.. immediately followed by Inigo falling silent, giving Jingyi a half-confused look. B-Bro, help remind him, what are these things called again?! It's new to all of them, apparently.
But he shakes his head, starting on the more important thing. Who cares what they're called! The more important thing, especially that could be relevant to Tidus here, is-- ]
( he has to take a moment below he stage whispers to inigo: )
Stop watches.
( because now he remembers! but more importantly, he grins at Tidus, mister time telling himself. )
We found them in one of the stores! They tell time, they tell what day it is even if that might not be as useful here, and they also measure time when you tell them to stop and go! Oh, and they're waterproof?
( he looks back to inigo for confirmation on that. what had the sign at the store said, self something something battery and water proof and blah blah good up to certain diving distances? he cannot recall, but thankfully, there's a terribly confusing diagram how to guide present within the box several times over!
they're also obviously branded with different bright image patterns on the face of them and say aquafir with a different cute swimming creature for each logo, but hey. that was literally everything there! )
[ Even if the name doesn't get to him right away, Tidus gets the general gist of the device now that Jingyi's explaining it, pressing one of the buttons on it, and seeing it click onto a digital screen. This is.. a few. And not what he was expecting, still be a bit struck by the gift.
He looks at Inigo. ] Do they work off the planet?
[ Did they know? Though, he doesn't think he's got one of the time-telling ones but a different one, reaching in for another kind of the devices, to fiddle with it a little. ]
[ He nods at Jingyi's explanation - even as the other seems to turn to him for confirmation. Yes, Inigo at least remembers that part.. something about the shopkeeper saying that people liked using them for races in the water park, so they were fine around water?
.. though Tidus's question apparently provides a bit more difficulty. ]
Well, we haven't tested them yet.. [ Obviously. ] But why would they suddenly stop working?
[ Not that he's saying that it's impossible.
But it's more.. well, questioning it himself. Because Inigo doesn't understand one bit about technology, he just couldn't resist getting these along with Jingyi to bring them to Tidus once he heard the c-word. ]
Correct me for not getting a whole lot about how we stop at random not planets that call themselves a resort, but I'm pretty sure even in the vastness of the Void, businesses still care about reputation. Most people visit, they sell things to take away. If they don't work off planet, wouldn't that earn them terrible word of mouth?
( he's asking as one complainer to another: tidus, do you think people wouldn't complain if things were limited to working only in resort? )
Anyway, the first person I talked to trying to figure these things out showed me some of the functions and told me it's a great souvenir, since it's practically functional forever.
( a pause. )
Then said something about a collectors set?
( again, he looks to inigo, as he thinks that was repeated again when they were both looking at these things. whatever it meant to have collected a set of stop watches. )
[ Tidus shakes his head, a short gesture, a small sound leaving his mouth. ] I don't know- we'll have to check it out and see how they work then, if they do or don't. I don't know a lot about the void.
[ Or how souvenirs from one planet to another work, when they don't each follow the same set time. And if they didn't follow the same one the train did, that was going to be a pain.
But it isn't that point that has Tidus unsure, after the fact. The gesture was cool, and it'd be fun if they did work without trouble, but- he's putting the stopwatch and the timer back into the box, one at a time; not wanting to interrupt when Jingyi seems to be in the middle of confirming something with Inigo, but with a slight dip between his brows. ]
[ Inigo faintly nods at Jingyi's words. He sure remembers those words being thrown around a lot too, even though neither of them had any idea what the guy meant.. ]
He really talked a lot about these things! I thought he'd never stop.
[ A lot! Just listen to this horrible fate they had to endure in order to get these.
But even though Inigo looks like he could say so much more about it, especially when reminiscing with Jingyi on that experience they shared, Inigo instead grows quiet as he looks at Tidus.
He thought the other would be more excited about this gift, yet instead it almost looks like Tidus is.. frowning? And Inigo has absolutely no idea why, though he's inclined to assume their present must somehow have missed the mark after all, even though Inigo had been so excited about how perfect it had been for Tidus. ]
( Jingyi ends up frowning too, though he looks from Tidus, to the box, to Inigo, then back to Tidus. )
We didn't hit some kind of culture thing, did we?
( you know, the things he keeps running into. maybe Tidus has an even more complicated form of gift giving on his world than the reciprocal acknowledgment ones Jingyi knows. his brow furrows a touch, and he pales, leaping to a very dumb conclusion, asked in confusion: )
We didn't propose on accident or something, did we?
( it's a part jest, part horrified say it isn't so. maybe time's too intimate a thing?!? or maybe Tidus has some other thought going through his head--Jingyi can't say, but even he has that same sense of something being Not Swell, and he'd frankly trust Inigo's perception of it before his own. )
[ He puts a hand on his waist, raising the other dismissively as he says- ]
No, it's not-
[ But he can't quite finish it, exhaling, a complicated sound out of his mouth and the expression left. Brow furrowed, mouth tugged to one side; he looks from Jingyi to Inigo, keeping longer on the former guy. ]
You said this is from the both of you, right? [ And his gaze returns to Jingyi, the question not directed at him. But as he goes on, he does become the focus. ]
Look, I need to ask what you meant what you said that night we hung out. About you saying I couldn't handle dating. Where did that come from?
