perfectmatch | week two

[One's lenses shift as one experiences life, no?]

Rather than a journey, it would be more apt to say that I was on a walk.

[ . . . or a sprint. He wonders if Shoko might know the feeling.]

I was a researcher. A difference in opinion at the site led to my departure, and I allowed my feet to carry me until they stopped here.

[ He left his site and just... walked here...? Well. She's heard stranger, unfortunately. But more importantly— ]

So it's like that... Researcher, though? What were you studying?

I fear the matter of that is better off left classified.

[Just as he denied Poppy the details before, it's less reticence and more caution on his part. He doesn't wish to endanger anyone here on this very public platform.]

Oh? Well, that's fine, then.

[ In fact, Shoko would very much be the same way, if not for the fact that the world her work involves had very recently been blown wide open for the whole world to see. ]

It must have been a huge disagreement, though, if you left like that.

Regardless of the magnitude, the result remains the same.

[He left. How big or small that disagreement was bears no significance.]

. . . What of you, Miss Shoko? Have you always been a practitioner of the healing arts?

I suppose it does.

[ It's probably for the best that they don't dwell on that topic. One of the staff comes back with their teas, setting them down and letting them know their curry is coming soon, too. Shoko nods with thanks and takes her cup in her hands, letting it warm her fingers as she answers Yi Sang. ]

It's what I always knew I would do, yes. Ever since I discovered my technique. I guess I haven't mentioned it to you, but the medicine I practice isn't... strictly modern science. I have an innate ability that lets me heal others, too.

[It's a welcome respite, and one that comes with an equally pleasant drink. Yi Sang nurses the tea while Shoko speaks, then sets the cup down once she's finished.]

Is such a technique common among your people?

[ Man, maybe she should fwoo hyoi her way out of this explanation, too, but...

She shakes her head. ]

Nope. Having the thing that lets me use a technique in the first place is rare. It's even more rare, to be able to use it to heal one's self. And then even more rare to be able to use it to heal others.

[ Hopefully that makes enough sense. ]

[By that, he takes it to mean that Shoko is a woman possessed of an extraordinary gift.]

Then yours is a rare talent. One you've nurtured in order to aid those who are ailing . . .

[A passion that gives rather than take, beautiful in its selflessness.]

[ Yes, Shoko's definitely only ever used her knowledge and abilities objectively for good, and never for some ethically questionable acts...

She shifts in her seat, leaning back and folding her arms. ]

Mm, that's always the hope. When it comes to sorcery, it's not strictly required to become a medically-trained doctor to be a healer, but... I thought I would be able to do more with my abilities if I did. It's not guaranteed to always work, anyway, so I do have to rely on conventional medicine, too.

[ And sometimes that doesn't work, either. Sometimes her patients are beyond saving. ]

[It's fine . . . ]

I have operated on others by necessity afore, though I lack the same training. Your trade is one of considerable import: It is no small feat to save a life.

[Shoko seems driven by a certain passion for the craft, too, which is perhaps why they're here in this cafe at all.]

[ She stares at him for a long moment... ]

...

Are you complimenting me, Yi Sang?

[He glances aside, putting the stare out of his immediate periphery.]

Indeed, for yours is a noble vocation.

[ She does, too, so now they can both just stare into the middle distance together. ]

...Thanks. It's... not easy, what I do. I can say that much. It doesn't always feel noble.

[ This is a Pompompurin Cafe. . . . ]

[They sit there together, staring at a pile of Pompompurin plushes seated atop a row of chairs against the wall.]

Is the world you hail from in turmoil?

[ Just, simply: ]

Yeah. [ And a beat, before she adds, ] Well... it pretty much got turned upside-down recently. A lot of things happened. I'd say the worst of it's over, at least, so we're in recovery mode these days.

A fortunate turn of events. [He straightens, facing her again.] Yet time flows differently to some than it does for others.

[ what could he possibly mean by this... she looks away again. ]

Is that what you think...?

[He takes a sip of tea and sets it down.]

At a certain point, time ceased to move for me.

[ Absently, Shoko takes to tapping her finger against her cup of tea. At at time like this, it wouldn't be so unusual for her hand to be taken up by a cigarette. But in the absence of it... it's like she needs to be holding something to quell the restlessness that belies her usual calm demeanor. ]

...It does feel that way, sometimes.

[ Maybe that's the difference between them, that it feels like a sometimes for Shoko, while it's more absolute for Yi Sang. ]

Isn't there anything that can set time in motion for you again?

[There's a restlessness that seems to appear whenever she has to contend with a certain mood. He notes the tapping, but mostly wonders how she manages those occasional moments, and whether his inner clock will ever begin to tick again, even if sporadically like hers.]

If there is, I do not yet know of it.

[ She lets his answer hang in the air for a long stretch of silence, thinking about the other times they've talked like this. How they'd left off on the idea of change before. But how does that happen, in the first place?

Her gaze eventually centers on him once more. ]

Yi Sang. Do you want time to move for you again?

[ He has to want to change before he can experience it, she thinks. ]

[Is it time, or is it something else that he desires? All he knows is that, at one point, he couldn't stand to be so still. All he wanted . . . ]

. . . If I had wanted to preserve the status quo, I would not have left the white square.

[ ...That's a good enough answer for her. ]

Then I think you'll find what you're looking for. Maybe you'll even find it here, or at least get closer to it.

Coming here was already a big change in itself, wasn't it?

Coming here was not a calculated decision, but the result of convenience. I had been walking for so long that my feet hurt, and a place to rest them seemed inviting.

[He peers down at his cup of tea.]

However . . . it is a change.

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