever since I can remember.

_{[Some of his first memories are of travelling to different research sites by train, plane, boat and car. He shifts, weight back on his heels as he watches Allen wipe his face clean of paint. Honestly he's glad he's doing so. Clowns are...pretty creepy.]}

We never stayed in one place long enough for it to be "home" though.

[ Please never tell him you find clowns creepy. He'd be mildly crushed. Other than, well... once upon a time he basically told Mana the same... ]

Your father? [ That gets a slight blink from Allen, looking up from toweling his face clean. As that would ever be something to get his attention to prick, but especially given the way Slaine says it—

Did he speak fondly just now..? ]

What did he do?

...He was a researcher of an ancient technology called Aldnoah. His work was highly respected, even by those high up in Martian society. It was his passion and so he followed it wherever it might take him.

_{[And took Slaine along for the ride.]}

Even if that passion lead him to another planet

[ —huh.

His gaze flicks over to Slaine for a moment, in a manner that's quiet. Grey eyes sharply clear with a curious thoughtfulness.

It's different, speaking like that.. ]

[ But his chin dips and he smiles at that. ]

I don't think Mana ever knew where we were going. If he did... I don't think it mattered. [ heh..

It's reflective and bittersweet, but fondly so. ]

As long as he could make people happy it was okay wherever we went.

I wish I had known where I was going.

_{[More often than not Slaine found himself packing a suitcase without really knowing where his father's work was going to take them.]}

I've never really been one to like surprises.

[ Not liking surprises—somehow that's ironically unsurprising.. but it's not something Allen points out and is just why he falters for a second before smiling a bit weakly. Aheh...

Still. ]

You didn't like traveling with him?

I can't say I didn't like it...I got to travel the world and see incredible sights and eat all sorts of amazing things.

_{[Looking back on the experience he can say, without a doubt, traveling with his father had beat living cooped up under Martain rule. He can't remember what it's like, having freedom to that extent, even if his range of choices were dictated by the constraints of his father's research.]}

Ehhh? [ Did his tone, for one who defaults to a demurely polite manner so much of the time, noticeably brighten?

It did. ]

What was your favorite?

[ As to whether he means place or food... does it matter..? ]

My favourite food or?

_{[Better specify Allen.]}

[ Everyone knows what Allen's personal takeaway favorite would be.

But he'll amend that here. Aheh.. ]

Whatever your favorite part was. [ see he can too think about things beyond food. at least when concerning people not himself. ]

...Picnics.

_{[It's the first answer that comes to mind as he stares back at Allen, somewhat sheepishly.]}

[ —oh.

Whatever answer he was expecting—if he expected any—it wasn't that. And he blinks a little for it. Not for not being able to picture that as being how Slaine grew up—well, maybe it's a little surprising, so much about him seems so sad and bleak otherwise, but..

More that Allen's never been on one and it's like suddenly being reminded that is, yes, a thing people do. ]

Picnics?

With your father? [ That's actually...

...it's a really nice image. One he has to wonder what it must be like. ]

Yes.

_{[They're some of the fondest memories that Slaine still has. The times when his father made time for him and he'd have the man all to himself. His father may have been neglectful due to his dedication to his work but he never was cruel. No, true cruelty was what he endured on Mars.]}

[ Something about the way he says that..

Again, it's with a different expression than he usually has. ]

It sounds nice—

[ It's bright and guileless. Simple. Because he'll step around how that could also potentially be something sad to him to dwell on personally and just appreciate instead that it's something that makes Slaine smile like that. ]

Being able to spend time together like that.

It was nice.

_{[Was nice. There aren't very many memories he has that he can call 'nice'...but that meant maybe now he could make new ones.]}

I didn't get to spend much time with him, so doing things with him meant a lot to me.

[ The fact that's past tense isn't missed. Although speaking nostalgically like that—Allen presumes it to mean that ah... his father must be dead then? And not just asleep on the station. Even if that isn't the sort of thing Allen would ever pry about or draw attention to, however. Call it speaking from experience, perhaps.

That sort of thing is deeply personal. ]

I think I can understand what you mean.

[ Smiling, he teeters for a moment—balanced still on the ball he's using as a seat like he is—and looks upward. Something thoughtful — and perhaps a bit bittersweet. ]

Even when you only have a few years together with someone, they can be the most precious because of memories like that.

[ For saying such a heavy thing, he says it with surprising ease. Like it isn't actually a great sort of weight or sad at all. ]

Captcha Strikes Again

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1/2 i am trash, i'm so sorry. i had no brain for tags for so long ;;

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