tindery | ic inbox.

[ she doesn't know relax or warmth..... both things that are fleeting and never last.

but fine, she'll hold the star for five minutes. ]

The feeling of winning is worth more to me than whatever rewards or spoils that come with it.

[ . . . ]

Duchess, you need a hobby.

[ she could be offended. she would be offended, but keeping a hobby is useless?

she knows what he means, but she still says: ]

Running a duchy is my hobby.

No, that's your job, duty, and livelihood, which is temporarily on hold while you're here.

Which I do understand, for the record.

[ tobari barely has hobbies ]

Your survival mode and my survival mode don't seem that different. [ he thinks it's kind of crazy that whether you're at the top of the food chain or the bottom, you have so many scenarios where people are trying to kill you for the sake of resources or power ] But there's really nothing material you're interested in that balances out your feelings of achievement?

Not flowers? Not cats?

Flowers are beautiful, and I know them from petals to bulbs to leaves. [ are they poison or not? ] Cats I've trained.

[ she has messenger cats and birds.

but is she all that interested in them outside of their uses....? eh. ]

Everything comes down to if they're useful.

[ tilts head ]

There's nothing you like just for the sake of it existing? Last time you had fun?

I had fun watching my father be tried for his crimes.

Sounds like a good time but kind of proving my point?

It's unnecessary.

[ she understands what he's trying to say, but she doesn't care about his point? a hobby isn't going to do anything for her. ]

Do you have time for hobbies outside burning things down?

Not a hobby.

[ it's his job after his job which isn't even really after his job because it's a part of his first job ]

I don't, but I also don't see the world in terms of usefulness.

[ he likes things normally... when he bothers to have an opinion on things (he doesn't have an opinion on most things) ]

I should be more offended by this hypocrisy.

[ don't tell her to get a hobby when you don't have any either?

what is the point of liking things normally if you don't do anything about it ]

I hang out with the cats and read now that we're here, and I want to even when I don't have time.

[ HE CAN RELAX AND ENJOY THINGS... ]

But it sounds exhausting—to live life in measures of how much things do or don't serve you. Aren't you tired?

[ she reads, too, to occupy her time here. there is a lot to learn about the modern world.

but is it for enjoyment? eh. ]

No. [ she doesn't have the time to be tired either and doesn't register it. ] What is there to tire me out? Most things come easy to me.

[ again, it's not like he doesn't get it! there aren't many skills he has trouble picking up if he has to, and he doesn't really complain about the work he does at home.

but it's a little bit like seeing your bad habits in someone else with an added twice ]

Are you happy this way, Duchess?

[ so glad she can be a horrible spectacle to anyone and everyone ]

I'm happier than I've been in ages.

[ this is true. her canon point is one of the nicest i could have chosen. things are going well for her outside the whole having to save someone she loves in a shard in purgatory. ]

[ . . . well. he looks thoughtful about that because it can be hard to believe. but he'll shake his head ]

... then I hope that continues. Really.

Maybe there are just some things that are hard for me to wrap my head around, but there's no point in trying to impose my worldview on someone else.

[ his response does make her pause, a little in surprise and a little in thoughtfulness. ]

You don't have to know how I operate to understand me. [ she is acknowledging that he's trying, at least. ]

Change happens because people are different.

... I don't want to just accept someone in parts.

[ and maybe that's another aspect of his idealism. there are some people that tobari hates. he's not afraid to admit that. but until the moment medea becomes one of those people, whether it's inevitable or not, he does want to try. ]

That's ambitious.

[ if only because so many people close themselves off in parts. ]

But the maze makes it an easier time for you.

... it does and doesn't.

Even if someone sees their own life before their eyes, they can still have trouble accepting parts of it.

[ at least yosuke knows he's bi now ]

[ that's a win with yosuke. ]

Sure, but that's also something you can try to understand about them in all their parts. How they're running away from themselves for whatever reason.

[ he nods. because he does. but also, ]

... it's almost always something they've been taught. That there was some part of them that warranted running or hiding.

Funny, isn't it? That that's what becoming older makes you do.

Seems like life can be pretty shit whether you're at the top of society or the bottom dredges of it, so.

Ambition and greed don't discriminate across classes.

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