“I mean, they felt really bad about it…but even so.” Rosemary shakes her head as she continues to work at the stain. Since she has two kids, she has gotten pretty good at getting them out. “I’m sure you don’t have to deal with this sorta stuff.”
“At least they felt back even considering the troublesome stain.” Saima speaks with some sympathy for that situation. “Not often but I’ve done some tutoring and some babysitting as a favor. So I’ve encountered things here and there.”
“Mm.. Th’ new ear s’filled with good prospects.. Come.” He’s leading Saima into the kitchen where he sets the ginger down onto the counter before turning himself half way towards the other again to give him a small smile. Maybe he was just a bit chipper from having gotten a lot of work done, or the holidays had gone well for him with family. Either way he was very content. “Can I get ya somethin’ t’ drink b’fore we sit..?”
“Glad to hear it. Always good to get the year started in a positive place.” Something about starting anew made Saima feel refreshed so it was nice to see Berwald feeling nice. They easily followed him into the kitchen while making themselves comfortable in the other’s home.
“Sometimes. Not always since I have other things to do, but I don’t know – there’s something relaxing about just observing in some situations.”
“Is there?” Eyebrows rose at such declaration. “Why, Saima. You didn’t exactly me as the type to find relaxation in such thing. Care to elaborate why?”
“Yeah, it’s something that surprised me as well although perhaps it’s a somewhat more recent development.” They think for a moment about how to articulate the appeal.
“I think it’s just going relatively unnoticed letting the actions of others pass by that is a little interesting. Of course, on quiet days, there’s not much to see so I’d rather just go on errands. But when there’s like a festival, or something in the center of a town- watching the interactions just attracts me in a way I can’t fully articulate.”
The snake did not see what was so funny but did manage to give the other a quick smile. Maybe he’ll catch on to a sense of humor one day.
Ayumu nodded, carefully stacking the twigs in the center, being careful not to disturb the neatly placed rocks. “Good. I usually would have to jussst…rub two sssticksss together to get the fire going…which asss you can imagine takesss a lot of time…” He explained with a shrug. “I would ussse a lighter but the only onesss I ssseem to find on the beach are usually empty.”
“Right. That’s the way many have done it without access to much else. A solid approach but it does take effort. Understandable – it’s not like people want to leave around usable lighters all that often.” More likely than not, if it was still useful – people would rather keep that with them.
When the twigs were carefully stacked and the scene appeared ready, Saima bent down close to the stack. With a directed gesture of their hand, they summoned energy with sparked the twigs in order to get a warm flame going. It took only a matter of seconds really – which was why it was no issue at all to be of service.
Setau nods sheepishly, smiling widely as his gaze dropped to the floor. “Thanks…for listening– and for being so considerate about this too. I mean I know you live similarly but it’s still nice to have some reassurance that I’m not the only one around here with a secret.”
“H–Hey, would you…would you like to see what I can do? Not…not here all out in the open but, uh, I can…maybe show you something…?” He isn’t sure where but it was sort of thrilling to have someone around who could appreciate his gift.
“You’re welcome. It felt like it was only fair to be considerate about it. After all, when one is living with a secret, it’s sometimes rather nice to know that are others out there that you can talk to. So it’s just as helpful for me to know you’re around too.”
“Oh yeah, I’d definitely like to see what you are capable of.” Seeing someone’s abilities was one of the more thrilling parts of running into other beings with interesting capabilities. So it naturally caught Saima’s attention when Setau offered to show them something.
“Yeah…they’re all very nice to me though. I think they respect my father a lot, which is nice. It’s funny but I was essentially an orphan, only having my adoptive dad for company but now I have a sort of…sort of family? It’s weird b-but nice–” He laughs nervously, shaking his head. “Sorry, I’m rambling…”
“Ah…well, that makes sense. I usually just sort of, uh…I don’t like lying to people but I mean…no one’s ever explicitly asked me if I was an Egyptian demi-god so I mean…it’s not really lying.”
“Oh good. I’m glad that they are very nice to you. It only seems fair that you treat you well. Huh now you have this kind of additional family which is an interesting change.” They shake their head. “No need to apologize, I like hearing about all that.”
“Fair enough. Leaving things out of omission makes sense. It doesn’t really occur to people to ask about that since it’s not something people even consider to be a possibility these days.”
“Good. You did not have much choice in the matter…but good!” Ayumu bluntly calls back in reply.
“Alright, you make a little circle of rocksss around that little hole there–” He murmurs, pointing down at the shallowly dug hole in the sand. “And we will jussst place all thessse branchesss in the center. I can ssstart a fire– Actually, do you have…you have magic, yesss? Can you ssstart the fire? It would be a little easssier and quicker, I believe…”
Saima only returns a laugh. It was the truth, it’s not like they did have any other options around here. It was either be okay with simply salt or not eat at all.
“Right, make a circle of rocks..”They had started following the directions placing rocks carefully around the dug hole int he sand. “It would be easier for me to start the fire so I can do that once the branches are in the center.” It was a relatively quick motion of placing the rocks just so.
Seekesotsibteadmist 