#boundies of patience...

[keeps-ache]

okay opinion-havers. i am changing my pfp so here are the options

:333

[the-ultimate-muses]

@more-than-a-princess moved for new editor (X)

At the very least, Kazuichi was expecting to see Sonia trying not to laugh as he spoke, the twitch of her lip, the polite covering of her mouth, even the quirk of a brow in judgment or confusion as his words slipped off his tongue out of his control beyond muscle memory. Maybe that was silly to think, with her being a princess and all, she was no doubt trained to remain as neutral as possible no matter the circumstances, to maintain that required image of elegance and prosperity. It was something he never really thought much about until now, it sounding so very tiring to never be able to emote, to act how you wished, to do what came naturally for fear of offending or being looked down upon when your job demanded you be perfect-

...Oh.

This simple little moment seemed to connect so many loose threads in Kazuichi's mind, the mechanic already knowing that the way he had treated Sonia was bad, and why it was wrong, but the full weight of it hadn't settled in until that very moment. She was still a person, hell, she was a teenager just like him, like everyone else at the school, and she couldn't even laugh at how silly Kazuichi sounded even if she wanted to. She wasn't allowed to be herself, something Kaz knew all too well. It never once occurred to him, however, that she perhaps didn't want to laugh, that her patience was genuine. Even if that was the case, it didn't change the epiphany that had just struck him, what he had been expecting to be a few hours of silence now overflowing with far too many thoughts for him to truly process.

He...suddenly felt a bit protective over Sonia, but not like he had been before when first meeting her. She wasn't just a princess, that much was clear now, and putting himself in her shoes for just a moment, the imagined pressure alone was enough to make his chest tighten with unease, he could hardly imagine what it was like to live it. He wanted her to not feel such a dense weight, to have the chance to be herself, weird ass occult shit and all. He couldn't be the only one that had treated her so poorly, and despite all his wrongdoings, he was no doubt even the worst. He at least had some boundies, but not everyone had the icy grip of anxiety and morals holding them back from every action they made...

This...it was all too much for him to sort through right now, with his mind heavy with not only his lack of hearing and the accompanying headache that always came with it, but the intense desire to not fuck this up. Sonia was being nice enough to give him a second chance here, he couldn't let it go to waste. It would make him as bad of a person as his mind so often told him he was.

Though her continued attempt to sign had him smiling, Kazuichi knew that it was far from the best option for them to continue on with talking, his head giving a good natured shake as he nudged her tablet back towards her in a prompt for her to simply type.

It took a moment for him to read her words, a fair number of emotions flicking across his face as he took everything in, the most prominent of which being surprise.

"Oh- Um...I-I'm just...gonna keep talking instead of typing, if that's okay? I can't really type all that fast, so this is probably easier." Trying his best to keep his tone level and words evenely spaced, Kazuichi spoke a bit slower than usual in an attempt to feel each word on his tongue before speaking it aloud. "Jus' let me know if I'm too loud, or too quiet, a-and you can laugh if you want, I know it sounds funny." Despite the slight self deprication, it was said with a grin with the hopes of showing that he wouldn't take it personally should she choose to laugh.

"You...really wanna learn? 's not super hard actually, most signs are pretty straight forward, bet you use some every day and don't even know it! And a-as for my art, I only really have these with me right now, but I have a sketchbook somewhere in my room with more. I mostly use it for designing machines and whatever, but there's other stuff in there too." Turning the notepad towards Sonia to show her what he had done already, an idea popped into Kaz's head as he looked over his doodles once more. "If you want, I can teach you a few signs now while you look at 'em. Like-" First pointing to one of the flower doodles, Kaz turned to Sonia and waited for her to be looking his way before lifting his hand towards his face in a sign before saying, "Flower! See 'cause, it's like you're sniffing the flower! And- this is squirrel, 'cause it's like they're eating a nut, see?" As he moved through the motions, his usual brightness seemed to return, Kaz's eyes shinning with the joy of showing off what he knew. "Are there, um...any words you want me to show you?"