getting_better

[If Shiho committed a murder, Minamoto would probably cry.

Besides at nine years old she definitely planned (along with two other nine year olds) to leave a bunch of people to die in a chemical fire in order to escape their terrible childhood, so...?]

Your mom's birthday. [He says it with a smile... but he also refers to her in past tense.]

Is she... back at your world?

[ The smile never fades even if she did put two and two together. ]

Yeah, in a manner of speaking.

[ He pauses as he thinks of a memory, a day when he and his father served her breakfast in bed. Her smiling and kissing him on the brow, then a flash of a grave on a hill in a cemetery, "Eric and Charlotte Mercer" were the names. ]

It's been a long time since I went and saw them though. How about you? What're your parents like?

[She hold tighter onto his arm and gives her comfort in the only way she knows how: by being there for him, listening quietly and being one more person here who would know of his mother.]

I'm sorry. [That it's been a long time since he's gone back to see them.

Her own parents though....]

[Her own parents weren't as normal or as domestic, really.]

My father is the chief of police and my mother is a housewife. [When she was five years old, they had given her to the government to raise because they were new parents, because for all that they'd prepared, they hadn't prepared to have a level 7 psychometer, because they were stressed and frazzled and knew the world might never be able to love her like they did. She knows because her father had been holding her hand tightly then and she'd seen guilt, relief, but also deep, deep love. And for that she could never blame them for making the choice they did.]

Papa is a tsundere dad who tries to act like he doesn't care but then he's also the first one worrying and trying to do nice things for me. And mama has a really, really sharp tongue and just goes and says anything she thinks.

[Both ways of coping with the fact that they'd given their daughter away and had come too close to losing her forever. Her father chooses to only let her see what was in his heart. And her mother chooses to never hold anything back, not her feelings, not her thoughts.]

...They try though.

It's okay.

[ His world isn't a happy place and his story wasn't unique or uncommon. But people found ways to cope and to carry on. He was no different in that sense, save that he's had a few more tragedies than the average person but Shiho's hold on his arm made things easier and to think about.

He lets out a small laugh at the mention of 'tsundere dad'. That's a term he hasn't heard in a while. ]

Parents are always trying. It's the best they can do. [ He pauses. ] But wow, the daughter of the police chief, that's pretty cool. Your dad must be impressive.

[ He wonders, if by some twist of fate he meets him, what's an appropriate gift for dating his daughter? One that isn't him in cuffs or behind bars. ]

[Shiho isn't sure where he heard tsundere dad the first time??

She raises an eyebrow at him, but can't help smile on hearing him laugh.]

It is the best they can do. [And Shiho appreciates that they try, that no matter what they believe in her.

Being close now though means that she can look up at him, cheek pillowed against his arm since they're still waiting to arrive.]

My dad can be intimidating-looking but he's a softie and he knows that I know what I'm doing. As long as you're polite, he'd like you too. And if he doesn't, I'll set him straight. Promise.

[Really though the one he actually should be trying to impress is Shiho's mother who is definitely the smarter, sharper one.]

Thanks for the assurance.

[ He's no stranger to sharp tongued individuals, but because she's Shiho's mother he'll be on his best behavior. The whir of the node reaches a crescendo and soon they're greeted by the scent of greenery and clean cool air. He guided out of the node and took a deep breath, relishing the scent as he feels little more peaceful. A part of him finds peace in the forest, he thinks it's the owl side of him. ]

I think it rained a bit, it smells really fresh here.

[ If he went soaring through the forest now he'd probably end up sleeping up on a branch for a few hours. His feathers might get a bit damp but that was never really a problem for him. ]

[Mrs. Sannomiya is definitely very... forthright with her thoughts but that also doesn't change the fact that she loved her daughter. And really, as long as she thought he'd take care of Shiho, she'd be there to support him too.

Shiho moves away slightly as they exit the node and she breathes in the clean, sweet air. There's definitely a touch of influence from his thoughts in hers too but she closes her eyes to relish in the scent, to see so very clearly in her mind's eye the image of him flying.

She opens her eyes and smiles at him.]

It does. We should come back here again sometime.

[Here she is, her date barely started and already planning another. That's a first for her too.]

[ Nothing wrong with that. He'd love to. He's thinking a picnic with sandwiches, maybe they could even make them together. A bit cliche but who cares?]

Sounds like a plan.

[ A very good plan. ]

It'd have to be in the morning though, since summer is almost here it might get too hot in the afternoon.

[Luckily for him, Shiho doesn't mind cliches, especially not if they result in sandwiches. And hey, she will even help this time instead of just grazing from the ingredients!]

Hm... mornings, huh...

[Shiho is not a morning person, at all. She's more of a 12pm kind of person.]

