[It's more of seeing Dextera happy, so it's not a problem at all. Guren is quiet as he watches him, something in his chest warmed by the sight. He has nothing helpful to add, he thinks, and so he just settles where he is, content to watch him like this.
They're beautiful flowers, and it's been a long time since he's bothered with looking at flowers himself, with the state of the world as it is, but there's no need for someone like him to reach out and touch them, or smell them, or anything cute like that.
He hums, instead, like he gets it, his hands resting back in his own lap.]
[ how can he get it when he isn’t interacting with them at all? dextera won’t force him, though—it’s enough that he’s sitting here, that they’re together, and when he sits back again, he takes a deep breath of the crisp night air that guren dragged him out here to see.
leliel can wait a moment! dextera slides his hand in his jacket, seeking out the notebook that izuku gifted him. it’s been through a lot, and some of the pages are irreparably water damaged, but he can still write on other pieces.
he flips to something clean, and writes a message here even though his laptop is just inside. ]
[Oh! He has a notebook! That's nice and handy. Guren's a little curious how he can read it, though. Dextera can write in Japanese...?? Or, there's something more magic about this place. He's more inclined to believe the latter.]
I guess that makes sense, considering your world. I don't know if I've ever seen blue tulips before, either. [He's lived too weird of a life for this, anyway.] But I've seen tulips...
[So, it's not as much of a shock!] You've been taking care of plants in your free time, right? So you can take care of these just fine?
[ izuku gave it to him! he doesn’t realize yet that text has been restored to the town, but even if he did, he probably wouldn’t want to give up on this little notebook just yet. it was a gift from a friend, and he wants to treasure that.
he nods. ]
But I don’t know anything about plants. [ that bodes well! but then he’s pausing, thinking about how that comes across, and he adds something to make it look less threatening. ] I’ve been learning. It’ll be OK.
[ he hums a short, confident sound to himself, and his first thought after that is that he wants to show ryoji. it’s going to break his sweet little heart to find his friend is a statue! ]
[Just their... uses... Also, if he knew Ryoji was a statue, he'd be a lot more concerned. He nearly recommends him for the plant information himself, since he remembers him mentioning it, but it's better to let Dextera find a method however he wants, he thinks.]
But I don't think they're all that different from people. They might seem fragile at first, and there's a lot you have to remember, but they're harder to kill than you think, too. They can come back from a lot.
guren’s advice for plant care rings a little strange, but it sounds like something guren would say—and how can dextera complain about that? he smiles a little, at the warning for his chickens. the birds are pinned in, but maybe dextera can find a way to make a proper garden out of these tulips.
the house could use some more life. ]
...
[ the way he elects not to write anything at all is answer enough in its own way—he’ll take guren’s words to heart and tend to these flowers however he can, and that’s really all there is to do, isn’t there? he nods, tucking the notebook back into his coat, and rises.
that smile still in place, he extends his hand to help guren back to his feet as well. speaking of chickens...! ]
[There's a small smile of his own when he looks up to see Dextera smiling like that and offering his hand. Guren takes it, of course, pulling himself to his feet.]
Back to Leliel? [Their original task!! He could go for petting a chicken. He pulls his hand back after a lingering touch, turning to head back into the house with Dextera. Again, he'll wait and let Dex lead the way. He has no idea how to find a chicken in this house.]
[ dextera nods, beyond content with the idea of taking this evening to sit with guren and pet his chicken.
once they're in the house, dextera pauses to listen for the tell-tale sign of clucking or little chicken feets scratching along the floor, and it sounds like she's probably awake, just somewhere else in the house. he whistles, like a true farmer, and there is a flurry of excited chicken sounds as she scrambles from wherever she was to meet him in the front room.
[He was going to ask if he called for this chicken like a cat or a dog, and here's his answer! It's cute, somehow, and it almost seems impossible, but Dextera has managed it. He has a way with people, so it makes sense that he'd have a way with animals, he supposes.]
More than that, she listens. I can't even do that with my kid.
[ dextera has a variety of weird talents, all of which are certainly the result of unremembered but very boring years spend cooped up in a hospital bed. the chicken hops into his arms when he holds them out, but something guren has said is a little more pressing than his baby. ]
[Guren doesn't get it at first, and he has to replay his own words in his head before he understands. Oh. Right. He lifts one of his hands, the other at his hip, and waves it off in the air.]
