The Most Wonderful Time of the Year? open

"And what do you call all this?" I asked curiously, raising an eyebrow at her mumbled comment. "In other ways, this is an old tradition families used to have in this district. The sons played the father figure in shogi till they one. Once they did, they sent them off to go make their own life."

"Whaaaaat, a game decided if they were ready to start their own lives!? Well. I guess you're ready, then," I said, mostly joking.

"No, it was more of a bonding activity, meant to strengthen the family bonds of the male members. That way they could learn and understand their father's better, in both the game and everything else. It was a metaphor." I smiled, simply enjoying the calm moment

I made a sound of understanding in response, for some reason relived that I was mistaken, having started wondering what would happen if a particularly smart tween bested his father at the game. I mean it was funny, but also a little horrifying if thought about too much.

"Days like this during summer where the best ones. We would go out into town, get a water melon, cut it up, and just talk and eat." I smiled, obviously enjoying the happy memories here

"I think just talking over food in general is fun. Unless there are too many empaths in one room. Well no, scratch that, it's still pretty funny," I said, thinking back to a dinner where a cousin brought a dish her then new husband, a non empath, had made to a welcoming party, but since he couldn't pick up on their responses to the food, which wasn't terrible, just not for me, thank you very much, but she was so defensive and then everything went to hell. Not that it wasn't funny, especially since at the time he didn't really understand what was happening and why. I sipped tea. "This is a pretty pleasant way to live though, spend the summers or whatever time you could here, especially since you don't have a lot you actively cherish. It's a nice feeling, like warmed spices."

"Perhaps I'll try and bring a part of it with me... It might help how rampant I can get in the emotional spectrum..." I stated, my eyes calmly just observing her, with no strange emotions for the moment, just me looking

"If you want, I can make it a little easier for the feeling to linger a little longer than it normally would, " I offered. "It's healthier than taking pills. And it feels nicer to me."

"How so?" I asked curiously, leaning forward attentively, curious now

"Well, a strong enough empath can actively manipulate the emotions of others. I'm not as strong as my dad or others, so what I do is find a certain emotion that someone feels at the moment and intensify it, for a time. We can also temporarily remove emotions from a person, but without a special stone or crystal to place it in, we end up with that persons baggage. But since you expressed a desire to hold onto that feeling, I can make it linger for awhile, even making it so that you have the emotional strength to not allow yourself to be drawn down to the thicker emotions that are unpleasant to feel in people. It's not something I actively do to random people to brighten their day, because some people can sense they're being manipulated and it... doesn't end well, according to my father. Aaand I will now stop talking because I spoke an awful lot all of a sudden sorry."

"No no no, not at all... Its nice to hear you talk... Especially on that subject, as your very secretive there, for obvious reasons." I stated, waving my hands dismissively. "I mean, we can see if we cant get a stone or crystal to try that if you want, as it doesn't sound dangerous. I trust you. Otherwise... What would i need to do for either of those two options?"

"Nothing much, I could even do it without touching you, and at least for strengthening an emotion, as long as I'm around, that emotion pretty much serves as a barrier to keep thoughts and other emotions from warping it. It eventually wears off, but it's pretty gradual. And like I said, it beats out drugs bigtime."

"If you had explained this before hand I would have assented. I have some inkling on how it affects you and from what I can grasp it's very unpleasant for you when I'm negative, isn't it? Also, go ahead and try..." I said, a slight feeling of apprehension

"Heh, sorry, it's just... it's something that has to be explained in a safe place. That and because I'm still a passive empath it's not the first thing that comes to mind. In fact, I only remembered that was something I could do at the dinner party, remember? Anyways, just let me focus..." I said, clasping my hands together. I was to focus on that warm emotion. Bring it itto the forefront of his mind, where he wouldn't notice much of a difference because it was already mostly there at the moment, I just needed to keep it there, to form a barrier from his usually very strong negative emotions. I decided against saying that actively doing this eventually became tiring because of course I'd stop once I slept, and me bringing that up probably would make it more difficult to keep it up.

After a moment, I noticed something was... Different. I visibly froze for a moment, shivering slightly, doing my best to not make any distractions

I immediately returned my attention to him, noticing him react to the shift."Do you feel alright?"

"Just was a little weird... Not to the level of someone walking on my grave, but similar. Unsettling is all." I said simply, smiling a little "It is working however..." I chuckled, obviously in a good mood

"Yeah... that's not an unusual reaction, you can kinda understand a little better why it's not something I do often," I said, a little embarrassed, keeping myself from saying that I was glad it worked because that is literally the last thing anyone wants to hear after having undergone supernatural treatment. "I'm glad you're taking it well."

"Look, I'm not dead, you haven't manipulated me for money or anything, and no one was harmed. I trust you, of course I handled it well. You are sharing something with me that most don't ever get to experience." I responded honestly, rubbing the back of my neck

I became quite flustered at his praise, unable to think of anything more to say other than merely acting shy.

"So in short... Thank you, for sharing that piece of yourself with me..." I said warmly, looking to the side with a look of embarrassment.

"Yes... um... you're welcome.... may I have more tea?"I asked, turning my attention elsewhere at the moment.

I quietly moved, grabbing the pot and reaching over, pouring it in her cup for her

I took another sip of tea. "Um...so are there local flowers here that have a meaning?" I asked, knowing that they weren't all that fond of small talk but right now the only silence would be awkward silence for some reason.

"They have several. Is there a specific occasion you are looking for?" I asked curiously, turning so I could was facing her completely