[... His eyes blinked open again when Saphir in turn splashed his temper over the table, which isn't surprising so much as it is a faintly unwelcome echo, but Subete takes it in stride (there's the rip, the cracks in this farce of a teatime slowly growing, and truly this table didn't deserve any of this and neither did Marona, for one). Or he simply lets the bird speak for them all until he spots Hikage's unnatural movements out of the corner of his eye and softly tips his head to the side, observing with his sight for once.
There are little mismatched bits and pieces of these interactions that he's fitting together -- the last time he'd seen this web of relationships had been through the spider's silk of miasma, a double layer even, so having it so loudly dragged into the daylight sure is something. He's not sure what he expected -- he's learned to budget for worst-case scenarios but even to him this is a little beyond a night or two of planning. People and words, you know.
What stands out to him with a razor sort of clarity even in the midst of the noise is the flaring red of Hikage's eye, and he knows better than to place himself within the range of its burn just now (even if he had the motivation to do so) but the intermingling of scarlet and honey takes him back just a little: maybe a couple of weeks, months, years to sake-tinged evenings or weighted stares exchanged across a much wider distance. Inappropriate, perhaps, but no facet of their relationship is particularly appropriate and in some ways he's accepted that along with who he is these days. And who they are.
Softly he hums into his drink, a thinking pause of his own -- he could feed the flames but all the same:]
Yes. I thought we were in danger of missing our connecting flight at that point, really, but I'm sure there will be plenty more to see.
[He keeps his turn of phrase careful this time, skirting the angry edge of that truth wielded like a blade even if he would have liked to polish it until it shone and look into everything reflected in its curve. Just a little indulgence, then, the slightest lilt of it for Hikage's ear alone.
He puts down his teacup and folds his hands, settling back again to let the conversation flow around him, barbed as it is.]
no subject
There are little mismatched bits and pieces of these interactions that he's fitting together -- the last time he'd seen this web of relationships had been through the spider's silk of miasma, a double layer even, so having it so loudly dragged into the daylight sure is something. He's not sure what he expected -- he's learned to budget for worst-case scenarios but even to him this is a little beyond a night or two of planning. People and words, you know.
What stands out to him with a razor sort of clarity even in the midst of the noise is the flaring red of Hikage's eye, and he knows better than to place himself within the range of its burn just now (even if he had the motivation to do so) but the intermingling of scarlet and honey takes him back just a little: maybe a couple of weeks, months, years to sake-tinged evenings or weighted stares exchanged across a much wider distance. Inappropriate, perhaps, but no facet of their relationship is particularly appropriate and in some ways he's accepted that along with who he is these days. And who they are.
Softly he hums into his drink, a thinking pause of his own -- he could feed the flames but all the same:]
Yes. I thought we were in danger of missing our connecting flight at that point, really, but I'm sure there will be plenty more to see.
[He keeps his turn of phrase careful this time, skirting the angry edge of that truth wielded like a blade even if he would have liked to polish it until it shone and look into everything reflected in its curve. Just a little indulgence, then, the slightest lilt of it for Hikage's ear alone.
He puts down his teacup and folds his hands, settling back again to let the conversation flow around him, barbed as it is.]