[OPEN] Valentine's Mingle

[passingmod]

Who: Everyone! Open to All
What: Valentine's Day mingle logs
When: any time generally around the holiday
Where: awkward cupid / conversation hearts / repay the gesture

Love is in the air, from chocolated Japan to cherubic America, from Victorian times to the far-off future. There are dreams of romance, candy, timid (and bold!) love confessions, and hearts everywhere.

(ooc: This is a post to keep threads together for Valentine's Day. Separate posts or additional subthreads are also fine, and this one is optional. Since some of the affects have potential to force a character's reactions icly, it may be best to discuss between the players or note your preferences/anything you'd rather avoid.)

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[one_one_se7en]

The tiny heart is then held between his index finger and his thumb. He stays silent for a moment as he mentally compares. He and Cortana had a connection - even others in his universe noticed it.

His visor looks to his side. When he came to think about it -and about Kanda-, the answer became too clear for his liking.

"Looks like."

He wanted her to be happy. And yet it bothers him a little that she would move on before he is gone.

[waterfell]

She manages to stay blind to John's slight reluctance. She has no intention of moving on from the people she feels close to, any of them. (She'd do well to recognize that other people can have several loved ones, too; but she doesn't think of that.) Instead, she feels a small flicker of relief, if John's quick enough to catch it, because there's something more at stake here than her feelings for Kanda.

It's her ability to feel at all. John is saying that even she can be capable of loving someone.

"I was hoping you'd say that," she says.

[one_one_se7en]

The ability to feel was something many questioned from Spartans, and he knew he was a different case. Ami...? It confused him that she wouldn't know. He looks at her, not understanding the relaxation upon giving his answer.

They wanted to be together. What else was there to it?

"Why?"

[waterfell]

"Why?" Why did she want to hear it? (Because as always, she was running to someone else for her answers; as always, she wasn't sure of herself and who she was and her own wishes; as always, she needed it reflected in someone else.)

"Because I can trust your answer." She claims it's as simple as that, as knowing John is good and say what he sees as the truth. That he won't mislead or hide.

[one_one_se7en]

He remains puzzled. He lowers his head, understanding the need for his word -- he needed it from Halsey, from Mendez, and from Cortana before his journeys. John seeks to remake his question.

"You trust eachother." And motioned to themselves in ways not unlike himself and Cortana. "That answered your question." Better than what he could have given, John feels.

[waterfell]

Does she trust Kanda? She thinks, after this long, that he isn't deceiving her. He's sincere. But that doesn't mean it can work, that doesn't mean they can find each other, that doesn't mean love will stay forever.

But he's said that they can - more, he's said that he's utterly determined to do it. That's what she trusts: a strong will. Kanda has a strong will, so she wants to believe what he says can come true.

"I trust him," she decides. "That's also why I want to try to believe."

[one_one_se7en]

Trust. That's what it's all about. For him, that should have been the telltale sign.

He opens his palm to see what was he holding... and lets out a silent chuckle to himself, noticeable in his armor. He softly holds Ami's palm out, and leaves a heart of his own.

After a moment of silence, he speaks.

"Think it's a sign?"

[waterfell]

Her head comes up sharply at the single word, or perhaps simply at the touch.

"Believe." She echoes it, and finds herself glancing away, downward again, in quiet thought.

"I don't put my trust in signs," she says in the end. But her hand curls around the heart, and she keeps it. A reminder that maybe it's time to try - just a little bit.

[one_one_se7en]

And he does spot it, but says nothing. John saw things a little different: He learned to trust signs throughout the multiverse, as they tended to be warnings of things to come.

"Still worth a try."

Referring to her wish to come to Kanda.

[waterfell]

He's echoing her thoughts again, and it makes Ami both more decisive, and more hesitant, at once, two contradictory currents.

This time, she chooses the side of the smallest bit of faith. "I'll search for him. I've decided on that."

And she gives John, who has seen the results of her searching before now, another look. "Like with you, too."