milliways_bar | (no subject)

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Mirai has close to her normal level of self-esteem and functionality back, enough of it to go down to the bar by herself. It's ultimately not much of a change from what she was doing in her room. She tucks herself in a secluded booth, buries herself in a blanket, and picks at a plate of nachos.

Bringing more nachos would be nice.

[ooc: Warning for discussion of suicidal ideation in the threads.]

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"Yeah, go for it," Tahno drawls. He rests his chin on the back of his wrists, holding his spoon between his fingers. "The bar will always be here for ya when ya get back, y'know?"

"I guess so. That... that is kind of good to know."

"Yeah," Tahno drawls, chipping away at his fried ice cream. He takes a bite, and closes his eyes. "Damn. This is sinfully good. Thanks for the rec."

He busies himself with the dish for a few moments. "But yeah, whaddya gotta do back in yer world? Get yer license still?"

"Yeah. Autor-senpai helped me study for it recently. He brought dinner, too. Like, dinner he made himself, all from scratch."

She ponders on that while taking another bite of ice cream.

"It wasn't unpleasant."

"Did he?" Tahno says neutrally, tapping his licked-clean spoon on his lips. "Kid works hard, doesn't he? Yeah, I'd keep him around if he fed me."

"You make it sound like he's a stray kitten or something, only the other way around with feeding."

Tahno snickers. "He is a stray kitten, followin' ya around," the boy says. Then his drawl takes on a more thoughtful tone. "Or maybe he thinks you're one, what with the whole makin' ya dinner and stuff. Does he often take in pets?"

"...there is a stray kitten from his world that he feeds sometimes. He even brought it here once."

Which is the easier thing to say.

"Seriously? I was just kiddin'," Tahno drawls, chuckling again as he scoops up some ice cream. "I'm pretty sure he sees ya as a person."

He does, doesn't he? Mirai cleans the bowl of her spoon as she considers that.

"He does a lot for me."

And even if she doesn't know why, she's not sure what it would be like if Autor decided to stop.

"Give 'em to me, I'll put 'em to work," Tahno teases lightly, with a smile. He finishes his ice cream, scraping the bowl with his spoon to get every last drop. "Nah, ya should keep 'em. He sounds like a good friend, even though he followed ya to yer room. That's like... Nah, man, who does that."

"I slammed the door in his face," she reminds him. "A-and he was worried I was going to hurt myself. And I did kind of give him reason to think that before."

She pushes some of the crispy bits around in her bowl.

"I was thinking about it back on Halloween. Why I was alive, how I felt like I shouldn't be. A-and Autor-senpai was there then."

Tahno watches her, all hints of teasing chased from his expression. He sets his spoon down gently, to avoid a clatter in the bowl.

"Yeah?" he says quietly. "And that was a good thing."

The way he says it invites her to argue if it wasn't, or confirm if it was; he's asking her to turn it over in her head.

Mirai sighs over her food.

"I don't know if I even know what's good or bad anymore."

Tahno cups his cheek in his hand, drumming his fingers on the bone. "Yeah, that's tough, man," he says sympathetically. "Ya don't have to think about it right now. But it might help to turn shi--stuff like this over in yer head once in a while. Ya can figure out what ya like, and then work on doin' those things--or not doin' the things ya don't like. Yeah?"

Tahno hopes he's not out of bounds giving this advice. He's been historically terrible at it in the past.

"I guess..."

Her ice cream done, she returns to pecking at her nacho.

"There's always my bonsai, I guess," she comments in regard to the things she likes.

Tahno leaves the nachos alone. He's probably had enough of those, and they look better fresh anyway.

"Yeah, there ya go," the boy drawls, stretching. "Do ya like our sparring sessions, or is that just somethin' ya have to get done?"

She shrugs and goes, "They are what they are. I-it's not unpleasant talking with you, though."

"Well, thanks," Tahno drawls, grinning. He rests his thumb on his cheekbone and his index finger on his top lip. "I like talkin' with you, too, little miss. And sparrin' with ya, too. Anytime you wanna do either, I'm good with it."

"Thanks, Tahno-san," she replies, mustering all the sincerity she can.

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