Oh, no, he's not really my kid... I just took him in after rescuing him from a vampire city. He's a nuisance.
[ dextera is still holding the chicken in his arms, but his attention is focused entirely on guren—he doesn’t seem completely convinced, actually, that guren doesn’t have some paternal feelings for this child he’s mentioned.
if the emotions are there, does biological relation matter? he doesn’t know. he’s never thought about it, but he’s looking at guren like he needs more information than “he’s a nuisance.” ]
[Ah... That stare is so judging, it's making his composure crack. He rubs the back of his head now with the hand that had been waving everything off.]
...I've been raising him for four years. [What!!!] He was an orphan to start with, after all, so he had nowhere to go. Yuuichirou Hyakuya. He was with the vampires for four years as livestock, but all the other orphans were killed during a failed escape, as far as he knew, and only he got away. That's when I met him and took him in.
Now, I'm his superior. We're fighting together. Make sense? [Stop looking at him!! And his definite parental feelings...]
[ four years! that’s incredible, even if the origin story is a little tragic. it seems, however, that this yuuichirou is no longer an “orphan” under guren’s guidance and care—no matter how the military hierarchy may change the way they interact with each other.
dextera doesn’t say any of this, however, and he instead simply nods, content with that answer.
the look on his face suggests that he’s quite heartwarmed by guren’s explanation here, no matter how business-like guren tries to make it seem. it was kind of him, to take an orphan in. ]
[That expression is too much. Guren's own fades into something emptier at seeing it, and he flicks his eyes down to look at the chicken, instead.]
Don't think it's anything kind. I was only thinking about what could be of use to me.
[He'd known about Yuu long before then. He'd known he'd come out of that city, what he was, that he was a seraph of the end. That has him in a lot of trouble now, too. Yuu is in danger too often. Yuu continues to trust him, he saved him without a second thought— his heart was crushed, and he came back, just like that, even if Guren could only look on sadly and keep telling him that he needed to continue to use his power.
He can't ruin this nice little evening. He lifts a hand and runs it lightly over Leliel's feathers.]
[ dextera can understand that, too—guren doesn’t like to think of himself as kind, and it’s moments like this where dextera’s necessary silence is an asset, rather than a burden. he can’t say anything, and guren’s interpretations of his expressions and his wordlessness all say a lot more than dextera could get from questions.
hmm. another day, though. there are things dextera doesn’t want to talk about, either. he fluffs leliel in his arms, and the chicken clucks in surprise. ]
...
[ he looks up, since it seems like relaxing in dextera’s room seems like the nicest thing to do right now. there are blankets, and his laptop, and a chess board—and even if they do none of that, it feels more private than having this conversation in the front of the house.
leliel pecks at guren’s fingers, but it’s curiosity, rather than trying to injure him. ]
[The question was more to fill space than anything else. Of course they were going to Dextera's room. He blinks at him, holding out his hand flatter so Leliel can peck at him however she wants, and then walks with him that way with a hum.
He wonders, briefly, if the chicken ever sleeps next to Dextera, and decides that she must. The image is such a sweet one in his mind, he kind of wants to see it happen?? Thoughts like these are enough to make the rest fade to the background.]
[ when guren holds his hand flat, it becomes obvious that she’s looking for treats?! guren is offering her nothing, however, and if she looks a little fluffier than she did the last time guren was over here, then it’s totally not because dextera spoils this beautiful lady with all the snacks her chicken heart could ever desire.
when they reach his room, dextera sets her down, and she pecks her way over to the pile of blankets that has become her little nest. ]
...
[ dextera pulls his laptop away from her side, since it’ll be easier to talk if he’s got that rather than his hands or his notebook. ]
[ dextera quickly shakes his head anyway, when guren voices that she must be mad at him—! she just wants snacks. he’s learned that particular kind of stride, and the sounds she makes when she expects something.
but... maybe he should be letting her run around outside a little more. he’s just deeply affectionate. he regards her size as he opens up his laptop, automatically refreshing the forum. ]
[Guren is watching Dextera's face more than anything else, so once he refreshes the forum, Guren leans over to try to see what he's looking at.]
Something went up?
[He was thinking like, a person saying something interesting, but... it's that mysterious user with the quests instead, huh? He can read them from over Dextera's shoulder if he scoots a little closer, so he does.]
