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Kiaane just blinks, which means they don't know.
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((Attempt to continue this thread lol, as promised))
"Are you going to eat the other sandwich?" Martin asked, finally shifting his focus away from the cricket. "Or will you take it for dinner?"
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Kiaane starts to shake their head but pauses as soon as the second question is voiced, possibly because whenever there's more than one question asked in their direction, their mind automatically short-circuits. "Dinner?" they ask like they don't know what it is.
Yep. Their mind definitely short-circuited.
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"Yeah, for later today! After sundown, sometimes I get called to dinner. But other times I just read something. But other times I want a little bit of food. Dinner has a lot of food, but I don't always eat it," Martin said, apparently both speaking and thinking out loud. "If you don't get called and you're hungry, are you going to eat that sandwich?"
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Kiaane shakes their head. That's a no, mostly because they don't eat dinner unless called.
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"So can I have it for later?" He asked.
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Instead of responding immediately, the mercenary just studies Martin. Their gaze, as usual, is rather bellicose, but even if the eyes are supposedly the mirror for the soul, one should still not judge another for their eyes.
"Another sandwich can be made 'later,'" they respond. "Food is best served fresh. 'Healthier' that way."
By the way, by 'made later,' they mean they can make one for him later if he wants. It's not so clear how they say it, though.
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"Oh, right... okay." Martin liked the proposal, so he nodded. "I think healthy is good."
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Kiaane points vaguely at the ceiling. By "vaguely," one means that they didn't even finish the part of pointing where you actually isolate the one finger--it's more like they just flopped their hand backwards. "Eating dinner is also healthy," they...lecture? It could hardly be called that, but that is the intention.
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"Probably," replied Martin, but he didn't sound very convinced.
He checked the cricket once again.
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Yay, and Kiaane's not going to convince him. That ain't their job.
The cricket's somewhere inside the sleeve. Maybe it's asleep, since it hasn't chirped at all.
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The boy drew his legs up to his chest. "Do you think someone else will use the kitchen soon?"
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Instead of going "I don't know" like a normal person, Kiaane instead just goes completely motionless and silent as they listen for impending footsteps, verbal intent to enter the kitchen, or anything of the sort. Best of all, after a bit, they apparently presume Martin also did the same thing as them, because they don't even elaborate on their conclusion, which is "No."
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At least this time he thought the same thing.
"Mmm, no, right?"
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"No," they repeat, though it could very well be taken the wrong way.
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Martin rocked lightly to the sides in his position. He looked up at the ceilig and then to the left and finally back to Kiaane.
"That means we can stay here for more time," he concluded. "Except if you want to go outside again."
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The entire time Martin's head is rotating around, Kiaane is just staring somewhat attentively at him. And then that slight upward tilt of their head is supposed to be the equivalent of a nod, which means they are indeed planning on going outside again, though the specific detail there is that they plan to do it later--which they don't indicate by a mere motion of their head.
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((Idk why I imagined Martin moving his head like an owl lol lol))
"Yeah?" Martin tried to confirm, adding an extra motion to his previous head movements. "So we can stay here for longer?"
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Another strange nod on their end. But this time, they add a "Why?" as in "Why do you wish to stay here?", not "Why does that mean we can stay here for longer?"
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"Why?" he echoed. "Well, why not?"
Martin leaned to the side just because he felt like moving a bit. "I don't get to be in here much!"
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The mercenary pauses a bit when he repeats what they say, but it doesn't seem to provoke a large reaction from them. They just keep standing there, their hand held tightly around the sandwich like it's a disobedient animal with legs instead of an inanimate type of food. And since he didn't say much that could warrant a response, at least from them, they just kind of soak in what he has said like a sponge. A very antisocial sponge, apparently.
Maybe they should ask why he doesn't get to be in here a lot, or maybe they should even consider that themselves, but they're probably not doing either of those things.
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And then, I guess silence ensues.
This time Martin was kind of waiting for an answer or a comment. He continued to expectantly look at Kiaane.
Blink.
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It takes a while, but then they ask, "How long?"
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"Not much!" Martin replied almost immediately. "Just for lunch. Sometimes. I like to play but I can't play here."
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"Shouldn't," Kiaane agrees.
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"Other places are more fun too." Martin began to tap his shoes against the ground to add rhythm to his words. "Places with more sticks and little rocks. I like sticks."
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"Then why stay here?" Kiaane turns their head to stare off absentmindedly, trying and failing to think of places with sticks.
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"Because you're here and I'm coming with you when you leave!"
Martin wondered if Kiaane also liked to play with sticks.
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Well, at least he knows they carried a stick with them before, so maybe? It would imply that they don't necessarily dislike sticks.
They're actually confused now. (The only indication is that one of their eyebrows is scrunched up a little tighter than before.) Earlier they had presumed that he was here because he didn't get to be in here often, but now he's explaining it to them being here. Technically, that wouldn't be so hard to understand, either, but technically, Kiaane isn't all that intent on being here and are only here because Martin is. Kiaane's mind doesn't work all that well in the first place, but when it comes to paradoxes and contradictions, it only gets worse from there.
Also, somehow they're failing of thinking of places with sticks. Yay!
Anyways, the only other indication of their confusion is that they're completely still, but that also needs an "again" added to the end of it, which means it's pretty hard to see why they're suddenly just standing there without responding all of a sudden. Don't worry, they're about to arrive at a conclusion. Just...give them a bit, and preferrably add some undistracting verbal filler.
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Martin's shoes went tappity-tap. Now they have a rhythm of themselves.
Martin is waiting for Kiaane to say something, though maybe the tapping noise is distracting.