The sky was gifted with a vibrant orange hue, by a deep red orb that slowly disappeared under the blanket of the horizon... Aki could enjoy the visage in relative peace and solitude. The setting sun strung along with it a cooler breeze, which discouraged the swimmers from lingering in the stream too long. With a disinterested and idle gaze, the girl watched as the stragglers pulled themselves out of the water, leaving sloppy footprints on the stone as they scurried away. Perched on a rock, much like herself were a few fishing enthusiasts... She never had the patience for a venture like that, she'd rather not be doing anything, than be waiting for something to happen to her bait.

Just as a precaution, she plucked out her pack of cigarettes. She had crawled her way back into this nasty habit of relying on the smoke, ever since she'd been forced to endure the boisterous crowd. It truly did work well to repel most folks. Her demeanor was usually not too approachable, so luckily rarely did anyone even attempt to ask her for a light. But today, while she picked out a cigarette and placed it between her lips, she didn't even bother lighting it.  Not too many people were around at the moment, it'd be too much effort to collect the smoke in her mouth without inhaling it... If someone approached her and she really didn't want to encourage any conversation, perhaps she'd light it then... For now, she just let it sit there.

Slowly, the process of just sitting, staring at the sun disappear and consciously breathing the fresh air in and out was becoming meditative, till she entered a trance-like state of her own. Her feet were firmly placed on the ground for support, her elbows rested on her knees as the Shimada sat crouched forward. Her weight remained distributed evenly between her seat and her feet. Her right hand loosely held a matchbox... The weight of her gun was suddenly very noticeable, both figuratively and literally as she began contemplating her actions ever since she joined the Knights. She did this ever so often, till the strings of moments wove themselves into a sheet of memories, enveloping her till she was forced into a state of pensive introspection.

The sky was now adopting bluer hues, the orange fading to a duller peach. The sound of rustling leaves behind her caused her to snap her head back and stare into the foliage. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to scan the shadows for a person, or a creature.

Perhaps Akira missed the ensuing beauty of spring. In her eyes, it was the pinnacle of survival of the fittest. Each flower bloomed to best the other... Each animal needed to ensure their gene went on, so they fought for safety, for territory etc. It just appeared lively, but if one scratched the surface there was so much more happening that the naked eye missed. But then, all mankind cared about was appearances, Akira was no stranger to that. As long as it looked pretty, who would bother to inquire anymore. God forbid, something wasn't pleasing to the eye, then it deserved all sorts of undue scrutiny.

It was strange, how despite the fact that she'd managed to harness her magic, she was still bitter about the way she had been treated every time she'd lost control in the past. Not once, in all those situations had the escaped darkness, ever led to anything even minutely dangerous or violent. She was convinced that the element of light could peek out of her right now, probably even accidentally kill or maim someone and no one would be as traumatized as they were just at the mere sight of the darkness. It was such deductions that led her to firmly believe in the appearance based prejudicial nature of the human species.

Her deduction was proved countless times when she had to come to the aid of those that looked like criminals and so were arrested by fellow Knights. To the point where she had garnered a decent bit of dislike for being a thorn in people's side, simply because she was standing up for what was fair. They'd really go the extra mile to remind her of the occasional times when she was wrong and they truly had caught the right culprit... Petty puppets. She thought. Her anguish was accentuated further when she realized that despite her efforts, she too was exactly that. Maybe not petty, but she definitely was on the strings of the council, whether she wanted to be or not. At this point, even if she quit, things would probably not change drastically. Aki would still be left looking over her shoulder...

The girl shook her head. Just go with the flow... be water. she tried telling herself, along with a long deep breath of the damp air, as her eyes watched the water. The stream borrowed light and it assumed the form of sparkles as the clear, gentle waves leaped over the pebbles. The quieter it got, the easier it was to hear the soothing gurgle of the water as it spilled over the shallow steps and rolled down the side of the hill. But it was only a matter of time before the croaking frogs would shatter that serenity.

