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The Beach, Wednesday Morning

It was cold out, but Yeul had felt colder even here on the island and, either way, it did not bother her. She stepped carefully, but with the ease of long practice, as she meandered through the snow that hid the rocks on the beach and made it rather more treacherous than it was in the warmer months.

This beach reminded her of other beaches. One, in particular, though she chose not to dwell on it.

Instead, Yeul contented herself with watching the waves shift and move, and enjoying the wind that tugged and tangled her hair.

It was not a particularly nice day, all things considered.

Yeul enjoyed it anyway.

[Open, sure!]

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Jono didn't often go for walks along the beach like this, but some days, it seemed far more necessary than others. For example, if, say, he'd spent Monday cleaning up after what was apparently a sushi orgy in his living room, mixed with a healthy dose of murder...

His sinuses weren't what they used to be, and he still couldn't get the smell of three day old fish and wasabi out of his nose.

He wasn't surprised to see Yeul out as well, though. And as an added bonus, she hadn't had anything to do with the insanity of the weekend.

//Afternoon, luv. Nice day for watching the waves?//

Edited 2014-02-12 13:24 (UTC)

"Hello, Professor," she said cheerfully, turning to face him rather than the waves. "I could not say if it is a particularly nice day to do so, but I felt like it, so I suppose it might be."

Possibly. Maybe.

"And you? Is it a nice day for you to do the same?"

Someday, she would stop calling him that. 'Professor' was a bald man that Jono had waning respect for.

... Not that she could possibly know to, since he refused to correct her. British problems.

//There have been worse ways to spend a morning,// Jono replied with a shrug of his shoulders. //Little chilly out, but the cold is something I'm used to. And it gets me out of my apartment for a bit. Seemed like a good day to just... do nothing of note. It's not my day to tend the shop, and class this week is shaping up to be fairly straightforward.//

He stopped a stone's throw away and looked out at the water.

//Didn't want to be cooped up today, I suppose.//

[... He totally said 'morning' up there. Ssh.]

"Are you alright?" she wondered, clasping her hands in front of her. "I know that the weekend was apparently quite... interesting, for some number of people."

Not her though.

[Uh huh. Sure.]

//Well, I came down with an unfortunate case of 'dead,'// he noted, lifting his shoulders awkwardly. //But that's not even really the first time I can say that. Still bothers me a little on the other end of weekends like that one, though.//

When he got to trade in his amazing jaw and weirdly comparatively normal life for ... this. Again.

"There are worse things than death," she offered, smiling a bit more. "Though it is nice to see you recovered from it. I hope you are not unsettled for long."

Yeul was probably not the best one to talk to about impermanent death.

There were worse things than death. He knew that one better than most, himself. He nodded faintly.

//I'm feeling better than I was, at any rate. I'm used to things out of nowhere stepping in to beat around the status quo some.//

More understatement. Jono was good at that.

//And you? Have you been up to anything interesting lately?//

He'd learned since becoming Yeul's teacher that he had to be careful how he phrased general questions like that. 'How have you been,' for example, would inevitably net him the same answer it always did. Yeul was only ever 'fine.'

She always told the truth when he asked those general questions, though!

"I celebrated Sholeh and her sisters' birthday with her," Yeul said, after a moment of thinking about it. That had been weeks ago. It still qualified as 'lately', she thought. And it had been interesting, though perhaps not to a teacher. "And I upset a boy in class on Friday, though I did not mean to. I think trying to make it better only made it worse."

She didn't sound particularly concerned about it.

Huh. Jono hadn't been aware of the Tryad's birthday. He'd be sure to wish them a happy belated one if he ran into them any time soon.

//I can't actually picture you ever intending to,// he noted, thoughtfully. //Do you mind if I ask what upset him so badly?//

He suspected she wouldn't.

"I do not really understand it," she said, with a shrug, "but our activity in class was to fight one another and I said that I would let anyone win, because I… I do not fight. He, Joker, said that I should refuse to fight instead."

Yeul turned her gaze back to the waves. "I didn't understand why. If someone wishes to fight me and win without resistance, it does not bother me. That concerned him."

//Ah...// Jono nodded faintly. He could see how that would have anyone concerned, even with context. //It's not really human nature to roll over and let themselves get hurt. Not usually. And it worries people, thinking that there's somebody who will. Especially if they don't understand why it's being done.//

He could just imagine the thoughts that must have gone through that student's head.

//Would you like me to speak to him? I know it makes little difference in the long run, but I might be able to present it in a context that'll keep him from dwelling on it too much.//

"I suggested that he might wish to speak to you, if only to alleviate his concerns," Yeul said, tilting her head slightly. "I do not know, of course, if he will take my suggestion or if it would be better for you to initiate the conversation." She laughed softly. "But then, nothing I did understand seemed to make any sense to him, so I don't think I'm the best person to suggest anything, in this case. By the end of the conversation, he thought I was being abused, though I do not think so."

//No, Caius certainly wouldn't allow for that to happen,// Jono agreed. //I'll speak to him. He's in my class on Friday, too.//

Convenient!

Edited 2014-02-12 18:50 (UTC)

"Caius would not," Yeul said, nodding slightly. "And any pain before he finds me is inconsequential."