[ Because it doesn't sit right, even now, and how can he accept anything from someone who says that about him, without knowing if he was muddled about what Jingyi meant, or not? Because it was difficult to know, the pair of them often unsure about what the other meant; usually, Jingyi the one who took his words too literally.
But here, Tidus wasn't sure if he'd misinterpret Jingyi. Wasn't sure of it back then, but it'd rub him wrong to put in a bad mood, with how confusing the subject of his love life was to come up at all. ]
[ If the situation were any less serious - or perhaps any less worrisome - Inigo definitely would have nudged Jingyi for that latter remark. Dude, not everything is a love confession! .. Probably!
But no, Inigo's attention is way too much taken up by the look on Tidus's face, and then the words the other speaks.
.. especially the words. It makes Inigo glance from Tidus to Jingyi and back, looking increasingly unsure. W-Wait, Jingyi and Tidus talked.. about dating? Sweet Naga, Jingyi didn't mention anything about him, right? Please let him not have.
Inigo can feel himself starting to sweat, but he's sure to keep carefully quiet for a moment. ]
( Jingyi does not look at Inigo, because no, bro, come on, even if he's not subtle, he has not once namedropped anyone else's business. He didn't even name Dennis to Wen Sizhui, okay? He keeps shit on lockdown.
But he's now trying to parse a few things.
One, Tidus having an issue with this coming from both of them.
Two, that issue has him worried over what Jingyi meant about him not being able to handle dating.
Three, if that's coming up right now is this perhaps not proposing but propositioning... for dating???
Four, he knows??? On some level??? He's dating Inigo??? Physically???
His head's filled with arrows pointing in disparate directions, and he's not less pale, but he does answer, because of course he does. )
I thought you didn't want my opinions. ( He doesn't make that biting, he's too pale to manage it, just outright confused. Which, well, Tidus had said something to that effect. But he's being asked, so he says: ) It was talking with you. I felt like you weren't in a place to allow that you can love people here and still love Yuna, too. That you can work on getting back to her and still, you know, be here with the people here fully. Heart and body, mind and soul, um.
( Oh Heavens he's rambling, and his tail's gone so still it's hit the floor with a dull thud. WHEN DID GIFTING TIME BECOME A LOVE CONNECTION other than the fact Tidus lives on nothing but borrowed time, and he does get that. He can't pretend he's in that situation. He can't pretend he's in Inigo's situation. There's nothing unique or different or complicated about his personal situation, outside of the worries anyone not seeing him back home would have, and the distress he's causing his best friend, and by proxy, his best friend's fathers, and his sect leader.
He doesn't have a lover he's worrying; he doesn't have siblings he's worrying; he doesn't have parents he's worrying. Lan Jingyi, here or gone, is missed, but not irreplaceable. Not a guardian, not saving an ending world, not helping end the world he grew up in, just doing work keeping normal people from being swallowed alive by nightmares.
And he does have inherent self worth. He's alive, he's capable, and he doesn't give up.
... Which has nothing much to do with what's on hand, only background mechanics for how he weighs things, and the respect he gives all of them. Because that much is true: he respects Tidus, and he respects Inigo, and he thinks their way at going at love is a bit sideways, but, uh. He can respect that too, for all he doesn't personally relate. )
I don't know Yuna? All I can know is what I know. Just to me, being able to tell her I love you and I also love them doesn't lessen either side of it, or mean you're giving up on her. She's no less important to you for finding you can love people here, too.
( h e l p
he's looking lost and a little grumpy because of it. if he had moveable ears in this form, they'd be angled back, flat against his skull. he doesn't see a problem with not being able to handle dating? hasn't he pointed out that he couldn't, in the casual sense? it's totally fine to not be in that space? he might personally never bed anyone if he were tied up emotionally elsewhere, but Inigo and Tidus are adults, they can get up to whatever they want? )
Wouldn't being able to handle dating mean being willing to accept that? In your heart and stuff? That you don't have to give her up to allow people in? It wasn't about being female or male or something else, since you already said you're not against guys or anything. It's where your heart's at.
( gender's a lot less of a concern for him, so he just. outright means physical sex. then, a pause. )
Do you think I don't like you for that? If I didn't like you, I wouldn't have thought about any of this, and Inigo wouldn't have either. It's not like we expect anything from you except what you're ready and willing to give.
( H E L P isn't this common logic for how friends work, where has it betrayed him so? he's exactly two seconds away from offering a formal apology, so. there's that! he had no idea gift giving was explosive territory!
anyway he's 100% sure Tidus gets he's saying "dude we're your friends and anything else you're giving anyone is your business and we're not demanding otherwise" )
[ Tidus groans, a sound through gritted teeth, and he rubs the side of his face by his temple before letting the hand run through his hair. ]
This is why I'm asking! [ Why he needs to ask before accepting anything, when it has nothing to do with like, then it does respect. ] When you started asking me questions about my love life, I thought this had to do with you wanting more perspectives. Then you were giving me that advice about loving multiple people, and it was confusing! Why would you suddenly be so interested in seeing me get with someone? How am I supposed to know how to take it? And when you said I couldn't handle it - it sounded like a dig!
