Let's Watch This Movie! It Has A DOG In It! (Tomomi/ Nadia)

Nadia's eyebrows raised as the stopped to admire the pigeon. She liked Birds, and in truth she'd already glanced at it. On a day where she was out alone, she might have even stopped to try drawing them. But today she hadn't planned on making a fuss over it.

Tomomi's fervent explanation made her look again, however, and she smiled. "It certainly is interesting. I didn't know that about them!" She commented, tilting her head to inspect the pigeon a little bit more. "I've drawn a few of their skulls that we have on display at the shop though..." She mentioned, cheerfully. "I find bird skulls fascinating. You know, their bones are hollow, that's why they can fly. It also makes them very fragile. I think fragile things are beautiful." she finished, glancing back at him. Uh-oh...had she said something strange again?

At the first mention of how the birds were fragile, Tomomi felt himself grow very slightly sad. No, he had to try and think differently. Quick, quick, think of a different thing to think of!

"A-ah, fun thing about the reason birds fly! W-well, not actually about birds, but, um... W-with bees, the reason they can fly isn't anything to do with their body mass relative to their wingspan like it is with birds and generic plane designs that do not have high powered motors. I-instead, they rapidly beat their wings at a rate that's a-actually disproportionate with other flying insects! F-for example a common fruit fly has a wingbeat of 200 beats per second. Meanwhile, the common honeybee beats its wings at 230 beats per second while only hovering! A-and, I mean, how they pick up heavier objects like pollen is also really cool! And they do that by, instead of amplifying how fast they flap their wings, just moving their wings in longer amplitude strokes! So when carrying stuff, their wings are similar to the arms of a swimmer doing front stroke professionally, with a bunch of rotation!"

Realising that his explosive passion regarding the topic was drawing looks, Tomomi blushed bright red, coughing slightly. "Ahem... Um... N-nature is cool..."

Nadia had a bewildered expression as Tomomi extolled her with unsolicited information about Bees. It was fascinating - it really was. She didn't care much for insects typically - she really felt as though they were mostly a nuisance. It might have something to do with the fact that they didn't really have bones to leave behind the way most animals did. And when they died they didn't leave much of a trace...come to think of it, maybe she didn't like insects because she sort of felt like one much of the time.

But Tomomi's excitement on the topic was both endearing and infectious, and she found herself smiling back at him, even though others were looking strangely at him. "That's so interesting! I don't know much about insects. I don't pay much attention to them, really, but beating their wings so fast seems so amazing when you think about just how fast that is...!" She marveled. As she started walking, the pigeon fluttered off to land on a fountain made in Isla's image not far away. "Nature is fascinating, I agree. I watched a documentary once, and they showed the decomposition process in a sped up way..." She recounted cheerily. "It was very fascinating."

Was death the main thing on her mind or something? As she brought up the concept of death and her fascination with it, Tomomi looked around to try think of SOMETHING else to talk about, only to realise that the duo were being watched now for their rather excitable personalities. Right. Yeah, it was only natural people would look weirdly at something like that. The recently excited boy seemed to withdraw in an instant, his laugh and smile turning into an almost paranoid expression, head jerking from side to side as he looked at everyone around him. His shoulders tensed up, and quickly Tomomi found himself taking his jacket off his shoulder, putting it on, and flipping its hood up so as to cover his face, forcing his normally windswept fringe to the front of his face to cover it and keep himself hidden.

Now soft for a different reason, Tomomi let out a few words in a quiet voice, as if he'd had all of the air ripped out of him. "Um... N-n-Nadia... M-mind if we find somewhere to... To... To sit d-d-d-down?"

Nadia's brows pulled together as Tomomi withdrew in on himself, even going so far as to put his hood up. This was it. He was ashamed to be around her...It wasn't the first time her strangeness had cost her a relationship. She supposed she was silly for thinking she could be understood, even by someone as kind and accepting as Tomomi.

Nadia frowned a little, looking around, before grabbing Tomomi's hand and leading him further down the sidewalk, and then down another pathway around the area to the fountain, and a few benches that were placed about it. She sat down on the bench, motioning for Tomomi to sit next to her. She wanted to speak, but she couldn't find words, so she simply remained silent.

As Nadia led him along, Tomomi followed, head held low. He only realised that they'd arrived at the seats when Nadia let go, Tomomi taking a quick glance around before also sitting down, hands shaking. As he was sat down, he quickly withdrew into himself, burying his head in his elbows while curling himself into a ball. Muffled, and beneath it all, he spoke out repeatedly. "Sorry... Sorry... Sorry... Sorry... Sorry... Sorry... Sorry... Sorry... Sorry..."

Nadia sat beside Tomomi, looking at him sidelong for a moment as he drew into himself. It reminded her a lot of Cecil. How he pulled into himself, imploding like a dying star. Nadia waited, reaching up with a slender hand to rest on his back, and waited for his nerves to settle down. "It's okay, Tomomi. Everything is fine." She cooed gently, patiently waiting for him to calm down.

Tomomi himself was unaware how long he was panicking for. Seconds? Minutes? There he sat, just hyperventilating. In reality, it took fifteen whole minutes for the panicking to stop. The reason Tomomi slowly began to stop could be as varied as the types of trees. Perhaps he stopped because he'd calmed down. Maybe he'd exhausted himself. He didn't know.

