“Well, I guess I'll just ask Miss Meira if she'll lend me her sword for a little bit.” you say, already preparing your most pitiful set of puppy-dog eyes in the hopes that she won't simply scoff at what will almost certainly be a rather pathetic display on your part.
“Yep! That should be fun to see!” the girl the with perpetually-staring hat cheerfully says, as if reading your mind. For all you know, she can.
You're not really sure how comfortable you feel about such a notion, but you're not sure you like it very much.
You bet it's the hat that does it.
That hat.
That hat.
It
sees you, there.
You know it.
It sees you, with its
eyes.
Those
eyes.
The sight of them staring down at you as you awoke that morning, and the high-pitched scream you emitted as a result, are things you will not live down anytime soon.
“Heeeey, you aren't still mad about
that, are you?” Suwako asks, as you become aware you were currently glaring at the beady-eyed piece of headgear that had shamed you that very day. “It was a joke! A
joke! I said I was sorry!”
“Huh? What? Oh, no!
No! It's fine! Fine!” you assure her, even though you know better. “It's all...fine...”
You're not sure you'll ever be 'fine' again.[/i]
As you begin to bend over and pick up the strange net, along with whatever is inside, the froggy-goddess strides over to you, and brings her face level to your own. Quietly staring at you, you can tell she isn't convinced by your words.
Hell,
you aren't convinced by your words.
Suddenly, you feel a pair of hands clap down on your cheeks, as the little deity returns to her usual cheery demeanor. “Okay! If you say it's fine, then it's fine! But you have to smile, okay?”
As if to assist in the effort, Suwako's thumbs begin to gently push up on the corners of your mouth, as her pinkies go to work at attempting to tickle the area around your ears.
Though you have no doubt that it is a ridiculous sight to behold, the faint giggling you can clearly hear off to the side all but confirms it.
Nevertheless, you begin to feel something other than Suwako's thumbs working the corners of your mouth upward, and before long you feel yourself smiling under your own power.
Seeing this, Suwako offers you the slightest of nods. “Good! That's it!” she says, taking her hands away and clapping them together. “Nobody likes a frowny-face, least of all the ladies!”
Leaning in extra-close as she says that last part, but only barely lowering her voice, you wonder if she was really trying to make it so only you could hear her, or if she just thought the gesture fit the moment and ran with it.
From what you've seen, it really could go either way with her.
“Well then! We shouldn't keep the lady waiting, should we?” Suwako continues to speak. Springing up, she stretches her arms a little before spinning around, and starts to walk towards what you can only hope is the way out of this forest. “Keep up now, children! No lollygagging~!”
Casting a glance at the two fairies, you can't help but smile and shrug. Carefully lifting the mysterious net-ensnared thing, you gently heft it over your shoulder, nod to your companions, and begin your journey out of the forest you had purposefully lost yourself in.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“You're back.” Meira says as you approach, her terse observation of your return probably being the closest you can hope to get to a greeting from the swords-woman.
“Aww, didja miss us?” Suwako asks, practically skipping up to where she was seated on the ground. “I bet you did~!”
“Not particularly.” Meira replies, her cool tone carrying not even the slightest hint of malice. Or any identifiable emotion, really.
So, basically, it was just Meira being Meira.
Or, more accurately, Meira being Meira dealing with Suwako.
Why she gets that way whenever the little goddess is around, let alone interacting with her, you're not really sure, but you get the distinct impression that the diminutive deity simply considers the “One-woman Cold Front” act to be a challenge of some sort.
“Aww, come on! Come
on! You missed us! You know you did! You know~!” Suwako cheerfully jabs at the woman, opting to go straight for a direct attack.
“What is that?” Meira asks, gracefully dodging Suwako by completely ignoring her, and instead focusing her attention on you.
“Well, you see...”
[ ] Cut to the chase! Cutting! And things that need it!
[ ] Pleasantries first! A little greeting never hurt anybody!
[ ] Not so fast! Did she even move while you were gone?!
----------------------------------------------
>>154942 I could compile a list, but beyond the first handful of choices I would be pretty much just making things up, though I would at least try to make them sound like actual options that would have appeared in the story.
[X] Agree with her
[X] Go back to town
[X] HAMMERTIME
[X] Excessively-wordy and over-complicated option that details a specific series of actions and responses with no regard for how the scene might actually play out and thus is not guaranteed to work at all like the people voting for it expected it to
[X] 5
[X] Yes
[X] Shake the baby
[X] MOVIE REFERENCE
[X] GAMING REFERENCE
[X] OPTION THAT SOUNDS LIKE A REFERENCE BUT REALLY ISN'T
[X] and MANY MORE!