[ He gestures a hand at the package, the box. ] Why do you think I said I didn't want your opinion and left? And now you're coming with a gift? If you were judging me, then yeah, I was gonna tell you to shove it, even if you did still like me!
[ Because he isn't going to accept a gift under those circumstances. Screw that! ]
[ It kind of feels like he fell straight into the middle of a lovers' quarrel.. Except Inigo knows that's definitely not what this is, it just has the air of one.
No, he can tell what this is otherwise. Jingyi must have talked to Tidus about the issues Inigo was telling him about, considering how he's so specifically asking about Yuna and the ability to love someone besides her. Please, Jingyi, did Inigo not warn you about this? You think he doesn't know just how head over heels Tidus is for Yuna at this point?! There's a reason he keeps all this crap to himself!
But Inigo feels just a little too responsible for this to just walk off, or awkwardly (emphasis on awkwardly, very awkwardly) stand off to the sides. It's not like he really put Jingyi up to this, but the other sure still got the idea from him, so.. ]
Okay, okay. [ Inigo speaks up, putting up his hands in what he hopes is a peacekeeping gesture. Because he can feel Tidus's irritation meter rise, and he can also tell why. ] J-Just.. hang on for a moment, you two. Alright?
[ BEFORE THIS RAPIDLY ESCALATES.. ]
I, uh.. am not completely sure what happened.. [ A half-lie, but he is pretending to not somehow have been the accidental instigator here, okay! ] But from what it all sounds like to me, it sounds like Jingyi had good intentions in saying what he did to Tidus, but that the way he said it came across as insulting.
[ He glances between the two, maybe even lingering on Jingyi for a moment because.. dude. DUDE!! DUDE WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS, WHY ARE YOU DOING IT LIKE THIS.. ]
( He wasn't trying, Inigo! Jingyi was giving Tidus a faintly puzzled frown, that goes to faintly grumpy all over again, to a long sigh before Inigo's trying to mediate a situation that hadn't even existed to one of the two here. Though now he can at least get what was going on better than that day, where none of this had been a thought in his head, simply because he knew what he was asking about.
He does close the top of the box lid, since he doesn't want to keep holding it out like he is for the time being. )
Inigo, it's fine.
( He smiles at Inigo, specifically...... and hands the box over to him. He cups his hands as the smile fades, and bows to Tidus, nothing deep, but something fitting a peer held in decent standing. It isn't sarcastic, though for a whole five seconds he contemplated making it so out of a petty urge that mostly comes out of being grumpy at being taken as anything like sly in his disapproval. )
Tidus, I apologise. I didn't intend insult. Trust me, if I were judging you for anything, you wouldn't have to wonder. I don't hold back.
( He rises, and claps his hands, like this settles??? Something??? Definitely not smiling, but he's not scowling or even frowning, just settling into neutral lines. )
I'll remember next time that gifting culture is different for you than for me.
( do not ever, he tells himself, practise apology gifts on this guy if one's ever needed, it'll only go p o o r l y )
[ It's not comfortable, from the bow to the way the issue seems to be swept aside. It sounded like you were being plain about it, he wants to say, but Jingyi moves onto the gift, and the already held pull of his brow dips further as he glances from Jingyi to the box. ]
What does gifting have to do with this?
[ And he looks to Inigo then, unsure - when the guy sounds confused and out of place in this (and Tidus does make something of a sympathetic slant to his expression, an apology to be bringing this up in front of him). ]
[ And then Inigo is suddenly standing there, holding the box.
And feeling awkward. That too. Especially since his confusion and awkwardness only grows as he looks between the other two. Gifting culture.. Wait, did that mean Jingyi also just wanted to give this to Tidus as an apology of sorts, not just because it happened to be the perfect thing to come across for Tidus?
Inigo opens and closes his mouth a few times, thinking of stuff to say, only to think better of it a moment later and not say anything at all.
It's probably better to just let Jingyi answer that question first, rather than muddying the waters further, and he might be sinking away behind the box a little here. At least he's got you, box full of stopwatches.. At least he's got you. ]
I don't know, but you didn't come talk to me before, and you're bringing it up now. So it feels like there're connotations about giving gifts for you that don't exist for me.
'Cause other stuff came up, and I didn't have a reason to bring it up right away - I didn't think you and Inigo were gonna show up like this.
[ Because really, these sorts of things don't happen often. He waves a hand, the other rested on his waist. ]
That's why I'm clearing it up now, to be sure. I won't accept a gift from someone who I think's got an idea about me I don't like, even if...
[ He looks over to Inigo, and he does feel bad, rambling off like this. Shaking his head. ] Sorry, I know this is the last thing you expected. We just had a misunderstanding, that's all. [ There's a pause, and he admits: ] Jingyi was talking to me about dating, and I thought he got the idea I shouldn't be dating 'cause I said I didn't want to. He was telling me stuff, and...
[ ...which sounds dumb, especially since he doesn't really want to share what Jingyi said in their private conversation, even if there wasn't anything personal on his end. Tidus rubs at the back of his neck. ]
It's dumb. [ Again he waves a hand, this time to dismiss it. ] Anyway... if it wasn't the case, then we're cool.