She glanced at him. "I hope you can settle his mind. For his sake."

//As do I. I'd hate to have him worried about something that's not actually the case in the first place,// Jono noted. //Mind if I sit?//

Again, he didn't suspect she would. They'd danced this dance before.

And would, no doubt, dance it again.

She smiled at him. "If you wish."

Jono nodded his thanks and took a seat, right there on the sand. He'd get gravel and snow on his leathers, but really, he'd dealt with far worse.

//Thank you.// He contented himself to watch the water for a minute before piping up, //In situations like your conversation with Joker, what do you suppose it was that kept him from understanding what you were saying, luv?//

"I do not know," Yeul said slowly, thinking about it. "I told the truth, if simplified."

She fell silent for a few seconds.

"Perhaps because pain does not matter to me," Yeul settled on. "Not the way it does to someone with less time."

Jono nodded thoughtfully at that.

//Your attitude towards pain and fear both are jarring for people who don't really know the reason behind it,// he agreed, fingers sifting through the sand for a smooth stone to turn over in his hand. //People with far less time generally don't develop that sort of attitude at all. They tend to assume the worst.//

In fact, it took a lot of trauma to build an attitude like that in the first place, no less to the extent that Yeul had built it.

She shrugged just a little.

"I did not know what to tell him," Yeul admitted. "It is true that people have hurt me. It is also true that people will hurt me in the future. I just... it does not matter. It passes. Caius finds me, always, and he never hurts me."

Edited 2014-02-13 02:58 (UTC)

//Pain passes,// Jono replied, nodding faintly. //And very few things in life are a constant. I can see being concerned about the pain that's happened and the pain to come...//

He furrowed his brow. It was a difficult situation, no doubt about it.

//But given Caius and his dedication to being by your side, it seems as though... as though a lot of the worst of it happens before he's found you, when you're too little to... do anything about it yourself, even if you were inclined to...//

Which didn't make him worry any less, himself, as he drew that connection.

Yeul smiled slightly.

"That is how it happens," she said agreeably, like they were talking about the weather. "But Caius always comes."

So the pain never lasted. It never bothered her anyway, but it never lasted.

//Does he come quickly...?//

Yes, he was well aware that 'quickly' was a fairly relative word, when you were talking to an immortal. But now it was bothering him that all that could be done was wait for Caius to find her, every time.

"Most times," Yeul said, after a long pause where she tried to figure it out. "There have only been a few times where I've died before he's found me."

That was absolutely not reassuring at all, Yeul.

Nooo, not even a little bit.

//... Well. It's reassuring that he finds you more often than not.//

He was going to cling to that.

"Yes."

Yeul turned to look at him soberly. "They are not bad people, the people I am born to every life," she said. "Just people. And most people find it hard to resist the urge to want to know the future. There is reason to their methods."

//There are very few reasons, I've found, to condone cruelty. Especially cruelty to a child,// Jonothon replied, brow furrowed. //While I can understand the draw to knowing one's future, I don't think I can share your attitude on that point, Yeul.//

"I would not say I condone it," she said, after a pause. "It just does not matter to me. It happens, it ends, Caius finds me."

Yeul shrugged slightly.

"Then I die and it begins again."

//Ad infinitum.// Jono nodded a little, staring out at the water. Now would have been a good time to sigh. //I'll admit that it's a trend that worries me. But I don't imagine I'd have any more luck finding a solution to it than Caius.//

And he was positive that it would have occurred to Caius to try, by now.

He'd mull on it anyway.

Liara had been out on an errand of some description - what about, she didn't quite remember, because she had gotten lost on the way back.

Yes, even now. Sometimes she was far too caught up in her own thoughts.

And now she had wandered-- Oh. "Yeul!"

"Oh, hello, Liara," Yeul said, smiling as she turned to look over at her friend. "It has been a while, has it not?"

Right? Yeul thought it had been, by the standards of those who counted time normally.

"It has been some time," Liara agreed warmly. She was asari; the passage of such time didn't phase her that much. But other species-- well.

She walked down the beach. "I am sorry. I have been distracted."

"There's no need for an apology," Yeul said cheerfully. "I was no better at looking for you. Perhaps we should call it even?"

She looked curious. "What have you been distracted by?"

"I... have a job. Selling books. My employer lets me read the merchandise from time to time."

She looked faintly embarrassed. "I may have also spent my first pay check largely on books."

"That sounds quite fine," Yeul said, grinning. "Congratulations, Liara. Are you enjoying your job?"

Or just the books?

"It is not as unpleasant as I feared," Liara said brightly. "We do not get a great deal of customers."

Which was a good thing, because Liara was not terribly fond of dealing with people.

"Is that a good thing?" Yeul wondered. "I would think that the owner would prefer more customers."

That was what shops did, right? Have customers?

"I know," Liara said. She reached up and rubbed the back of her neck. "But I am... not so comfortable with customer service.

Yeul smiled softly.

"Then it is alright to be happy that it is slow," Yeul said easily. "And perhaps you will grow more comfortable with practice."

That was usually how things worked.

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The Beach, Wednesday Morning

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