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[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

[espresso_doppio]

It had happened quickly - one goat became two, became three, became five. Doppio had pulled out a watermelon rind with quite a bit of flesh and he was being swarmed by a gaggle of goats eager to claim it for themselves.

"W-wait--help--!" He was helpless where he sat to the ruminant assault of fuzzy goat lips closing in from every side.

[aoihitomi]

"Doppio-kun!" Hitomi pushed back the goats as she practically swam through them in a desperate attempt to fend off the onslaught.

[espresso_doppio]

Father Serra whistled and jostled a wedge of watermelon with even more meat on it. The goats turned tail and rushed towards the fruit, leaving Doppio lying in a heap with barely a few rind fibers left in his fingers.

The sun was hot in the blue sky above. He could taste goat hair in his mouth.

'I think...this is the end...'

He cracked open his eyes as Hitomi's shadow fell over him. All he could manage was a weak laugh.

[aoihitomi]

Hitomi offered a hand to Doppio's free one. "Come on," she said. "If you want, I can walk you back so you can get cleaned up."

[espresso_doppio]

Right as Doppio took her hand, one of the straggling goats suddenly barreled into her from behind in its rush to get a delicious juicy morsel of watermelon. A rush of air left Doppio’s lungs in a wheeze as her body weight came tumbling right down onto him.

The world really wanted him on his back lately.

[aoihitomi]

The wind had been knocked out of Hitomi with the shove and it took her a long moment before she scrambled back to her feet, embarrassed.

[espresso_doppio]

When he realized what happened, his brain went into full panic mode. He practically flew to his feet with willpower alone to fret over her. “Oh—Oh no—are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

[aoihitomi]

"I'm fine," Hitomi said a little too quickly, dipping her head as she brushed her skirt off to hide her blush.

[espresso_doppio]

Doppio gently brushed the hay out of her hair, just wanting to feel helpful. “Um…do you wanna walk back together?”

[aoihitomi]

"Sure." Hitomi brushed her hair back behind her ear.

[throughthelookingmax]

"You two sure you're going to be okay? You both got waylaid."

[espresso_doppio]

“It was just a few goats. I’ve been through worse.”

“Oh, yes. There was that time when you were five. You tried to bless a newborn calf but its mother gave you a polite but firm rebuke.”

“Father!”

[throughthelookingmax]

Max fought to hold back her laughter, her cheeks puffing up as she choked it back behind closed lips.

"Were you trying to baptize it?"

[espresso_doppio]

“Oh no, nothing like that. But he had been excited for it to arrive, he somehow got his hands on my stole and cincture and went out to the field first thing in the morning. He was gently anointing with a stick for its health when I found him.”

“Hitomi, let’s walk back now.”

“I managed to get a picture right before the mother got impatient,” Father Serra laughed fondly.

“See you all soon.” Doppio took her by the hand to beat a retreat.

[aoihitomi]

"You and the father seem really close," Hitomi observed aloud once they were out of earshot. "Do you know if he knew your parents?"

[espresso_doppio]

"I don't think so." Doppio rubbed at the back of his neck as he soothed a bruise he felt forming there. "I guess...my mother just wasn't able to care for me."

[aoihitomi]

"Do you remember if he's ever told you anything about her?" Doppio seemed to be remembering more, but he didn't remember everything yet.

[espresso_doppio]

Doppio played with his bangs a little bashfully. "Well...he said I looked like her." He dropped his hand and laughed. "I guess that explains why I'm so good at passing for a girl, huh?"

[aoihitomi]

"I take after my grandma," Hitomi said. "She looked just like me except she had longer hair."

[espresso_doppio]

Doppio squinted at Hitomi as if trying to picture her with longer hair - it had grown since they met, by an inch or two. "If she looks like you...she must be beautiful."

[aoihitomi]

"She was," Hitomi said with a smile. "She's the one who gave me my pendant, too."

[espresso_doppio]

Doppio scooted his feet in the dirt a little as he walked. "Do you...think she'd like me?"

[aoihitomi]

"Grandma always liked my friends. She said it was because I had good taste in people."

[espresso_doppio]

"You do. And anyone who has halfway decent taste in people would be crazy not to like you, too." Doppio's voice grew more solid and certain. "Hitomi...I'm really glad we met."

[aoihitomi]

"I am too." As bad as everything was right now, if this hadn't happened, she probably would have never met Doppio.

"Can I tell you something? Ever since we met the pastor, I've started thinking... maybe I can find my family too. I couldn't find a way back home on Gaea, but there's so many places here that my home has to be, too."