水如镜 // [steven]

[daigo]

"sounds great," steven said idly. he was back to swirling his tea. truth be told, he held no interest in what cynthia had said, except for salvatore. "you must have been close friends to be in the painting with that family." he recalled at least twenty different faces. were they all living in the same house?

he glanced at her, making eye contact. his eyes were harsh, emotionless. steven wanted to keep it that way; those were the same eyes he wore in verdanturf before it all went to hell. she couldn't read him that way.

"you chased your dreams, then?"

there were almost wistful undertones to those words. he wished he could have. instead, all he had were years that flew past far too quickly for him to recall and a father who wanted him back as daigo.

[/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[lunefeng]

those eyes.

cynthia almost flinched at the harshness, carefully watching him. "i was." she said quietly, leaning against her chair heavily. "i suppose so." she wasn't quite sure if it was her dream to have become pokemon champion. she'd grown tired of the position in recent months.

"did you have any dreams?" she asked in the past tense, wondering about his history. about who steven was as a person.

[/size][/justify]

[daigo]

"that's great, then."

he distracted himself by pouring more tea, and almost overflowed his cup if he hadn't stopped himself. his dreams, huh.

hadn't heard that word in a bit.

"me? yeah."

he stopped to drink his tea. that was a prompt for him to speak more, wasn't it? best he speak first. "they're not really important though. it's the now that matters more than the dreams you might or might not achieve."

[/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[lunefeng]

cynthia rather liked that idea. she chuckled, a hand covering her mouth. "that sounds good. i like that." the tea was good, scorching hot against her tongue.

"so... i'm rather curious." cynthia decided on a topic change, but still talking to keep from any awkward silences. "if i may be so bold, what did my grandmother talk to you about?" she inquired curiously, blowing on the surface of her tea gently.

[/size][/justify]

[daigo]

steven cleared his throat. now, this certainly was an awkward question to answer. "nothing much, i was surprised at how she knew my name," he said, "and that you mentioned to her about me - so i'm going to ask you, what exactly did you tell her?

"she seems to have gotten the idea that i was one of many suitors for you."

steven had to resist the urge to add that it was a firetruckingly stupid idea.

[/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[lunefeng]

"ah, i just told her that were a rather nice guy that i'd met in verdanturf." she said, vaguely confused. however, with the next statement, cynthia forced a laugh.

"ah, hahaha." it sounded fake, even to cynthia. "she does that quite frequently whenever a male comes to visit, and is near the same age as me."

cynthia averted her gaze from steven's, rubbing her tea cup with her index finger. she had the sudden urge to usher steven out.

[/size][/justify]

[daigo]

steven leaned back in his seat, finding it easier to look at cynthia now that she wasn't actively looking at him. "you didn't have to tell her my name," he said pointedly, "god knows what she's heard. that i blow up cities. i think she did, in fact.

"speaking of which, why have you remained elusively single."

[/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[lunefeng]

cynthia stopped and stared at her cup for a good minute. "i-i'm sorry?" she stuttered, staring at the other incredulously. did he just ask why she was still single?

"i-" cynthia was at a loss for words. her face was pink, still shocked by the question. he didn't even seem to tone it like question! and that it was him asking her this, she felt about ten times more awkward. "w-well, are you?" she had no idea what else to say, eyes wide.

[/size][/justify]

[daigo]

"answer the damn question," he said carelessly, drinking his tea and turning away. she flushed a shade of pink; it amused him to see the champion flustered. "don't redirect it at me."

he tipped the teapot and found a disconcerting lack of tea. he filled it with water, and dropped it on the stove to boil again.

[/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[lunefeng]

slightly miffed, cynthia grudgingly answered. "i hadn't found a romantic interest for a while." she said, averting her gaze. she watched him walk around the kitchen, before something struck her mind. "why are you interested in knowing, steven?" she asked suspiciously.

"i answered your question, you answer mine." cynthia, to be honest, wasn't really expecting a legitimate answer from him.

[/size][/justify]

[daigo]

"because frankly, elena liked diego's appearance and she's worried you won't get married off by the time you turn thirty," he said, stirring the tea and basking in the pungent scent of the leaves.

tea changed upon second boil, he remembered. careful not to let it steep for too long, he rummaged around for a filter so he could run the tea into a different pot before the taste ran into bitter. the steam swirled from the top of the teapot, and steven set it on the table before he washed the first teapot.

"he's practically the heir to the entire mansion," he shrugged. "think i see why she liked him."

[/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[lunefeng]

it occured to cynthia that she was being a terrible host as she let him do all the work, and simply sitting there. however, steven probably had a better idea of what he was doing than what she was. she poured him another cup of tea as he washed the pot. "steven..." she began, quickly coming to the conclusion that he was in no way interested in her. she ignored any feeling she had on that matter.

"diego isn't the heir to that mansion." cynthia explained. "the little boy in the photo, a bit shorter than me, is the heir. the one that looks an awful lot like the woman who saved our ass." she frowned slightly. "and i'm not marrying diego. no thank you."

[/size][/justify]

[daigo]

now, this was a surprising turn of events. steven raised an eyebrow, setting the teapot in the sink and turned around to face cynthia. "he isn't? huh," he said, and turned back to rinse the teapot. he overturned it on the rack to dry out, then settled at the table, in the seat opposite cynthia.

fingers locked together as steven assumed a comfortable position. "well, you could consider it," he said, nodding, "but you seemed close to the boy. was he salvatore?"

[/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[lunefeng]

this evening was certainly not turning out the way she had expected it, starting from when diego had stopped by. cynthia looked up to see steven, before averting her gaze to the table. she rest her elbows on the edge, her chin on the backs of her intertwined fingers. "he was salvatore." she began softly. "he used to be my best friend. i loved him to bits."

a picture of salvatore's blank face flashed into her mind, when she had gone back home to celestic for the first time since the war started. his unrecognizing face, staring at her in a mix of confusion and unfamiliarness. "but now, it's... unusual. complicated, as i said before."

[/size][/justify]

[daigo]

"i won't press the subject."

he exhaled, setting his glass of tea aside and leaning back in his seat. "do you need time?" he asked, looking at her, "i can ... head out." he shrugged, jerking his head in the direction of the door.

[/justify][/blockquote][/blockquote]