Let's all hold hands and sing Kumbaya

[notzubats]

Who: Everybody! It's a planet mingle!
Broadcast: If You want!
Action: On the Holding Hands plant!
When: From June 23 until whenever we need a new mingle.

[At long last, the fleet has arrived to a new planet. This means it's time for a mingle guys! Get in! ]

Comments

[fuga]

I am glad to see it.

[ She approaches him slowly, like a wild animal, and hesitates before she reached and undoes the buttons on the cloak around her shoulders. It drops, and gives her a place to sit, leaving her in a simple dress. ]

I would see it more, if I could.

[precedented]

Happiness? Or fatigue?

[fuga]

The happiness. [ She frowns, turning her head away. ] I think you are best suited to it.

[precedented]

[ He laughs. ]

That is an odd thing to say. Why?

[fuga]

Because your smile is beautiful.

[ And it's said simply, without anything but honesty. ]

[precedented]

[ He blinks, never quite accustomed to bold compliments like that before his grin turns lazy and cat-like. ]

You do wonders for my ego.

[fuga]

[ It is a charming grin, and Lauralae offers her own, tiny smile in response. ]

It is only the truth.

[ Reaching out, careful, gentle fingers touch the corner of his mouth - not that she can feel it. ]

I like it.

[precedented]

I suppose I don't smile truly very often. The nature of politics, I'm afraid.

[ The slightest tick of human muscle can be read into. It is their way. ]

[fuga]

Would you allow me to try to encourage it more? I enjoy your smile. It is a lovely thing.

[ If Lauralae realised what she was saying she might be more embarrassed, but as it stands it's just the complimentary truth, something she can't really hide. ]

[precedented]

For you, Sihaya, anything.

[fuga]

You give me too much when all I desire is your smile.

[ Anything. It is too grand a thing - and she is not cruel enough to abuse it, she thinks. ]

[precedented]

I don't recall giving much. A few spoken words and a few grand gestures. Is a smile truly worth having?

[ His grin is faint. Feeling the sand beneath him is making him nostalgic and heady. He keeps looking to see Ghani to appear, to soothe his melancholia away. ]

[fuga]

To me? Yes. It is a foreign gift in my hands.

[ Slowly, her fingers drop away and she shakes her head. ]

I have not known many smiles.

[precedented]

I'd be more than happy to smile at you then, Sihaya.

[fuga]

You grant me a boon.

[ She softens, though, and her own smile comes, a small, almost nervous thing. ]

I will abide by it as well.

[precedented]

Then that makes it more of a mutually beneficial arrangement.

[fuga]

I am more comfortable with that.

[ She has lived her life making such arrangements, and she makes a soft noise as she settles down properly beside him.

Then: ]

People keep trying to touch me.

[precedented]

That is the way of this place. It's how they communicate.

[ They've been more wary of touching Leto. The growth on his face and arms screams of an unnatural disease. ]

[fuga]

They do not know what they are doing.

[ Lauralae bows her head, glancing at her gloves. ]

All it will bring is pain.

[precedented]

Pain does not last forever.

[fuga]

[ She lifts her hand, gloved and impossible to feel, and hesitates, it hovering beside his face. ]

Does it not?

[precedented]

[ He shifts to lean against her hand. ]

I have never known it to. Pain fades. Much like fear. It is what we hold dear that lasts.

[fuga]

[ The touch makes her pause, almost startled, but then she goes gentle, stroking her thumb against his face. She wishes she could feel it; she wishes she could tell if he is warm or cool, if his skin is as soft as it appears or if it feels entirely different to appearance. ]

I would not give others the pain I shared with you. Even I am not borne of such cruelty.

[precedented]

I do not recall any such pain.

[ But Leto has a haphazard view of pain and suffering. He's rarely caught by it and he rarely feels its sting. Physical pain can be suppressed by his fine motor control that allows him to balance and feel every nerve in his body. ]

[fuga]

I recall it. We danced, and my hand burned yours.

[ She shakes her head before she offers him a small, nervous smile. ]

Should I ever be cured I would like to touch you again. To give you my hand without fearing your suffering.