[ dextera moves, too, to offer guren a better angle on the laptop, even though he hasn’t looked at the quests entirely yet, either.
a jorogumo, some geese, a wish, a skill... there’s a kind of poem at the top, too, which dextera is silently gratified to see. it’s the wish that catches his attention, though, and he taps his finger to the screen and glances back at guren.
[It takes a few rereads of the same simple quest to understand, because he's surprised about it, honestly. Yeah, he came over here to help Dextera with his wish, pretty openly, but... seeing it in writing like that, with the word wish... It's almost sheepish, the way he scratches at the side of his face.]
You think that's how you got those tulips?
[He's less aware of how Dextera's smile had granted a wish for him, but that's just denial, it's fine.]
[ but why him? the quest wasn’t to have a wish granted. it was to fulfill someone else’s wish, and dextera doesn’t know what he could have done to earn those tulips when guren was the one who did the heavy lifting. ]
...
[ so it’s denial in his own way that leads to him shrugging, but it’s with less nonchalance than a shrug requires. it just gives away that he’s not really sure, but definitely flustered at the idea of having this put in writing. ]
[The longer he thinks about it, the more that sets it. He thinks back on it— these didn't go up too long ago at all, considering when he last looked. So, all it could have been was that conversation.
But Guren knows that Dextera helps him every day, and now he's thinking of all the ways he could have granted a simple wish, and that's getting to him. He looks away from the laptop, away from Dextera, and focuses on the chicken instead.]
Well... At least you got some nice flowers out of it.
[He has no idea what it was!! What a mystery!!! Don't look at him]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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They're beautiful flowers, and it's been a long time since he's bothered with looking at flowers himself, with the state of the world as it is, but there's no need for someone like him to reach out and touch them, or smell them, or anything cute like that.
He hums, instead, like he gets it, his hands resting back in his own lap.]
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leliel can wait a moment! dextera slides his hand in his jacket, seeking out the notebook that izuku gifted him. it’s been through a lot, and some of the pages are irreparably water damaged, but he can still write on other pieces.
he flips to something clean, and writes a message here even though his laptop is just inside. ]
It’s my first time.
[ ...seeing tulips, that is. ]
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I guess that makes sense, considering your world. I don't know if I've ever seen blue tulips before, either. [He's lived too weird of a life for this, anyway.] But I've seen tulips...
[So, it's not as much of a shock!] You've been taking care of plants in your free time, right? So you can take care of these just fine?
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he nods. ]
But I don’t know anything about plants. [ that bodes well! but then he’s pausing, thinking about how that comes across, and he adds something to make it look less threatening. ] I’ve been learning. It’ll be OK.
[ he hums a short, confident sound to himself, and his first thought after that is that he wants to show ryoji. it’s going to break his sweet little heart to find his friend is a statue! ]
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[Just their... uses... Also, if he knew Ryoji was a statue, he'd be a lot more concerned. He nearly recommends him for the plant information himself, since he remembers him mentioning it, but it's better to let Dextera find a method however he wants, he thinks.]
But I don't think they're all that different from people. They might seem fragile at first, and there's a lot you have to remember, but they're harder to kill than you think, too. They can come back from a lot.
Just don't let your chickens step all over them.
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guren’s advice for plant care rings a little strange, but it sounds like something guren would say—and how can dextera complain about that? he smiles a little, at the warning for his chickens. the birds are pinned in, but maybe dextera can find a way to make a proper garden out of these tulips.
the house could use some more life. ]
...
[ the way he elects not to write anything at all is answer enough in its own way—he’ll take guren’s words to heart and tend to these flowers however he can, and that’s really all there is to do, isn’t there? he nods, tucking the notebook back into his coat, and rises.
that smile still in place, he extends his hand to help guren back to his feet as well. speaking of chickens...! ]
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Back to Leliel? [Their original task!! He could go for petting a chicken. He pulls his hand back after a lingering touch, turning to head back into the house with Dextera. Again, he'll wait and let Dex lead the way. He has no idea how to find a chicken in this house.]
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once they're in the house, dextera pauses to listen for the tell-tale sign of clucking or little chicken feets scratching along the floor, and it sounds like she's probably awake, just somewhere else in the house. he whistles, like a true farmer, and there is a flurry of excited chicken sounds as she scrambles from wherever she was to meet him in the front room.
he seems extremely pleased with this result. ]
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[He was going to ask if he called for this chicken like a cat or a dog, and here's his answer! It's cute, somehow, and it almost seems impossible, but Dextera has managed it. He has a way with people, so it makes sense that he'd have a way with animals, he supposes.]
