thenearshore | -Overflow- for 015

....You have pretty easy to fool friends, huh?

[It's not as if Shun is a great actor.... Wendy shuffles forward as the line moves on.]

How is that working for you anyway?

Sometimes. [Then again, he only classifies about three people under that banner right now - Ren he doubts is actually fooled, Nanako is six, and Fubuki is Fubuki, but also possibly less convinced than Shun would like him to be. None of them are interested in allowing him to pretend he's fine any other time, after all.] It's easier to fool someone if you're showing them what they want to see.

[Even if the only reason he wants to fool them is because he doesn't think worrying about him is a productive use of their time.]

If you mean understanding again, not as well as I'd like.

["Sometimes".... Well, that's better than all the time, at least. Stepping forward to the front of the line, she grins at the vendor and points out some of the takoyaki. Once that's accomplished and a box is getting ready, she hums thoughtfully.]

[Honestly, she agrees with the part about deception. It's part of how she ended up with such good terms on Hibiki: the god wanted someone cute to gush over her, and Wendy had been fine with playing the role for lack of trouble. However, best not to tell him that.]

But 'not as well' means there's still some stuff you get. What is it?

[That only gets a brief shrug.] Mostly just details. Remembering what certain things are for and why people are doing them, even if I don't understand it myself. Like wishes, or crossing the bridge, but those are about the most well-known traditions of this festival, so I'd have been surprised if I didn't pick back up on the logic quickly.

[If nothing else about them, because he certainly has no plans to actually cross the bridge tonight, even if he's been using it as a touchstone to center himself when the crowds get too overwhelming and he loses his place. The wishes are even more frivolous than that, but he could at least say something he planned to do anyway.]

Oh, that's a good one. We should go do that wish stuff.

[Congrats, Shun, your plans for the night have been decided. Accepting the box of takoyaki, Wendy begins to head off, and holds the box out to him.]

[Shun gives a somewhat noncommittal hum at that, while also taking the hint and picking one of the little sticked takoyaki out of the box.]

Just don't expect anything that frivolous out of me. There's no point wishing for something you can't work towards.

Then wish for something you affect. Obviously.

[Makes sense to her, after all.]

Anyway, sometimes it's not really about wanting something to happen. At least that's what I think.

[Shun can't really argue with the first point, since that's what he'd always been planning to do if he got dragged into wishing, but the second one gets a bit of a weird look out of him.]

What the hell else is the point of writing something you want to happen down on a piece of paper?

Sometimes you just have to get something out. You know, like.... [She waves a hand idly through the air, just buying time as if that might stir her brain into order.] Venting. Letting it out.

That's not how you vent something. [This seems to be a legitimate point of confusion for Shun, because the form of venting he's most familiar with is trying to beat the hell out of whatever good target happens to be in front of him.] What good does writing it down do to settle you?

You're able to explain all about why you're upset, and by the time you're done, all that energy on explaining has exhausted all the anger. Why- [Another pop in of the takoyaki as she looks at him.] How do you vent?

Beating something up, usually. Or someone, if there's anyone to blame for the problem. [There is absolutely no amount of shame anywhere in that statement, because Shun is clearly the poster child for healthy coping mechanisms.]

....And if you can't beat up anything?

It's not like I'm going to need to vent somewhere there's nothing to hit. [This is a guy who frequently punches doors when incensed and having nothing else to punch.]

...Do you get angry a lot?

[He's such a serious guy, it could really go either way, and she can't tell...]

Not as much recently. I lose sight of what's important when I get angry. [And losing sight of what's important tends to lead to him attempting to maim or kill people who might not necessarily deserve it.]

I can see that.... You seem like such a neutral guy that anything serious probably throws you off for a while.

[Here, have some more takoyaki.]

[He takes another takoyaki without comment, though it's a bit at odds with the graver expression that crosses him at her remark.]

I've learnt to keep a hold on most of my emotions, but it's only recently I stopped living in a constant state of anger. If I seem neutral, it's because I've been making a conscious effort to keep it that way.

[Nobody wins when he loses it like that, least of all him.]

So you're....

[She waves around one of the toothpicks around idly as she tries to find the appropriate word in her head.]

...recovering, I guess?

[Shun considers it as he eats the takoyaki. Not that he really needs to - she's more correct than she might realise in that description of it.] Basically. Nothing's done much to make it a challenge yet, but that's probably only a matter of time.

[They have an enemy who has little concern for collateral damage or lives lost in their attacks. That's not a good combination where Shun's anger is concerned.]

Well, maybe that means you'll learn how to relax again. I mean, not being angry all the time is the first step to that, right?

[It makes sense to her, anyway.]

Not necessarily. Just because I'm not angry anymore doesn't mean things like instinctive reactions or distance from this sort of thing are going to disappear.

[Easily or at all. At this point, Shun really isn't sure of how well attempting to recover is going to go, especially when he's fully aware he'll have to go back to the war whenever he leaves here.]

Yeah, but you could work on overcoming instinct and feeling distant. [Another shrug as they start to step further into the bamboo filled areas.] At least, if you want to.

I don't want to overcome my instincts that much. I'll still need them when I go back to my world. [It'd be a pretty pathetic excuse for a death to get caught out because he'd let his instincts get sloppy in the time he was away, whether or not that time actually passed in his world.]

So that's for sure what happens to people, huh?

[It's not something she's really pursued, just picked up a little from around.]

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