Of course, the Shimada wasn't even afforded the little time between the sunset and the noisy mating calls of the amphibians. The Knight had the misfortune of being disturbed by someone. She'd barely managed to keep her eyes from rolling before she'd turned. Now, there she sat, literally looking over her shoulder, to assess the source of the disruption. It happened to be a young man. Her eyes widened as she sized up the guy as he emerged from the less traversed path that had been shrouded by bushes.

Now here is a man who could probably get away with doing terrible things... With his tailor-made clothes and tousled blonde hair. For all intents and purposes, this thought was a compliment, just a bit back-handed considering the thoughts that had led up to the moment. Maybe he was just going to go on his own way? No, of course not. She wondered what about her piqued his interest, the cigarette coupled with the dark clothes usually made her quite unapproachable. It was refreshing though, to meet a stranger who remained quite unfazed.

'Yes, it will. Among other things.' she replied softly, mimicking his fact-stating tone as she turned away, she assumed he was referring to the cigarette. Perhaps, it was a mistake to discount him as a threat already. But then, perhaps she too had fallen folly to his seemingly safe appearance... If he'd wanted to harm her, he could have done that without alerting her. So either he truly wasn't dangerous, or he was really bad at his job. 'Sure.' she responded monosyllabically, betraying no excitement whatsoever.  Clearly, she wasn't too thrilled with the idea, but then when was she ever? Meeting new people was something she actively avoided, despite more than a fair few encounters leading to the development of interesting relationships.

There were other rocks strewn around, close enough for him to sit and hold a conversation and yet not invade her private space. She slid open her matchbox, contemplating whether or not to light her cigarette, it'd probably serve to make quick work of this unceremonious interruption, but a part of her was intrigued too. So she decided to surrender to the moment. Like water. she reminded herself as she plucked the agent of slow death out of her mouth and placed it on the rock beside her. Unfortunately for the guy, she wasn't much of a talker, plus any conversation starter she thought up, seemed redundant. What brings you here?... The festival of course. Her mind played out other ice-breakers. She finally settled on an introduction, that was always a safe route. 'Akira. And you are?'  

The Shimada was practicing the art of trying to let go. Slowly, she had to veer away from this path of pessimism. She had to teach herself, to go with the flow, so she could accept change, instead of resisting every expected and unexpected hitch. Of course, she was a little cynical about her own abilities too, she wasn't sure if she was ever truly going to be able to surrender to a moment. But somehow, this lack of faith also spurred her on. An internal battle commenced and she was rooting for the better Akira, the freer Shimada.

It had to start today. Akira steeled herself and internally chanted a mantra that prevented her from scrutinizing her company. The raven was going to try her best to not to analyze every expression and gesture the man offered, willingly or unwillingly. So she missed the fleeting glimpse of confusion, that her actions had incited. The raven was acutely aware of the process that would follow, she would scour through all that inferred data, piece it together into an ulterior motive for this interaction. In her mind it was so rare for moments to occur in any beautiful coincidence, it was always planned, there was always an objective...

But just today, she hoped to be proved wrong and so she put no effort into making deductions and deliberately kept her eyes on the scenery and not on the person. From the periphery of her vision though, she noted that he too had taken a seat, just a couple of feet away. Aki also missed the flickering gaze he regarded her with, but she returned the favor when he offered his own name. He had strung along with the name, an exchange that was far more polite than hers. 'Finn.' she repeated, reflecting a slight smile but not any other words of courtesy. She swiftly associated his features with the name, the girl was lucky to have been blessed with a pretty decent memory.

Only the very top of the sun was visible as it drowned itself at the far end of the stream. The last of the reflected rays caused her to squint, as darkness spread like ink through the sky. He interrupted the silence yet again, but it wasn't unexpected. She didn't grace the question with a response. Beauty was in the eye of the beholder. She did, however, lament on his statement. 'It is an illusion.' she said, surprised at the confidence in her assertion. A faraway sound caused a host of birds to leave the trees and mingle in a beautiful formation as they streaked through the sky, it accentuated his next point, which sat in agreement with hers. Despite the taming humans were still subjected to the same seasonal wheel as any other creatures. 'We haven't even tamed ourselves.' she added.