[ Inigo opens his mouth to say that surely Jingyi didn't mean it that way--
But then he thinks of just how direct Jingyi can be with his opinions, never really smoothing things over a whole lot, and he quickly makes sure to not say that, just in case the other decides to make himself clear and this escalates after all.
He's really hoping it doesn't. ]
It's.. fine!
[ Thank Naga that Inigo can blame any awkwardness in his voice on the fact that he's having to witness all of this, and not at the confirmation of what he already knew deep down - that Tidus doesn't want to date. That he needs to keep shoving his feelings as far down and out of sight as possible.
There's some seriously impressive not crying going on here. It'll come later, in private. For now Inigo just awkwardly shifts the box a little in his arms. ]
( He's not exactly cool, he's pretty lukewarm, but at least he pings to it being slang, and the intent paired to action. His brow's still furrowed a touch, but he takes Tidus's hand and steps forward, bringing their arms up to chest level between them to do the logical thing: step into the hug? Arm to arm, chest to chest, free arm coming around to thump against Tidus's back. Not a sweet sort of embrace, but a bracing one, specifically for comradery rather than support. )
On that, yeah.
( Cool on that, because that, that's true. Figuring out miscommunications was important, since their existence was inevitable. Frustrating, but inevitable. (Cool being one more potential if he hadn't the context to make it make sense.)
He steps back, letting go of Tidus's hand. His tail runs counterpoint to how he turns on the ball of his foot, reaching for the box from Inigo, nodding his head to him; he's not smiling, and he won't be, but he's not scowling, so that's an improvement over the confusion and everything else. If he wins the box free, he turns to place it against Tidus's chest instead, until the guy takes hold. )
Gonna leave these with you for now, still have to borrow Inigo for a while today. You're the techiest out of us all, you'll figure them out faster than we can.
( He nods his head to Tidus, not unfriendly in gesture, but not easy. Like there's some other tension under his skin, and it's mostly the kind he shoves to the side because:
I just don't want you guys to fight, you know..?
Damn the mediators of the world. Sometimes arguing is the only way to get things resolved, but other times? People've already left open things which should not be said in public in his mind, and so Jingyi is attempting to loop an arm through Inigo's to bodily whisk him away to the yet unspecified borrowed purpose. Apologies, for one, because Tidus's callousness is something owed to Jingyi, and not Tidus alone. )
Hey-- Hey guys. Are things okay now? Inigo would just like to know?! The semi-hug seems to indicate that everything is okay, but at the same time it's not exactly like the other two look happy.. So what's going on here.
It leaves Inigo just looking very unsure as he glances between the other two, and perhaps even moreso when there's suddenly an arm hooked in his own - which isn't that bad - and he's starting to get dragged away - a lot weirder?! - to an unknown destination. ]
W-Wait, why do you have to borrow me?
[ Judging by his tone, you'd imagine he was being kidnapped or something. Rather than just taken along by a friend. HE'S JUST CONFUSED, OKAY.
Yet he's still moving along with Jingyi all the same, casting a confused and flustered gaze back at Tidus. ]
( Jingyi doesn't have the finesse to fake being fine with someone he's not mostly fine with, and what bothers him isn't about himself, though it relies on his understandings of the world. Ergo: quick exit, and given Jingyi has no mysterious abilities to go plunging into the Void from the between-carriages spaces (nor the inclination), Inigo is, at some point, inevitably re-released to find his way back on the tides of his own inclinations.
Jingyi does only aim to take them a carriage away, having not answered the why and wearing his resting neutral to bitch face, brow a touch furrowed, but nothing about his body language angry. Not even his tail, past its initial twitch to shed lingering whatevers.
At least he doesn't keep bodily dragging Inigo onward once they're that far away. All he does do is (gently) disengage their arms, to sweep to a step away and a bow (is this getting familiar yet) of apology. )
This one apologises for his role in exposing you to unwarranted and uninvited injury.
[ Technically this should be nothing he's unused to. Even if Inigo's life didn't quite go as planned, he is still a prince, the son of the Exalt. This is how the servants would probably be treating him back home, if the world hadn't been destroyed.
And yet Inigo still feels fluster when he witnessed it. Jingyi stepping away from him, bowing, speaking those words.. It doesn't feel right, especially coming from a friend, when it's all this formal.
So he shakes his head, though he can feel his cheeks growing pink as he puts a hand on Jingyi's shoulder, as if to try and get the other guy to stand back up. ]
H-- Hey, it's fine!
[ I-IT'S FINE, IT'S COOL, DUDE, PLEASE DON'T GIVE HIM THIS FORMAL APOLOGY... ]
I mean, I.. do suppose there are some awkward things.. [ Like Tidus having gotten hurt - apparently - in the middle of Jingyi's questioning, and Inigo having to hear Tidus say he doesn't want to date so blatantly, right in front of Inigo's salad heart. But nothing about it feels like Inigo of all people should get an apology. ] But I also know you were asking him about that stuff--
[ He pauses, nervously glancing over at the door, as if he's worried Tidus would follow them and overhear this, but of course he doesn't. ]
( For Jingyi, all of this is appropriate politeness to a peer: deeper he could go, but it would show a different dissonance, and formality in apology is sincerity, is earnestness, from a Lan. To do less would be to give no face, and to lessen the importance of it all.
