The Day of Thunder

“Looks like your purpose here is clear.” She offered a soft smile.

“I have every confidence that you will do great… You’re perfect for this.” She replied.

She then turned to look at him with hurting eyes that tried to stop leaking out doubt from within, “What’s my job here…”

"I dunno, you just helped steer me a bit. And you just risked your ass for a total stranger. And Fortunes know, people follow a charismatic youngster better than they do a sour old goat with some tensions with the other sour old goats."

She closed her eyes and let out a slow breath.

“I… don’t think that’s right… The old goats don’t listen to the kids. And the kids here all listen to the old goats.” She replied.

“The cage is closing in on me Sora… Everyone keeps telling me what I have to do… And I just suck at doing those things.”

She motions to the burning building she was in just minutes ago, “I can do that. I can run recklessly at shit… But imagine young you trying to unify everyone. I’m like you… but 20 years too young. None of the ‘wisdom’ that makes it so people want to give a damn about what you say.”

She didn’t often show this level of doubt… because she didn’t ever really feel doubt before.

“No one cares about me running like an idiot into danger… They want something else… And I can’t match myself with those expectations.” She looked out towards the distant pillars of smoke again.

“I don’t give a shit about what most people think… But you… You I trust. So… I’m asking, what’s my job here? Give me a job…”

He sighed and shook his head.

"You want a job, Kumori-chan? Trust yourself. That's your job. You care about the people of this world as much as Shiba, you've managed to live to adulthood without collecting any serious enemies, which sounds a lot like Yuzuru, and whatever you might want to hear, you're as tough and brave as your mother."

He held up an index finger.

"And you have none of the things that made my young life such a pain in the ass, except for maybe being stubborn and not giving a shit what people tell you. You suck at doing what people tell you? Fine. Do things you don't suck at. It's honestly a pretty long list, Laughing Bird."

He shrugged.

"Or if that's too vague and monkish for you, help Wu-san with the villagers. You're not as... high-flown as some of us. You came to this village in the guise of a wanderer. So, apparently, did many of them. Use that."

She let out an extended breath from her nose. She’d done too much thinking since getting here. It always helped to just act and not think…

Thinking made her all jumbled up inside… dammed up… She needed to keep moving, keep the stream rolling down the hill.

The damn hug… it made her stop. Made her think and feel… It was so much easier to just not feel.

No… that was just another way of damming up the stream. One that would turn her into the person she didn’t want to be.

Where was the right balance…

She shook herself out of her thoughts and turned to Sora.

“Yeah… fuck being dumb. Doubt not gonna get me anywhere. I’ll do what I can… fuck the expectations.”

"I never doubted you for an instant. Glad to see you join me."

He donned his most punchable grin.

“Fuck you too.” She said with a serious look on her face.

She held the look for a good few seconds before the smirk appeared on the side of her mouth.

There we go.

"Ah, I'm afraid you delivered it better when I wouldn't let you have any of that beer Koyama sent me..."

“And you learned that it’s never smart to get between me and my booze that night.” She replied.

"Tsk. I seem to recall you complaining bitterly about the flavor..."

“I remember it tasting good…” She replied.

“Not the flavor… but the getting it.”

"Sneaky little shit."

Said with complete and utter warmth and approval.

“You get what you put into things.” She said with a smirk.

“We should head back… You got people to boss around.”

"My favorite thing."

One of his least-favorite things. If anything it was a measure of how seriously he took the situation that he was contemplating it at all.

"You oughtta wash up, I don't think your pet Scorpion needs quite that mixture of burned hair, sweat, and ash as a perfume..."

[/Scene?]

“From what I hear… you once were really into burns marks, sweat, and general apathy for your well-being… Maybe he’s the same.” She said.

“I wouldn’t want to lead the poor guy on though… He might bring a wife back from a trip to Yume-Jigoku if I’m not careful.”

She then jabbed him in the ribs, “But if it were any of your business… The dude is not a pet… Nor is he a guy to get dolled up for. He’s a decent dude… That’s it. Don’t make things weird.”

A bath did sound like an excellent idea though… and she would follow through after the pair of them made it back into town.

/scene