More than that, she listens. I can't even do that with my kid.
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—?
[ a kid?? guren is a father??? ]
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[Guren doesn't get it at first, and he has to replay his own words in his head before he understands. Oh. Right. He lifts one of his hands, the other at his hip, and waves it off in the air.]
Oh, no, he's not really my kid... I just took him in after rescuing him from a vampire city. He's a nuisance.
[Uh huh]
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if the emotions are there, does biological relation matter? he doesn’t know. he’s never thought about it, but he’s looking at guren like he needs more information than “he’s a nuisance.” ]
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...I've been raising him for four years. [What!!!] He was an orphan to start with, after all, so he had nowhere to go. Yuuichirou Hyakuya. He was with the vampires for four years as livestock, but all the other orphans were killed during a failed escape, as far as he knew, and only he got away. That's when I met him and took him in.
Now, I'm his superior. We're fighting together. Make sense? [Stop looking at him!! And his definite parental feelings...]
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dextera doesn’t say any of this, however, and he instead simply nods, content with that answer.
the look on his face suggests that he’s quite heartwarmed by guren’s explanation here, no matter how business-like guren tries to make it seem. it was kind of him, to take an orphan in. ]
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Don't think it's anything kind. I was only thinking about what could be of use to me.
[He'd known about Yuu long before then. He'd known he'd come out of that city, what he was, that he was a seraph of the end. That has him in a lot of trouble now, too. Yuu is in danger too often. Yuu continues to trust him, he saved him without a second thought— his heart was crushed, and he came back, just like that, even if Guren could only look on sadly and keep telling him that he needed to continue to use his power.
He can't ruin this nice little evening. He lifts a hand and runs it lightly over Leliel's feathers.]
...Anyway, where do you want to take her?
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hmm. another day, though. there are things dextera doesn’t want to talk about, either. he fluffs leliel in his arms, and the chicken clucks in surprise. ]
...
[ he looks up, since it seems like relaxing in dextera’s room seems like the nicest thing to do right now. there are blankets, and his laptop, and a chess board—and even if they do none of that, it feels more private than having this conversation in the front of the house.
leliel pecks at guren’s fingers, but it’s curiosity, rather than trying to injure him. ]
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He wonders, briefly, if the chicken ever sleeps next to Dextera, and decides that she must. The image is such a sweet one in his mind, he kind of wants to see it happen?? Thoughts like these are enough to make the rest fade to the background.]
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when they reach his room, dextera sets her down, and she pecks her way over to the pile of blankets that has become her little nest. ]
...
[ dextera pulls his laptop away from her side, since it’ll be easier to talk if he’s got that rather than his hands or his notebook. ]
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[Guren says it with clear amusement as he finds a spot to sit, himself.] You're going to make her fat if all you do is feed her.
[But it's a playful scolding, and he doubts a fat chicken would have such a bad life, anyway.]
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but... maybe he should be letting her run around outside a little more. he’s just deeply affectionate. he regards her size as he opens up his laptop, automatically refreshing the forum. ]
...
[ there are new quests. ]
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Something went up?
[He was thinking like, a person saying something interesting, but... it's that mysterious user with the quests instead, huh? He can read them from over Dextera's shoulder if he scoots a little closer, so he does.]
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a jorogumo, some geese, a wish, a skill... there’s a kind of poem at the top, too, which dextera is silently gratified to see. it’s the wish that catches his attention, though, and he taps his finger to the screen and glances back at guren.
was this...? ]
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[It takes a few rereads of the same simple quest to understand, because he's surprised about it, honestly. Yeah, he came over here to help Dextera with his wish, pretty openly, but... seeing it in writing like that, with the word wish... It's almost sheepish, the way he scratches at the side of his face.]
You think that's how you got those tulips?
[He's less aware of how Dextera's smile had granted a wish for him, but that's just denial, it's fine.]
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...
[ so it’s denial in his own way that leads to him shrugging, but it’s with less nonchalance than a shrug requires. it just gives away that he’s not really sure, but definitely flustered at the idea of having this put in writing. ]
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But Guren knows that Dextera helps him every day, and now he's thinking of all the ways he could have granted a simple wish, and that's getting to him. He looks away from the laptop, away from Dextera, and focuses on the chicken instead.]
Well... At least you got some nice flowers out of it.
[He has no idea what it was!! What a mystery!!! Don't look at him]
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