[PRP] How Can I Help You?

[Tori Honoo]

She accepted the card and the tissue, an embarrassed laugh escaping her as she quickly dabbed up the few tears at the corners of her eyes. "Sorry. I just... Didn't really expect..." A shake of her head.
"Even knowing, though, doesn't always make it your choice, though I guess, I did run in the end...I just kept fooling myself into thinking I could handle it and maybe I'd wake up and it would go away on its own or he'd actually care."

Another quiet look at him. "I know masks... It's harder to take them off than it is to put one on, half the time." She tucked her hair back, then put her card away. "I think mine's had to be literally torn off...and I still don't want to admit half of what I used to be." Another head shake. "And we're all weak, just...some people come together and make it easier."  

[Akira Midoriyama]

With a small, sad smile, he sighed. "Well, you know what they say. Love is blind. Can't help it when it happens."

"Mm...sometimes when you wear a mask too long, there's nothing left underneath," he murmured. "What was once just a mask soon turns out to be one's only existence. So you really can't lose sight of who you are."

He closed the cash register. "Maybe. But some people are stronger on their own."  

[Tori Honoo]

"Or commitment tricks you into thinking it's love. ...or he was just a manipulative jerk," she forced subtly into a laugh, trying to rid the heaviness from her chest. She was already pushing her limits, she felt, as it were.

She stayed quiet a moment, then attempted to meet his eyes. "Maybe some people... really do just need a blank canvas. Tear of the mask and starting over sounds...really nice." Her gaze fell to the bag, and suddenly she looked as though she wasn't sure if she wanted to accept it just yet. "I think... deep down, we're all the same. Fragile little people at our base. It's kind of heartbreaking to see how easily we're able to hurt one another, though."

She listened to the register close, lifting her eyes to him again. "Or they trick themselves into thinking that..." she said, with a soft tone of concern under her words.  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"I'm not sure what you had," the stock clerk said, "and I'm far from an expert on the subject. But I think if it's really love, you'd know."

Sensing she wasn't going to take the bag from him, he set it on the counter for her to grab whenever. "Maybe," he answered. "But not me. I've had my experiences and I'm learning from them. I don't do well with people."  

[Tori Honoo]

She nodded in understanding. "The word has taken on an entirely different meaning than it once had, since moving here to Kodo... but yes," she agreed, watching as he sat the bag down. "Knowing something like that is hard when you're not even fully aware of where you are or even who you are, though. I've had crushes since I was little, and yet..." A slight smile. "I used to be a hopeless romantic, you know. So much so that I think I annoyed my friends to no end...I'm sure I hurt a lot of people, too."

Her eyes stayed on the bag before drifting to him again. "Well... maybe you just haven't been with the right kinds of people. But if you ask me, you're not a bad person to talk to. I... I wish I had more friends like you."  

[Akira Midoriyama]

Smirking a little, Akira stared down at the bag as he rested both arms on the counter. "Well...it's always meant the same thing to me. Even if I'm not sure who I am. But I guess that's just another reason we're so different."

"Hehe..." the chuckle that escaped his lips was empty of any real amusement. "If the 'right kinds of people' aren't back home and they aren't here, I can only come to the conclusions that it's me who's not right. And thanks for saying that," he added, "but be careful what you wish for. I doubt you even know what about me you wish you had more friends be like."  

[Tori Honoo]

Slowly, as he leaned forward, she reached for the bag, holding it by the handles with both hands, as she spoke with him. "Well. I've always liked to idealize things until now." A weak laugh. "I think I always acting on it the way I interpret it now, but I guess I was blind enough for him to trick me into thinking it was somehow returned. In general it's always meant the same... it's just had a different form of action." They were different... but then, who could actually define such a word?

The false laugh that escaped him sent a pang through her chest, and she shook her head. "The world is a big place. There are a lot of people in it, all with good and bad within them. There's bound to be something inside each of us that can relate with another..."

A pause, as she considered what he had to say.

Sliding the bag to one hand, she pushed her hair back again, slowly, behind her ear. "You right. Something about you, though, just..."

Another pause, as she trailed off, her eyes on the floor for a few long beats. "I knew someone once who looked just like you. The last proper conversation I had with him ended in chaos, and as he left I called him out. What he said afterward really made me think." She shook her head a little. "He actually told me he hated me once, and I don't think I could thank him enough for that now. As much as it hurt at the time, I think it's done more good than our friendship back home ever could have. At the time, I definitely wouldn't have considered him the right kind of person then, but given time..."

She looked up at him then, another weak laugh coming from her chest. She sounded ridiculous. "Sorry...I, um... I haven't really talked to many people about anything other than rockets and hospital problems. I'm probably sounding really odd."  

[Akira Midoriyama]

"Um...who are we talking about, now?" Akira asked, having gotten lost a little in their conversation. He'd just thought she had been talking about love in general, not a particular person.

"Mm...just because we may be able to relate doesn't mean we might like it," he went on to say. "And some people prefer to be around others who don't relate to a particular aspect of theirs, so I don't think it's about being able to relate."

Raising a brow, the store clerk put up his forearm and rested his chin in his palm. "Sounds like a jerk to me," he said when she was finished. "Didn't you say something about being blind enough to let people trick you? Maybe you should try opening your eyes and seeing people for who and what they really are before you imagine future things that aren't and never will be there," he suggested, his tone normal. "You said 'given time', but some people never change. No one can really say what time will do."

Shaking his head, he waved a careless hand. "I appreciate the conversation. Gives me something to do to pass the time other than bore myself cleaning things I've already cleaned while I wait for my shift to get over." He smiled slightly. "It's getting kind of late for you, though."