(no subject)

[imaginemeandyuu]

Who: Anyone
When: Day 49, Late afternoon/early evening
Where: Anywhere
What: Mingling

[This is a mingle! GO WILD.]

Comments

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[overclocking]

[A demon's senses are an amazing thing. It really just adds to the beauty of it.]

It's been amazingly well-protected, to make it this far in that condition.

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[devotedtothecore]

...if nothing else...

[ a glance at the battered metal hand at his side. ]

...of all the things that were taken away... this one, at least, was among those taken back.

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[overclocking]

May I ask about its origin? Aside from... what's obvious, just by looking.

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[devotedtothecore]

....

It was a letter.

Not that it isn't still.... I suppose.

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[overclocking]

...

A letter?

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[devotedtothecore]

[ hrf... smiles a bit. ]

She... used to send me drawings. Without a written word. Diagrams.... blueprints, with ideas for improvement to this mechanism, or that system... I used to send some of my own back at her. Other things, besides.

We never truly wrote. ...though I suppose our friends would have said that was the only way of writing we knew.

[ running a light finger down the bird's tail. ]

One month, this was what she sent.

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[overclocking]

[He peers down at it again, for a long moment... not daring to touch it, but still taking in all of its features, the perfect rhythm of the clockwork inside it]

... Easily worth more than countless words on paper.

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[devotedtothecore]

...beyond reading, at times.

[ he leans back against the wall, eyes closed. ]

Perhaps most times.

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[overclocking]

[He finally reaches a hand out to it, tentatively, like he's not sure he should]

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[devotedtothecore]

[ there's no reaction, no movement from him. ]

[ that might be an answer in itself. ]

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[overclocking]

[He noticeably hesitates just before his fingers brush a wing, checking for a reaction, before letting them slide across it carefully, feeling the steady thrum of the gears inside it]

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[devotedtothecore]

[ nothing but the smooth metal, almost warm to the touch, grooves in the lines and contours of feathers... and beneath, the regular ticking of parts a delicate heartbeat. A creature awake, but at rest even under the touch of larger hands.

he opens his eyes to look at him. ]

...it is not as fragile as it appears.

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[overclocking]

[He picks it up gently, cradling it in both hands]

It seems it's often the smallest things that have the most strength.

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[devotedtothecore]

And we turn to them more than we realize.

...

Before... "the happiness of those who care for you, as well as your own", you said.

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[overclocking]

[He closes his hands around it for a moment, just feeling the thrum of it]

Mm... a lesson that experience keeps teaching me, again and again.

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[devotedtothecore]

[ he watches Chrono's hands from where he sits. ]

...and one that applies, so long as one is not completely alone... is that not so?

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[overclocking]

[Shaking his head, opening his hands again, slowly]

No... Even when you're completely alone.

As long as you carry their memory with you, you owe them that.

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[devotedtothecore]

[ the bird remains there, still ticking on. ]

.....

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[overclocking]

[He holds it out for Chrys to take it back, pointedly]

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[devotedtothecore]

[ ....picks it up with his left hand, bringing it closer to himself and studying the underside. ]

...

It's been a long... long time.

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[overclocking]

[He lets his hands drop, bringing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them]

Longer than human minds are accustomed to even considering, I would imagine.

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[devotedtothecore]

...in honesty I could not even measure it. Even with machines of record... time we lost track of, in the years of the City.

[ turns his hand over to look at the knuckles, the skin drawn taut, smooth and devoid of age-mark. ]

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[overclocking]

Consider that, perhaps.

That you sit here immeasurable time later, alive, with the arm and the clock she built you, both still functioning.

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[devotedtothecore]

...

I suppose... there was never truly a question of what to do from now on.

Re: [Even later evening!!!]

[overclocking]

[He smiles a bit, softly]

Mm, no. But I wanted to be sure you had came to that conclusion.