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[indent][indent][indent][color=gray][sub][right][color=92278f][b]Location:[/b][/color] City Streets -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria[/right][/sub][/color]
[hr]There it was again, that urge to sing. She restrained it, so as to avoid being thrown out onto the street, but still—[i]the progress[/i]! How could she resist smiling at least a little bit? While Kazuki put away the dishes and proposed their next course of action, she turned away and let herself be giddy for a moment. By the time he came back, she was more or less composed.

It was nice to hear his thoughts out loud. Little blips on a map, they were, and even if the roads connecting them were a bit obscure—he was, after all, a bit obscure himself—there was still plenty to decipher in the things he did divulge. He was willing to apologize, but not yet ready to change his mind. A compromise of pride for…pride? Or perhaps it was a matter of self-respect. He did not seem like an obsequious man, but neither was he unyielding. 

Strange how in flux his confidence was, how that flux reflected in him. Suddenly he seemed entirely at ease, speaking evenly and shrugging. Not a nervous bone in his body. Then again, he’d shown much the same level-headedness back in the dungeon. Had that been a front? She couldn’t place him, not yet, anyway, which was probably for the best. The point wasn’t to [i]figure Kazuki out[/i], the point was to help him. 
[color=#2E2C2C]…[/color]
[color=92278f]“Logic is all nice and neat for puzzles, less so for interpersonal drama,”[/color] she said. She’d opted to stay seated, smiling up at him from the table. [color=92278f]“You don’t need to change your mind right this instant. As much as I’d love for all of us to hold hands and remember each other’s birthdays, it’s not fair to expect friendship from nothing.”[/color]

She thought a moment, lips pursed. The angle did feel wrong to her. She didn’t think Kazuki was a cold person. He was smart, and obviously talented, but that didn’t inherently make him some kind of emotionless golem. Already they’d seen people’s personas crumble to reveal much softer interiors, who was to say that couldn’t happen again? Nevertheless, she doubted she was going to get through to him preaching altruism and [i]ooey-gooey feelings[/i].
[color=#2E2C2C]…[/color]
[color=92278f]“But,”[/color] she said slowly, thumbing her lip. [color=92278f]“It [i]is[/i] fair, I think, to expect friendli[i]ness[/i]. Or, let’s call it something else…uhm…[i]flexibility[/i], maybe. If keeping the group together means keeping [i]everyone[/i] together, then for the time being, you might have to compromise your logic telling you to exclude…weak links, just like some of the others might have to compromise their feelings on working with you. If you do that, if you give it time and you put a little faith in the rest of us to pick up whatever slack it is you feel there might be, I promise you things will mend on their own. It could be that you’re right, and we are better off cutting ties with difficult members, but a good skeptic embraces the chance to be wrong, doesn’t he? Because he wants to learn something.”[/color][/indent][/indent][/indent]