Still, as it slowly wore off, Tomomi leaned his head back, gasping out one more time. "I... I'm sorry... I um... S-should probably let you know... I um... H-have a... Um... Panic disorder... I-it's part of why I um... You know... Uh... D-d-don't really... S-s-say a lot... So um... I'm s-sorry you had to drag me off and waste your time here with me..."

His words were quiet, gentle, and almost sounded pained. And though he had now let his face be seen, he simply hung it to face the sky, eyes red from where he had, evidently, been crying.

"You say plenty when it's something you care about." Nadia reassured him, as if she hadn't been waiting in silence for fifteen minutes - as if the conversation had never halted at all. She studied, how he relaxed, and let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Somehow his tense-ness had cause her to tense up as well. She had been sucked into that hold of his. But it was okay now.

She moved her hand gently along his back. "It's okay, I don't feel as thought my time has been wasted. I'm not even sure it can be wasted." she replied easily. It was true. Her time wasn't really worth anything. It would all come to nothing in the end. If it could be used to comfort him, then it was worth more than anything she would do with it on her own.

Slowly she stood, tightening her scarf around her face. It was getting a little late now, and Tomomi seemed exhausted. She held out her hand to him. "Come on, Tomo, I'll walk you home, okay? I think that's enough excitement for today, atleast." She smiled a small smile.

At the statement that he said plenty about what he cared about, Tomomi let out a small smile. He noticed that she exhaled sharply, but... He was just too tired to worry about that right now. It was relieving to hear that she didn't think her time was wasted. He wasn't too sure what that last bit meant, but there was no way he could think straight enough to comment on it or think on it right now. Maybe later. If he remembered it.

At the suggestion of the duo getting back, and Nadia helping him home, Tomomi nodded, accepting Nadia's hand and standing up, using his spare hand to push himself off the bench, not wanting to force Nadia to take his weight. As he got up, he let out a single, heavy breath, before taking his jacket off, and returning it back to his shoulder where it belonged. "Um... It's in Little Tokyo, so, um... Do you mind taking me to the train station? And um... T-thank you..."

Nadia nodded with a friendly incline of her head, and moved along with his pace gently. She didn't want him to feel rushed or anything like that. She would hold his hand only for a few moments as they moved away from the bench before she let it drop to her side, and then both hands clasped loosely behind her back. Her cheeks were lightly flushed from the cold, and her eyes were curious as she looked up at him and asked. "Does Cecil ever talk about me to you...?" Tentatively, in a small voice.

She couldn't help it. In the silence of the moment while she'd been sitting with Tomomi, her mind had wandered back to the thoughts she'd been trying to avoid earlier. She swallowed, bracing herself for an answer that would hurt.

At Nadia's question as they walked, Tomomi went dead silent in thought. He tried to recall his meet ups with Cecil. It was... A tricky question to answer, and a bit of a minefield. Answering would be... Hard for both of them.

Still, when Cecil had hid stuff from him, he got hurt when the truth for what Cecil lied or hid was revealed. So, Tomomi let out a gulp, and shook his head. "I'll be honest... We haven't... Um... Talked a lot since you two met. But... When we have met, I'm... I'm sorry, but, he doesn't unless I bring it up... So... No, he doesn't... Sorry..." His voice was low and quiet, trying not to let it stress him out too much.

Nadia looked ahead instead of at Tomomi, and fought tears. It was even worse than she thought. Not only was she pulling Cecil along, but her presence was causing him to pull away from his best friend. Nadia was a nuisance to them both, even if they would never say it. Her lashes fluttered against the tears that she felt coming, hot like fire behind her eyes. But she did her best to keep them at bay. "It's okay. I knew what the answer would be before I asked the question. Thank you for being honest with me, Tomomi." She looked up, and gave him a weak smile.

She thought about apologizing for taking his friend, but there was no way that conversation would go well for him. It was better that she handled it on her own. They didn't need her anyway, not if it caused them problems. She took a deep breath. They were almost to the station...She didn't have to hold the smile much longer now. "Thank you for inviting me out today. I had fun, Tomomi." She said honestly.

At what Nadia said and the smile she showed, Tomomi wasn't sure if he regretted replying or not. No... He knew since awakening to his persona that, even a painful truth was better than silence, or a lie. But that smile... That smile he'd seen so much from Cecil... The smile of pain. Hiding with a glass grin.

As they got to nearer the station and Nadia spoke again, Tomomi returned the slightly hurt smile, speaking up. "I am... S-sorry for... No... That's not right..." Cutting himself off, Tomomi shook his head, before slapping himself in the face, hard. Then, looking up to Nadia again with a slightly red cheek and a more genuine smile, he spoke again. "Thank you for coming. If... If you ever want to hang out again, I'd like that. And, my phone's open if you want to talk at all."

Nadia Walked Tomomi right up to the gate, eyes widening a bit as he slapped himself. If only Cecil were that capable of altering his presentation of things. Or Nadia, for that matter. Still, Tomomi was such a good soul, the sight of pain, even self-inflicted, pained her as well. She turned to him, put a single slender hand on his cheek gently, and then she pushed herself up on tip-toes to give him a small kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, Tomomi. You're such a wonderful person." she patted his bruised cheek a little. "Be careful on the way home. ..until next time."

And with her farewell delivered, and thoughts enough to flatten her into the concrete, Nadia strode away.

>> Nadia Exit