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[ . . . . . . guh.

Her expression sours a little bit... Less because she disliked any of them openly - they were all very kind, that much was obvious - but more because she's a little ashamed of her behavior, given the circumstances....]

.... Well.

Mostly I encountered one named Mutsu.

[ . . . . ]

He's even louder than you. And less graceful. He should learn some manners -- and when to mind his own business!

[Lili.

Lili stop.]

[LILI... Fortunately, considering the weirdass relationship he and Mutsu have and Kashuu's general penchant for being a big fat gossip, she's picked a good person to say those things to.]

Hey, maybe if you're the one to tell him, he'll actually listen. That kind of stuff toootally goes over his head otherwise, y'know?

[...HE'S NOT LOUD, THOUGH?! "Even louder than you", geez, what kind of back-handed double insult is that...]

Trust me, I've been trying.

[COUNT ON HER TO BE BLUNT.... But she's still just going to flip her hair over her shoulder in her overconfident way, huffing slightly.]

He.... has good intentions.

But the execution is awful. Really....! It's like he's never interacted with a lady before.

[YOU'RE STILL LOUD, KASHUU.]

[That just gets a laugh out of him... SOMEONE SAVE MUTSU.]

Yeah, he's a good sword so it's not like he means anything bad. [Kashuu can actually say these things about Mutsu without having to be under the influence of a truth side-effect, unlike SOME PEOPLE named MUTSU... That said:]

But he hasn't! Most of us haven't. Not for any long period of time, anyway. I think only a few of us ever belonged to women, see? Not counting the heirlooms since they belonged to whole families. And Haruji's a man, so- [A SHRUG.] -that's just how it turned out.

[He just says this like it's totally normal?! And then waves for her to follow him as he trots toward a side-storage room.]

[SOMEONE REALLY SHOULD SAVE MUTSU........ he saved this princess without realizing that she's actually a wrecking ball in disguise.

But that..... is surprising..... and almost a little upsetting like wtf. How do you not have any contact with women at all. Admittedly Lili thinks most men are scum but she avoids them by choice, you know??

Even as she follows after, there's no masking her surprise.]

But.... does that mean that you just stop interacting with girls entirely?! [In truth, Kashuu seems pretty good at it.... not that she's ever going to say so.] You have bodies now, right? Or do you normally just use them to tussle and be rambunctious hooligans?!

[please pick your words better, lili]

[It's okay Lili, he's always doing things like that... Mutsunokami "constantly getting involved with the wrong people or getting on the wrong sides of okay people" Yoshiyuki, who has an even bigger case of foot-in-mouthitis than Kashuu.

BUT RAMBUNCTIOUS HOOLIGANS... Honestly, he can't even argue against that part, though. He doesn't even bother trying.]

We've only had these bodies for like, a year! And we didn't really leave the citadel back home, so coming to this city's the first time we've been able to actually talk to humans normally. Here— [After some rummaging, he turns around to hold out a pair of hakama and a training yukata that looks to be about Lili's side. It's clean and new, so she doesn't have to worry about getting someone else's gross sweat on her, at least...]

[ . . . She takes the spare clothes rather easily, at least. Ah. Dressing herself in robes that she's not familiar with, this'll take some time, won't it....

But.

Hold on one second--]

Only a year?!

[But they're not falling over like toddlers or anything?!]

[Godspeed, Lili.

Nodding in response, though! It's magic, they just pop out of the ether fully dressed and already knowing how to do everything important (possibly sans being able to work chopsticks right the first time...)]

Right! I stopped keeping track once we got here, but back home it was probably like... six months? Something like that, anyway. [...] I didn't really keep close track of time back there, either.

[How the hell..... and Lili just furrows her brow at that.]

So you're.... not even two years old. Barely even a year.

[ . . . . . . . .

She's being instructed by an infant?!]

[HEY. Hey. ...Kind of, yes, but!!]

This body's about that old, yeah, but I've been around for a lot longer. Over five hundred years!