Endless cultural headbutting. He straightens, regardless, lips twitching into a frown. )
Yours and mine. ( Because if he didn't want to know himself, he wouldn't have asked. ) And—I mean it, even if I don't think he really believes it, I didn't intend offense. But you didn't deserve that, Inigo, and if I'd known there was an issue, I wouldn't have brought you along to be given no face like this.
( He means it metaphorically, but the concept of 'face' is one he hasn't explained, hasn't known to or tried, and it doesn't quite translate to 'pride.' More complex, and so face becomes a literalism, in its way. )
Tidus isn't trying to actively hurt you, but I set him up to do it, and I'm sorry. I...
( have no idea what to do about it since there's such a massive divide he's only partly aware of why is it so hard to understand what anyone's doing or thinking? )
Is there anything I can do? ( really, including "please shut up already" but asking is invitation. )
[ Inigo's voice is softer now. Less frantic, and more.. well, pretty much just resigned, even though there's a slight smile on his face as he says it. He's also given up on trying to understand of these cultural nuances that Jingyi is using - face?! - in order to try and focus on the bigger picture. ]
It's not like I didn't already know that this is the way things are, right? [ Even if Tidus just had to say it so clearly right in front of his salad - but it's not like it's the first time Tidus has said something that was actively hurtful towards Inigo's heart out of sheer ignorance.
And Inigo knows it won't be the last. ]
There's nothing anyone can do about that. I just have to take what I can get.
[ As desperate as that sounds. But what else is he supposed to do? ]
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blitzcheer) wrote2020-04-28 11:07 am
no subject
[ Listen to that enthusiastic start..
.. immediately followed by Inigo falling silent, giving Jingyi a half-confused look. B-Bro, help remind him, what are these things called again?! It's new to all of them, apparently.
But he shakes his head, starting on the more important thing. Who cares what they're called! The more important thing, especially that could be relevant to Tidus here, is-- ]
They have clocks!
[ BRO. DUDE. Your precious clocks!! ]
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Stop watches.
( because now he remembers! but more importantly, he grins at Tidus, mister time telling himself. )
We found them in one of the stores! They tell time, they tell what day it is even if that might not be as useful here, and they also measure time when you tell them to stop and go! Oh, and they're waterproof?
( he looks back to inigo for confirmation on that. what had the sign at the store said, self something something battery and water proof and blah blah good up to certain diving distances? he cannot recall, but thankfully, there's a terribly confusing diagram how to guide present within the box several times over!
they're also obviously branded with different bright image patterns on the face of them and say aquafir with a different cute swimming creature for each logo, but hey. that was literally everything there! )
no subject
He looks at Inigo. ] Do they work off the planet?
[ Did they know? Though, he doesn't think he's got one of the time-telling ones but a different one, reaching in for another kind of the devices, to fiddle with it a little. ]
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.. though Tidus's question apparently provides a bit more difficulty. ]
Well, we haven't tested them yet.. [ Obviously. ] But why would they suddenly stop working?
[ Not that he's saying that it's impossible.
But it's more.. well, questioning it himself. Because Inigo doesn't understand one bit about technology, he just couldn't resist getting these along with Jingyi to bring them to Tidus once he heard the c-word. ]
no subject
Correct me for not getting a whole lot about how we stop at random not planets that call themselves a resort, but I'm pretty sure even in the vastness of the Void, businesses still care about reputation. Most people visit, they sell things to take away. If they don't work off planet, wouldn't that earn them terrible word of mouth?
( he's asking as one complainer to another: tidus, do you think people wouldn't complain if things were limited to working only in resort? )
Anyway, the first person I talked to trying to figure these things out showed me some of the functions and told me it's a great souvenir, since it's practically functional forever.
( a pause. )
Then said something about a collectors set?
( again, he looks to inigo, as he thinks that was repeated again when they were both looking at these things. whatever it meant to have collected a set of stop watches. )
no subject
[ Or how souvenirs from one planet to another work, when they don't each follow the same set time. And if they didn't follow the same one the train did, that was going to be a pain.
But it isn't that point that has Tidus unsure, after the fact. The gesture was cool, and it'd be fun if they did work without trouble, but- he's putting the stopwatch and the timer back into the box, one at a time; not wanting to interrupt when Jingyi seems to be in the middle of confirming something with Inigo, but with a slight dip between his brows. ]
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He really talked a lot about these things! I thought he'd never stop.
[ A lot! Just listen to this horrible fate they had to endure in order to get these.
But even though Inigo looks like he could say so much more about it, especially when reminiscing with Jingyi on that experience they shared, Inigo instead grows quiet as he looks at Tidus.
He thought the other would be more excited about this gift, yet instead it almost looks like Tidus is.. frowning? And Inigo has absolutely no idea why, though he's inclined to assume their present must somehow have missed the mark after all, even though Inigo had been so excited about how perfect it had been for Tidus. ]
.. Is.. something wrong?
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We didn't hit some kind of culture thing, did we?
( you know, the things he keeps running into. maybe Tidus has an even more complicated form of gift giving on his world than the reciprocal acknowledgment ones Jingyi knows. his brow furrows a touch, and he pales, leaping to a very dumb conclusion, asked in confusion: )
We didn't propose on accident or something, did we?
