(no subject)

[throughthelookingmax]

"Hey, looks like there's a town up ahead."

Reigen obviously saw it --- he was the one driving, so he saw just about everything. But Max wasn't sure that the others in the back had. She looked over the shoulder of her seat as she said it, making sure that her voice wasn't drowned out by the sound of the 80s citypop CD they acquired at the last town they ran into.

Max turned back around and squinted her eyes, trying her best to filter out the rays of blinding light that seemed to reflect off of everything.

"I think it might be near a beach, too," she said. "That looks like a seagull, right?" Max pointed at the figure of a bird flying overhead.

Comments

[throughthelookingmax]

Max raised an eyebrow. "What's up?"

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"Teenage love."

[throughthelookingmax]

"Wait." Max's eyes widened. "Doppio and Hitomi?"

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"Well...our cute Doppio got a little too excited about Lisa Lisa-sama getting up close and personal. I've never seen Hitomi-chan seethe before."

[throughthelookingmax]

"She was seething?"

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"I swear, he didn't even notice! ...Though, if he had, it definitely would have just made everything worse."

[throughthelookingmax]

"Wow. Well, that's awkward."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"You ever have to talk a kid through heartbreak?"

[throughthelookingmax]

"Well... college students." They were kind of kids.

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"Mob has this little crush, but it's not like he had the nerve to act on it." Reigen scratched the side of his head. "Maybe I'm not giving either of them enough credit here, but I'm worried. I didn't think the party could split so suddenly."

[throughthelookingmax]

"So you think Hitomi's going to act on it?"

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

"No clue. If this were Mob, I'd just tease him a bit and be done with it, but..." Reigen slurped at his tea nervously. "I just hate seeing her cry, you know? Maybe you wouldn't guess what with me being so sagely but I'm no good with that kind of thing."

[throughthelookingmax]

Max hummed to herself. "So what do you think we should do? I mean... Doppio's probably going to stay here."

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

“Probably…”

Reigen took another moment to think as he stared at the ounce of tea he had left. Then, movement caught his eye in the gardens below. Doppio was up around with Father Serra and Chid. Reigen couldn’t fully make out what they were saying but when Father Serra patted the lemon tree they were near, Doppio’s eyes seemed to light up with some kind of recognition.

Yeah. He looked happy.

[espresso_doppio]

“Oh!” Doppio waved up at Reigen and Max on the balcony. “Good morning! We’re going to visit the pastures. Would you like to come with?”

[throughthelookingmax]

Max looked over at Reigen with a slight tilt of her head and a slight smile to match it.

"What do you say, Captain?"

[mp_strikinglyblessed]

Reigen downed the rest of his tea and lowered the mug. “Why not? Ah, but have you asked Hitomi-chan too?”

[espresso_doppio]

“She was asleep when I last checked…” And he really didn’t want to disturb her carelessly after the night they had.

Still, he’d feel bad if she woke up and no one she knew was around.

“Hold on! I’ll go check again,” he called, running back inside to knock softly on her door.

[aoihitomi]

"Come in," Hitomi called out to the knocker.

[espresso_doppio]

“Hitomi,” Doppio began as he cracked the door open, suddenly hesitating before entering all the way. There was no good reason for it, especially since they bunked right next to each other up until now, but he was suddenly aware of being in a girl’s space. “Um. How did you sleep?”

[aoihitomi]

"I slept well." It was the truth. Hitomi latched her pendant around her neck. "What about you? I bet you slept soundly now that you're back at home."

[espresso_doppio]

“Oh.” He paused in that way that someone did when one didn’t want to tell the truth but they didn’t want to lie either. “I was a little restless but…there’ll be more time to sleep later.”

Another pause.

“We were gonna walk out to the pastures again. Chid wanted to see the goats. Did you wanna walk with us?”

[aoihitomi]

"Sure. Is... anyone else going?"

[espresso_doppio]

“Everyone except Signora Lisa Lisa. She left early this morning and said she’d be back tonight. I guess she’s been spending time at the nuraghe up on that hill outside of town. She said she does something called geomancy.”

Doppio absently touched his nose - he still couldn’t believe she had healed it in seconds.

“It’s…pretty cool. Even after seeing so many things on the road, the world is a lot bigger than I ever imagined…” Doppio trailed off, and he realized he was rambling. “A-anyway.”

[aoihitomi]

"It sounds like she's pretty impressive."