Akira tore her eyes away from the host of birds and back at him. Had he absorbed her pensive nature? Or had she actually been lucky enough to be approached by someone who would indulge in a conversation that was bigger than just their own petty lives? 'We're much more like animals than we realize, driven by the absolute same insecurities. This whole "intelligence" is a lie we tell ourselves.' she said, with a soft sigh. It seemed to be in line with what he believed, but while he seemed to be deriving a sense of happiness from it, Aki saw it as something disconcerting. 'The only thing we did, is complicate the rules, the goal is still the same.'

It wasn't like Akira wasn't used to arguments. They happened almost all the time, especially in the early days with Tsuru. While things had calmed down a fair bit ever so often they did disagree. Yet a frank disagreement from a stranger was a welcome change. Most people didn't care enough to actually explain their case, they'd either simply nod to avoid the introspection out of laziness or find some other quicker way to end the discussion. It could simply be that time often didn't afford people a chance to just sit and deliberate on things. Nonetheless, the surprise betrayed itself in the way her eyebrows angled as she tore her gaze away from the surroundings yet again and pinned it onto the man. 'Yes... We believe we can talk and teach a little better than our furry companions, I suppose.' Akira conceded, narrowing her eyes to see how that changed things long term.

She sighed softly as he laughed, somehow joy was always infectious, she helplessly cracked a smile too, and it did lend the conversation a more breezy texture. 'We do try to... Don't know if we have...' she replied, now shifting to cross her legs and let her hand prop itself on her knee so she could cradle her face in her palm, resting her tense back muscles. One could argue that with the knowledge collected, mankind has beaten the survival of the fittest structure. Allowing for more diversity in thought and ideas, but when did one invest in such concepts, only when it suited the ulterior motive of gaining power, winning wars and conquering lands. She held on steadfast to her belief, that they were still animals and that humanity just changed the definition of fittest. It may no longer be the healthiest and strongest human, but the smartest, or the richest... Perhaps the one with most influence. There was more diversity in the ways in which one could survive, maybe even thrive... But the greed for more would never truly allow for a great alteration.

Akira was truly not someone who spoke unnecessarily, however she was trying to summarize her point. She thought she had a sense of where this Finn guy was headed, although she knew she could be wrong. She was the observant sort, the kind to watch and make theories, but she fell short since the final tool she used to process information was her own experience, it definitely served to add a darker tint to even rose colored perfection. When the man spoke again, she heard him out carefully, the way he talked about putting people in nature again, had her curious. 'Arrogance and entitlement might prevent that.' she retorted, curbing the urge to snort and grunt. People that separated themselves from the collective, who behaved as though they were deaf to the tunes of nature had the poorest chance of seeing the larger picture.

In her eyes, they were nature, as much as they tried to separate themselves from its vice like grip. Sure, much like the other creatures they played a part now, in how evolution happened, but there still were so many things out of their collective control. Not to mention the difference in opinions, ideas, beliefs and ways of life within the species generated enough conflict to make it difficult for them to truly progress.

She could concede that harmony with nature, with the true intent to explore oneself, could work. That somehow it could provide some sort of enlightenment 'I suppose that's what this festival was meant to do... But I'm guessing you mean something more solitary? How do you separate nature from humanity to begin with, where is that line?' she asked, now resorting to piling him with questions and leaving it up to the moment to steer them into seeing each other's point of view. It drew attention to her own purpose here, by the stream. She'd sought some time to explore, to reflect, but perhaps a soundboard was something she needed more. Someone neutral, someone almost unknown to share parts of herself with, to learn to trust.

The sun ducked away entirely, the peach glow fading every minute as the water grew noisier. Mating calls by those pesky amphibians no doubt, but there was a lull in the chaotic croaking and chirping, somehow it wasn't disturbing or stealing away from the discussion in any manner. She wondered how long this would last, how soon this young Finn would grow bored of probing at this funny thing called life. How soon he'd give up on this meager attempt to find meaning and a connection... because they all did... Unless forced to stick around or if circumstances declared otherwise, like with a few of her fellow knights... At least that is what she believed.

~*~*~

As the poignant silence grew shorter, Aki found a way to suddenly and... perhaps impolitely, excuse herself considering day had given into night and she was to attend to the night patrol. She did hope to run into this strange man again, however.