( it's a part jest, part horrified say it isn't so. maybe time's too intimate a thing?!? or maybe Tidus has some other thought going through his head--Jingyi can't say, but even he has that same sense of something being Not Swell, and he'd frankly trust Inigo's perception of it before his own. )
no subject
No, it's not-
[ But he can't quite finish it, exhaling, a complicated sound out of his mouth and the expression left. Brow furrowed, mouth tugged to one side; he looks from Jingyi to Inigo, keeping longer on the former guy. ]
You said this is from the both of you, right? [ And his gaze returns to Jingyi, the question not directed at him. But as he goes on, he does become the focus. ]
Look, I need to ask what you meant what you said that night we hung out. About you saying I couldn't handle dating. Where did that come from?
[ Because it doesn't sit right, even now, and how can he accept anything from someone who says that about him, without knowing if he was muddled about what Jingyi meant, or not? Because it was difficult to know, the pair of them often unsure about what the other meant; usually, Jingyi the one who took his words too literally.
But here, Tidus wasn't sure if he'd misinterpret Jingyi. Wasn't sure of it back then, but it'd rub him wrong to put in a bad mood, with how confusing the subject of his love life was to come up at all. ]
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But no, Inigo's attention is way too much taken up by the look on Tidus's face, and then the words the other speaks.
.. especially the words. It makes Inigo glance from Tidus to Jingyi and back, looking increasingly unsure. W-Wait, Jingyi and Tidus talked.. about dating? Sweet Naga, Jingyi didn't mention anything about him, right? Please let him not have.
Inigo can feel himself starting to sweat, but he's sure to keep carefully quiet for a moment. ]
cue: a mess, this is so dumb, i'm so sorry
But he's now trying to parse a few things.
One, Tidus having an issue with this coming from both of them.
Two, that issue has him worried over what Jingyi meant about him not being able to handle dating.
Three, if that's coming up right now is this perhaps not proposing but propositioning... for dating???
Four, he knows??? On some level??? He's dating Inigo??? Physically???
His head's filled with arrows pointing in disparate directions, and he's not less pale, but he does answer, because of course he does. )
I thought you didn't want my opinions. ( He doesn't make that biting, he's too pale to manage it, just outright confused. Which, well, Tidus had said something to that effect. But he's being asked, so he says: ) It was talking with you. I felt like you weren't in a place to allow that you can love people here and still love Yuna, too. That you can work on getting back to her and still, you know, be here with the people here fully. Heart and body, mind and soul, um.
( Oh Heavens he's rambling, and his tail's gone so still it's hit the floor with a dull thud. WHEN DID GIFTING TIME BECOME A LOVE CONNECTION other than the fact Tidus lives on nothing but borrowed time, and he does get that. He can't pretend he's in that situation. He can't pretend he's in Inigo's situation. There's nothing unique or different or complicated about his personal situation, outside of the worries anyone not seeing him back home would have, and the distress he's causing his best friend, and by proxy, his best friend's fathers, and his sect leader.
He doesn't have a lover he's worrying; he doesn't have siblings he's worrying; he doesn't have parents he's worrying. Lan Jingyi, here or gone, is missed, but not irreplaceable. Not a guardian, not saving an ending world, not helping end the world he grew up in, just doing work keeping normal people from being swallowed alive by nightmares.
And he does have inherent self worth. He's alive, he's capable, and he doesn't give up.
... Which has nothing much to do with what's on hand, only background mechanics for how he weighs things, and the respect he gives all of them. Because that much is true: he respects Tidus, and he respects Inigo, and he thinks their way at going at love is a bit sideways, but, uh. He can respect that too, for all he doesn't personally relate. )
I don't know Yuna? All I can know is what I know. Just to me, being able to tell her I love you and I also love them doesn't lessen either side of it, or mean you're giving up on her. She's no less important to you for finding you can love people here, too.
( h e l p
he's looking lost and a little grumpy because of it. if he had moveable ears in this form, they'd be angled back, flat against his skull. he doesn't see a problem with not being able to handle dating? hasn't he pointed out that he couldn't, in the casual sense? it's totally fine to not be in that space? he might personally never bed anyone if he were tied up emotionally elsewhere, but Inigo and Tidus are adults, they can get up to whatever they want? )
Wouldn't being able to handle dating mean being willing to accept that? In your heart and stuff? That you don't have to give her up to allow people in? It wasn't about being female or male or something else, since you already said you're not against guys or anything. It's where your heart's at.
( gender's a lot less of a concern for him, so he just. outright means physical sex. then, a pause. )
Do you think I don't like you for that? If I didn't like you, I wouldn't have thought about any of this, and Inigo wouldn't have either. It's not like we expect anything from you except what you're ready and willing to give.
