audience: shess

[cyclists]

Comments

[unsaid]

Mm, I possess that as well...

[he just doesn't

exercise it]

[nonbelligerent]

... What will you do if there's no one available to make you tea?

[unsaid]

Perhaps then I shall learn.

[unlikely]

However I have been fortunate to find that if you walk long enough, and ask kindly enough, there is always someone who is available to make tea.

[nonbelligerent]

[he can't help but laugh at that.]

Very lucky for you, I guess.

[unsaid]

Indeed, indeed. I have lived a life blessed with good fortune and grace.

[a soft laugh]

My only hope is that others are able to enjoy the same, as much as the fates and their choices allow.

[nonbelligerent]

Hopefully.

Though being able to appreciate the good moments among the bad can be a skill that takes a while to refine.

[unsaid]

[ah - that manages to make mikazuki smile]

Tell me... Do lotus flowers grow where you are from, my friend?

[nonbelligerent]

Not much grows in the sura realm.

[unsaid]

No...?

Perhaps if you take the lotus flower I had given you, it will find a way to retain life even in such a place -

[he has no idea if this is true but listen he's making a point]

Lotus flowers bloom in adversity. Its roots sink deeply into the darkness of the mud and each day it repeats the cycle of submerging itself into the murky, dirty waters that it dwells in, but will later rise and bloom again, beautiful and untouched by its surroundings.

Time and time again...

[he smiles softly]

Perhaps life would be altogether more beautiful if people were able to be as persistent and proud as a lotus flower.

[nonbelligerent]

[...]

Are lotuses your favourite flower, Mikazuki?

[unsaid]

[ . . . well.]

I cannot say if I have a favorite.

[he receives so many and he likes them all...]

Perhaps they are simply the flowers that remind me most of dear friends.

[nonbelligerent]

... I'm sure your friends would appreciate the sentiment.

[unsaid]

[well.

they might if they remembered him.

but he doesn't say that out loud]

... I am happy to carry the memories I have accumulated in my heart.

Even the times that are difficult, or the ones that fail to bring joy.

[nonbelligerent]

That's probably the only way to endure a long life.

[unsaid]

Perhaps so.

And what of you, my friend?

[nonbelligerent]

I make do.

[unsaid]

Ahaha, so you do...

Have you come any closer to determining a wish for yourself, in a universe you are able to create?

[nonbelligerent]

Can't say I've been thinking too deeply about it.

[unsaid]

Busying yourself with the matters of others?

[nonbelligerent]

I guess.

[unsaid]

I suppose I cannot bring myself to be surprised -

Now, more than ever, things may be a bit chaotic.

[nonbelligerent]

I get that impression.

[unsaid]

I am receiving a great number of visitors - I am glad, to be able to talk while I am still wholeheartedly myself.

[nonbelligerent]

You're well-liked. People want to say their goodbyes, I imagine.

[unsaid]

Ha ha ha, that is a rather amusing sentiment. To continue to extend kindness to an old man such a myself....

I am honored.

Even so, I imagine it will not be a farewell for long.