[It's amazing how quickly he switches between being like "I'M OLD" and "I'M YOUNG" depending on how it suits him in any given situation.]

[This is the worst conversation.

This is the worst conversation because she's probably going to rework her handy rule for judging men about six thousand times over..... If real men are over 35, and Kashuu's over 500 -- does that count? Can she consider him a man or is that just him being a sword? Or would his body actually just be like a toddler.....

Her head hurts.]

Ah.

... You know, I would think someone that's been around for so long would be more.....

[Down to earth? Level-headed?]

.... different.

[oh.]

[He'd apologize for the duress he was causing if he knew, probably... maybe...

Also, what does that even mean.]

Eh? Different in what way? That already sounds like the start of an insult.

[He's figuring out your tsunspeech already, Lili. Or at least has come to expect the insults that make up sO DANG MUCH OF IT...]

[THE TSUNSPEECH CONTINUES ON.

But she'll explain what she means with a wave of her hand as she gathers the clothes in one arm.]

I mean.... Well, you're very.....

[Can you tell that she's trying to keep it at least relatively polite???]

.... Perhaps more of the type to impart.... wisdom?

[Why aren't you like some wise old sage, Kashuu.]

[HE CAN and somehow that makes it even worse... Because now he knows. Now he knows what she wants to say isn't polite!!

Though honestly, that's not far from what he's expecting to hear. All of the swords pretty much get that at some point... The whole "ARE YOU FIVE OR FIVE HUNDRED" talk. They're a bunch of dumb babies in the end, it's a tragedy.]

What, like some bearded old guy sitting up on a mountain? [Truly, a wise old sage.] Not even our oldest sword is like that! He's over a thousand but you'd never be able to tell by looking at him or talking to him.

[And that manages to alarm her --]

O-Over a thousand....?!

[How does that even happen?! She clutches the clothes a little tighter to her - and will she ever get around to changing into them - as she is far more distracted by this line of questioning.]

But you all would've managed to see so much! Such history....!

[GOSH, LILI!! He's itching to jump into training but she's more interested in the daily conversational state of quasi-immortals...!

Which, you know, fair. And he knows to expect it, even though she's actually the first person to phrase it like that. One hand flits through the air with a flick of his wrist, but the gesture isn't hostile so much as simply dismissive.]

Yep! But that doesn't mean we're just gonna sit around talking about this or that from hundreds and hundreds of years ago.

[It's because they've seen so much that they are the way they are - or so he figures, anyway. Dwelling on the cyclical nature of humanity and civilization will give anyone grey hair.]

But -- why not?

[That might perplex her even more. She narrows her eyes vaguely at that -- not in a hostile way, but almost rather frustrated at the thought that people who are so old don't sit around and talk about humanity? Are they not interested because they're not human...?!]

Wars could be prevented if you could come up with ideas you know -- people would listen to you! You could have so much sway....!

[Does Lili really want to open this can of worms... this can of Weird Sword Issues worms... SHE ALREADY HAS SO IT'S TOO LATE, but hopefully she won't look back on this moment someday and be like dammit.]

Well, I mean— we don't really have the chance to talk to people outside of the citadel, you know? We weren't called back here to do that sort of thing. [More or less... They were called to fight a war, but he understands it's different than the notion Lili's trying to get across. BUT, equally important--]

And even if we could go into the cities or whatever, we're still swords. Other people wield us and tell us where to go and what to do. It'd be weird for one of us to guide humans instead.

[ . . . . . in all honesty:]

It's hard to imagine you just following orders....

[Though she just shakes her head after that, stubborn as she is. She doesn't understand what this 'citadel' is or what they were called back for... but she has a point to make! So she'll try to make that point first before she asks those questions.]

I think that you should be listened to! I didn't think of it but.... if you all have spirits and souls and opinions - isn't it important to heed what you would think? You're important as you are!

[Lili An: only saying nice things when she doesn't notice that she is....]

[That's quite a skill to have... But what was with that punkass first comment, GEEZ.]

Hey! I'm a good sword! I follow orders perfectly.

