02. most love like hunters

[worthy]

comment with a character and a month in your subject line. additional prompts or specific scene set-ups optional. receive tags. profit. ♥

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[79]

[ Amuro finds himself subtly drawing from her presence, something arcane and soothing. The area he'd lived in previously on Earth was beautiful and lush too, but it was wrangled in and subdued by mediocrity and regulation, suffocated with structure. It was different from a place like this, untouched by the factions of war, no matter how innocent the party. ]

I saw this place while flying overhead and thought it looked interesting. I have a small aircraft about a kilometer from here. Landing too close seemed like a bad idea. [ Did plants get whiplash from ship exhaust? Probably not worth risking. His gaze lingers on the way the untamed flowers seem to react to her and he only breaks it to kneel down, elbows on his knees. ]

They're beautiful, but I'm not good with things like this.

[ Truthfully spoken, with a trace of good humor. Amuro reaches out to thumb over the velvet-soft petals of a daffodil. So different a feeling from plastics, carbons, metals. ]

[terracanta]

You're a pilot?

[ there's something of a gasp in there, something of a little girl's wonder. she hears it after it's spoken and smiles shyly, forgoing a chuckle. ]

I shouldn't be so surprised. Planes pass over over frequently than people.

[ she tips the watering can back upright, moving onto the next patch. her eyes rise to the sky now, contemplating the clouds and invisible wind. there had been a time she feared its vastness.

or she still does, from time to time, because one day she believes the sky will fall. even so, her irrationality doesn't mean she can't admire it. ]

It must be nice, flying.

[ aerith finishes another patch before she walks over to the opposite side and glances down at him, observing the way he caresses the flowers. it's so tender... and she feels he's different from most. she wonders why... ]

Are there not many flowers where you're from?

[79]

There are flowers in space. [ And grass spread across acres of field, forests full of trees. Amuro lets his hand slip away and looks up too, fairly charmed by her reaction as he catches it from the corner of his eye. The way he looks at the sky is practical, but deep. As if he is looking past it without discrediting what is only visible to the naked eye. ] But on the colonies, I don't think they look like this. [ The way he says it is faintly incredulous, like he himself thinks it's silly. ] Maybe it's just my imagination though.

[ With that, he stands again and smiles plainly. ]

I fly for the Federation. [ He's clad in the EFSF's blues--the colors of Earth's space-faring military branch. ] Regarding your daffodils, I guess you could say I'm better suited to fixing kitchen sinks than I am with gardening.

[ He stuffs his hands back in his pockets for lack of anything to do with them sans green thumbs. ]

Would it scare you to fly?

[terracanta]

[ her eyes widen and she inhales, now too surprised to hide it. ]

Space? A-as in... outer space? Where... all the stars and planets are?

[ she looks more amazed than incredulous. and, soon, scrambling to regain composure. ]

So that's what that uniform is! I'm sorry I didn't recognize it. I'm a little ignorant of things outside...

[ no she isn't supposed to sound articulate anymore. she turns left and right, head down, unsure of how to continue. ]

Um—fixing sinks isn't so bad, I don't think! It has its virtues, like gardening. I always have trouble with fixing plumbing and technical things like that.

[ then his question echoes in the back of her mind, and it makes her stop, cradling the watering can now and lifting her eyes, doe-like in their roundness, the deepest honesty. ]

It would.

[79]

[ Her wonder is something of a rarity, a precious thing not often glimpsed anymore in his line of work. Amuro takes it in stride with measured care, an awareness that is quite sophisticated. ]

Yeah, that same outer space. Don't worry too much about not recognizing the uniform. [ He shrugs, though it's not out of indifference. ] It means that this place is still peaceful.

[ (Like it should be.)

Amuro shifts and makes his way to the back steps of the church, trimmed in white wood railing that was already so many years faded. The paint is coarse and chipped when he runs a palm over it. ]

And that if you ever needed something repaired, coming back here won't be too much of a problem.

[ He knows well that this church is already past its prime, a relic that would no longer need the touch of someone like him to mean something. And he was fine with that.

At her answer, he stills. Thinks of her honesty as, again, extraordinary. ]

What frightens you about it?