I'm not sure I could actually wake up for a morning picnic.

Not a morning person, huh? That's fine.

[ He thinks for a spot in the groves that's wide and covered with wide trees. He scours this place often so finding the right spot wasn't that hard. ]

We can go after lunch. I know a few nice quiet places around here for that.

[She blushes at that, for once maybe a little bit embarrassed over the fact that she'd downplayed it a bit. Shiho actually has to be piloted around by Kaoru using psychokinesis in the morning...

But he doesn't need to know that yet!!]

Or we could have a late lunch, too. That would be fun!

[ But he would love to see it. ]

That works too.

[ Good thing he's not unfamiliar with that type so it's not a big deal. Though the other people he knows that were bad with the morning weren't his girlfriend so, who knows. Speaking of, that blushing doesn't go unnoticed and he leans over. ]

Don't worry I'm sure you're still cute even then.

[Shiho's blush only intensifies when he leans in, but she keeps eye contact even if she's pouting at him.

Since when has he been so smooth?! (Since a while, she's noticed this but still.)]

Flirt.

[But she's smiling and hasn't quite noticed in order to stop herself from smiling.]

[ 'Only for you'. It's a strange thing. He's never really had that kind of way with words but he's listened and went on enough missions with Chev to maybe pick up a few things here and there. He never thought he'd actually be using those, even subconsciously. ]

Alright, it's your turn to ask.

[ While he ponders a drowsy looking Shiho and going 'd'aww' in his head. ]

[Shiho pouts at him some more, especially as he imagines her sleepy. Sure, she's cute when she's like that and Kaoru always tells her this but it's somehow much more embarrassing when Bishop thinks of these things.]

Hm... then... what is your favourite meal you've ever had? What is your favourite place to eat here?

[ Even her pouting is cute as heck, but he'll make it up to her later for poking a bit of fun at her. Or she could plot revenge, that's totally fair. ]

Favorite meal I ever had...apart from sukiyaki, the next one that's on par with that would be a kebab I had while I was on a mission in Turkey. Iskender kebab it was called.

[ A brief memory of the dish in question comes to mind, thinly sliced roasted lamb with bubbling sheep butter and yogurt. ]

A favorite place has been difficult to find. Nothing has particularly stood out for me, though I know some good places.

[ His standards might be too high or pallete too exotic. ]

[Or there could be both, she's not opposed to revenge and him making it up to her.

It's a good thing they're on their way to food already, otherwise she'd have regretted asking him these questions and making herself hungry. Iskender kebab sounds amazing...]

Now you're just making me hungry. [But she does like the idea of going to those places he'd liked, sharing experiences like that with him.]

Yeah, I guess I am!

[ This is why he eats a lot, he's always making himself hungry. ]

Actually, it was because I got to exeprience those things on missions - even if brief - that really elevated cooking from hobby to passion. There's a lot of things you can learn about a place and their people from their food.

[ A beat. ]

Also the food in the military sucked.

[ It was a very nutrition over flavor thing during his time. He might as well have eaten cardboard and flavorless gelo. ]

On missions, huh...

[She tightens her hold a little on him, not looking at him but up at the sky.]

We never really got to go out and eat on missions. It was more of a "get things done and then go back home" kind of thing. Unless we snuck out.

At BABEL, they fed us really well though. [It's a Michelin-starred chef, many different styles of cuisine type of situation at the BABEL canteen and all throughout her childhood she had gotten as many snacks as she had wanted.]

[ 'That's surprising'. ]

You were sent out on missions too?

[ He wanted to think that was wrong but, he was a a legal child soldier at sixteen years old so who was he to comment. ]

What kind of stuff did you do on missions, if you don't mind me asking?

[ 'Unless it's a very hush hush, if-I-tell-you-I'd-have-to-kill-you sort of deal'. ]

[It is an if-I-tell-you-I'd-have-to-kill-you sort of deal but no one's here to police Shiho and Kaoru certainly isn't going to tell her not to say anything.

Besides, Shiho has also defected right now and become a criminal so it's hardly her responsibility right now to keep the secrets of what is currently Gilliam's BABEL.]

I was. Ever since I was nine years old I've been sent out on missions. [And because she was so powerful it was never on normal missions, but only on ones in which many lives depended on them, or that were just downright too dangerous for anyone less powerful.]

We were usually called in to help out during national disasters, especially if the precog team predicted that there would be something happening. That was before though, now I'm pretty sure I'm an internationally wanted criminal or something.

Oh.

[ Neat, his new girlfriend is an international criminal too. ]

[ 'Wait, what?!' ]

You're an internationally wanted criminal too???

[ They've got more in common that he thought. ]

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