[In... in some situations... In others he sure the heck doesn't, but he apparently counts that as something separate or he doesn't actually notice the discrepancy here. It's hard to tell which it is...]

Mm- [But this is all stumbling into the Tricky Situations field that Kashuu tries to ignore most days, since it just gives him a headache trying to puzzle it out. Instead:] -You sound like Haruji. I guess there are a few things we can contribute! But it's kinda like, most of that stuff should probably be left up to humans anyway, right?

But you're partly human too, right? Following orders all the time when you have a body of your own just sounds foolish when you obviously have a personality and judgment of your own....

[LISTEN.... LILI'S AS REBELLIOUS AS THEY GET.

Sorry about bringing up your Tricky Situation though, Kashuu. Lili has a tendency to simplify things... and in this case, she's doing so without even noticing.]

Maybe most things.... but sometimes humans make poor mistakes too. People will think that they're too wise and refuse to realize that things are getting bad... [Her own father comes to mind and that gives her pause for a moment, before she goes on.] But if they had advisors that have seen all the times that things have spiraled out of control.... wouldn't that be better for everyone?

It could save so many people...!

[2REBELLIOUS, HONESTLY. His nose wrinkles a little because even though he's heard this more times than he ever thought he would by now, it's still pretty impossible for him to wrap his mind around.]

I dunno. That's never happened before, so I dunno if it'd be any better or worse. ...Anyway- [HOLDING UP SOME FINGERS AS HE GOES.] -First, most people where I come from don't believe in spirits or things like that, so they'd prooobably just think we're crazy. Second, it's not like we'd be telling them stuff they can't see in history books. Like, it'd be a first-hand account, but remember that it'd just be a first-hand account from the only experiences we had before we had our human bodies. What kind of thing d'you think a sword will be able to bring to the table?

And like I said, we don't leave the citadel. There's a bigger war we're fighting, so... [So Lili's not wrong, exactly, but she's not right either. HE'S GOT MORE REASONS, HE COULD GO ON.]

[ . . . hm. She still shakes her head at that.]

You've gotten people here to believe you, right? And even things that should be of legend... if you speak to the right people, the ones who matter, then you'll be able to succeed! [Just like Yona and her dragons, she thinks. They're fearsome warriors, after all.] I'm still sure that you could bring plenty.... More voices should be a part of decision-making anyway, especially in things as momentous as wars and violence.

[But . . . she sighs a little bit at the end, her wind apparently leaving her sails.]

.... That's a shame, though. You could do so much....

[More than even she could ever dream of doing.]

[He looks a little discomforted now, if only because this makes him feel like he's not being as good a sword as he could be, somehow. He knows he's doing a lot - and he still feels like his sole purpose is to follow the primary orders he's given, that much hasn't changed even if it's something he's starting to question bit by tiny bit... But still.

If he could do more, he would. He's fairly certain of that much.]

...Sorry. [But he isn't doing more, so he feels like he needs to apologize for that for some reason. Maybe it's the levity that this topic holds when it's in Lili's hands? The way she's talking certainly makes it seem like she has more than a passing interest in what people can do to help each other out.

Still, "sorry" seems flimsy and he's not sure where else to go from there so BACK TO HIS FAVORITE THING, dodging uncomfortable shit.]

You should probably go get changed while the dressing room's empty.

[The apology startles her -- and it shows. At first she moves immediately to do what he says then, because he probably doesn't like talking about this then....

But she pauses first before turning back to him and saying first:]

You don't have to be sorry.... That's not what I meant to imply. [An awkward, uncomfortable fidget as she tries to find her words....] .... You're already doing so much. I just -- [she gets ahead of herself, like her father always said. somehow never manages to say the right thing]

..... Please don't think that I don't appreciate -- [you for who you are] -- what you're already doing.

[That's all!! And she turns then and runs into the dressing room, okay okay. TIME FOR HER TO DODGE HER UNCOMFORTABLE TOPICS NOW TOO aka trying to find nice words and still falling short of what she actually means.

Embarrassing.]

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