( H E L P isn't this common logic for how friends work, where has it betrayed him so? he's exactly two seconds away from offering a formal apology, so. there's that! he had no idea gift giving was explosive territory!
anyway he's 100% sure Tidus gets he's saying "dude we're your friends and anything else you're giving anyone is your business and we're not demanding otherwise" )
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This is why I'm asking! [ Why he needs to ask before accepting anything, when it has nothing to do with like, then it does respect. ] When you started asking me questions about my love life, I thought this had to do with you wanting more perspectives. Then you were giving me that advice about loving multiple people, and it was confusing! Why would you suddenly be so interested in seeing me get with someone? How am I supposed to know how to take it? And when you said I couldn't handle it - it sounded like a dig!
[ He gestures a hand at the package, the box. ] Why do you think I said I didn't want your opinion and left? And now you're coming with a gift? If you were judging me, then yeah, I was gonna tell you to shove it, even if you did still like me!
[ Because he isn't going to accept a gift under those circumstances. Screw that! ]
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No, he can tell what this is otherwise. Jingyi must have talked to Tidus about the issues Inigo was telling him about, considering how he's so specifically asking about Yuna and the ability to love someone besides her. Please, Jingyi, did Inigo not warn you about this? You think he doesn't know just how head over heels Tidus is for Yuna at this point?! There's a reason he keeps all this crap to himself!
But Inigo feels just a little too responsible for this to just walk off, or awkwardly (emphasis on awkwardly, very awkwardly) stand off to the sides. It's not like he really put Jingyi up to this, but the other sure still got the idea from him, so.. ]
Okay, okay. [ Inigo speaks up, putting up his hands in what he hopes is a peacekeeping gesture. Because he can feel Tidus's irritation meter rise, and he can also tell why. ] J-Just.. hang on for a moment, you two. Alright?
[ BEFORE THIS RAPIDLY ESCALATES.. ]
I, uh.. am not completely sure what happened.. [ A half-lie, but he is pretending to not somehow have been the accidental instigator here, okay! ] But from what it all sounds like to me, it sounds like Jingyi had good intentions in saying what he did to Tidus, but that the way he said it came across as insulting.
[ He glances between the two, maybe even lingering on Jingyi for a moment because.. dude. DUDE!! DUDE WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS, WHY ARE YOU DOING IT LIKE THIS.. ]
Yes?
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He does close the top of the box lid, since he doesn't want to keep holding it out like he is for the time being. )
Inigo, it's fine.
( He smiles at Inigo, specifically...... and hands the box over to him. He cups his hands as the smile fades, and bows to Tidus, nothing deep, but something fitting a peer held in decent standing. It isn't sarcastic, though for a whole five seconds he contemplated making it so out of a petty urge that mostly comes out of being grumpy at being taken as anything like sly in his disapproval. )
Tidus, I apologise. I didn't intend insult. Trust me, if I were judging you for anything, you wouldn't have to wonder. I don't hold back.
( He rises, and claps his hands, like this settles??? Something??? Definitely not smiling, but he's not scowling or even frowning, just settling into neutral lines. )
I'll remember next time that gifting culture is different for you than for me.
( do not ever, he tells himself, practise apology gifts on this guy if one's ever needed, it'll only go p o o r l y )
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What does gifting have to do with this?
[ And he looks to Inigo then, unsure - when the guy sounds confused and out of place in this (and Tidus does make something of a sympathetic slant to his expression, an apology to be bringing this up in front of him). ]
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And feeling awkward. That too. Especially since his confusion and awkwardness only grows as he looks between the other two. Gifting culture.. Wait, did that mean Jingyi also just wanted to give this to Tidus as an apology of sorts, not just because it happened to be the perfect thing to come across for Tidus?
Inigo opens and closes his mouth a few times, thinking of stuff to say, only to think better of it a moment later and not say anything at all.
It's probably better to just let Jingyi answer that question first, rather than muddying the waters further, and he might be sinking away behind the box a little here. At least he's got you, box full of stopwatches.. At least he's got you. ]
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( he crosses his arms over his chest. )
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[ Because really, these sorts of things don't happen often. He waves a hand, the other rested on his waist. ]
That's why I'm clearing it up now, to be sure. I won't accept a gift from someone who I think's got an idea about me I don't like, even if...
[ He looks over to Inigo, and he does feel bad, rambling off like this. Shaking his head. ] Sorry, I know this is the last thing you expected. We just had a misunderstanding, that's all. [ There's a pause, and he admits: ] Jingyi was talking to me about dating, and I thought he got the idea I shouldn't be dating 'cause I said I didn't want to. He was telling me stuff, and...
[ ...which sounds dumb, especially since he doesn't really want to share what Jingyi said in their private conversation, even if there wasn't anything personal on his end. Tidus rubs at the back of his neck. ]
It's dumb. [ Again he waves a hand, this time to dismiss it. ] Anyway... if it wasn't the case, then we're cool.
[ He looks to Jingyi now, and extends a hand. ]
Cool?
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But then he thinks of just how direct Jingyi can be with his opinions, never really smoothing things over a whole lot, and he quickly makes sure to not say that, just in case the other decides to make himself clear and this escalates after all.
He's really hoping it doesn't. ]
It's.. fine!
[ Thank Naga that Inigo can blame any awkwardness in his voice on the fact that he's having to witness all of this, and not at the confirmation of what he already knew deep down - that Tidus doesn't want to date. That he needs to keep shoving his feelings as far down and out of sight as possible.
There's some seriously impressive not crying going on here. It'll come later, in private. For now Inigo just awkwardly shifts the box a little in his arms. ]
I just don't want you guys to fight, you know..?
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On that, yeah.
( Cool on that, because that, that's true. Figuring out miscommunications was important, since their existence was inevitable. Frustrating, but inevitable. (Cool being one more potential if he hadn't the context to make it make sense.)
He steps back, letting go of Tidus's hand. His tail runs counterpoint to how he turns on the ball of his foot, reaching for the box from Inigo, nodding his head to him; he's not smiling, and he won't be, but he's not scowling, so that's an improvement over the confusion and everything else. If he wins the box free, he turns to place it against Tidus's chest instead, until the guy takes hold. )
Gonna leave these with you for now, still have to borrow Inigo for a while today. You're the techiest out of us all, you'll figure them out faster than we can.
( He nods his head to Tidus, not unfriendly in gesture, but not easy. Like there's some other tension under his skin, and it's mostly the kind he shoves to the side because:
I just don't want you guys to fight, you know..?
Damn the mediators of the world. Sometimes arguing is the only way to get things resolved, but other times? People've already left open things which should not be said in public in his mind, and so Jingyi is attempting to loop an arm through Inigo's to bodily whisk him away to the yet unspecified borrowed purpose. Apologies, for one, because Tidus's callousness is something owed to Jingyi, and not Tidus alone. )
ree told me to go first
Hey-- Hey guys. Are things okay now? Inigo would just like to know?! The semi-hug seems to indicate that everything is okay, but at the same time it's not exactly like the other two look happy.. So what's going on here.
It leaves Inigo just looking very unsure as he glances between the other two, and perhaps even moreso when there's suddenly an arm hooked in his own - which isn't that bad - and he's starting to get dragged away - a lot weirder?! - to an unknown destination. ]
W-Wait, why do you have to borrow me?
[ Judging by his tone, you'd imagine he was being kidnapped or something. Rather than just taken along by a friend. HE'S JUST CONFUSED, OKAY.
Yet he's still moving along with Jingyi all the same, casting a confused and flustered gaze back at Tidus. ]
Uh-- Tidus, I.. I'll be back!
[ ???
He sure hopes, anyway? ]
thumbs up!!
Jingyi does only aim to take them a carriage away, having not answered the why and wearing his resting neutral to bitch face, brow a touch furrowed, but nothing about his body language angry. Not even his tail, past its initial twitch to shed lingering whatevers.
At least he doesn't keep bodily dragging Inigo onward once they're that far away. All he does do is (gently) disengage their arms, to sweep to a step away and a bow (is this getting familiar yet) of apology. )
This one apologises for his role in exposing you to unwarranted and uninvited injury.
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And yet Inigo still feels fluster when he witnessed it. Jingyi stepping away from him, bowing, speaking those words.. It doesn't feel right, especially coming from a friend, when it's all this formal.
So he shakes his head, though he can feel his cheeks growing pink as he puts a hand on Jingyi's shoulder, as if to try and get the other guy to stand back up. ]
H-- Hey, it's fine!
[ I-IT'S FINE, IT'S COOL, DUDE, PLEASE DON'T GIVE HIM THIS FORMAL APOLOGY... ]
I mean, I.. do suppose there are some awkward things.. [ Like Tidus having gotten hurt - apparently - in the middle of Jingyi's questioning, and Inigo having to hear Tidus say he doesn't want to date so blatantly, right in front of Inigo's
saladheart. But nothing about it feels like Inigo of all people should get an apology. ] But I also know you were asking him about that stuff--[ He pauses, nervously glancing over at the door, as if he's worried Tidus would follow them and overhear this, but of course he doesn't. ]
--for my sake.
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Endless cultural headbutting. He straightens, regardless, lips twitching into a frown. )
Yours and mine. ( Because if he didn't want to know himself, he wouldn't have asked. ) And—I mean it, even if I don't think he really believes it, I didn't intend offense. But you didn't deserve that, Inigo, and if I'd known there was an issue, I wouldn't have brought you along to be given no face like this.
( He means it metaphorically, but the concept of 'face' is one he hasn't explained, hasn't known to or tried, and it doesn't quite translate to 'pride.' More complex, and so face becomes a literalism, in its way. )
Tidus isn't trying to actively hurt you, but I set him up to do it, and I'm sorry. I...
( have no idea what to do about it since there's such a massive divide he's only partly aware of why is it so hard to understand what anyone's doing or thinking? )
Is there anything I can do? ( really, including "please shut up already" but asking is invitation. )
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[ Inigo's voice is softer now. Less frantic, and more.. well, pretty much just resigned, even though there's a slight smile on his face as he says it. He's also given up on trying to understand of these cultural nuances that Jingyi is using - face?! - in order to try and focus on the bigger picture. ]
It's not like I didn't already know that this is the way things are, right? [ Even if Tidus just had to say it so clearly right in front of his salad - but it's not like it's the first time Tidus has said something that was actively hurtful towards Inigo's heart out of sheer ignorance.
And Inigo knows it won't be the last. ]
There's nothing anyone can do about that. I just have to take what I can get.
[ As desperate as that sounds. But what else is he supposed to do? ]
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