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42°: When is 15 <3?
She certainly had not expected to spend her morning seated beside a Reaper at Bubblevision whilst her best friend and partner—and said Reaper's best friend and partner—took advantage of the nearby sale at Parco. Truthfully the wares of Bubblevision did not particularly interest her. Even wrapped in enough napkins so as to insulate her fingers from the uncomfortable chill, Nagi could not say that she enjoyed the cold sweet liquid. At least ice cream and other soft serves had a creamier, more solid blessing on her tongue at the speed at which she typically ate them. Yet parfaits and boba tea aalike held no such saving grace.
However, Sir Kariya had offered to pay, having wanted to not go enjoyed far from where Sir Tosai and Lady Yashiro were shopping-til-dropping, and thus Nagi had accepted one of the few she tolerated: the matcha boba tea.
He watched her in amusement from across the table, sipping at his own bitter gouya flavour, as Nagi painstakingly retrieved each tapioca pearl from the drink and set it upon a napkin to soak up the liquid. At least the table they had selected of the four available within the establishment—at the far corner, which meant little considering the cramped quarters—provided a blessed sanctuary from both the terrible summer heat outside and the terrible surge of sardine-packed people clamouring for the latest Joli bécot and NATURAL PUPPY fashions. The multicolured plastic chairs felt comfortable enough, and the dim overhead lights kept her vision comfortable instead of watering.
Unlike Lady Yashiro's gradually evolving stylings, Sir Kariya wore either the same or a remarkably similar replica of that which she recalled during her tenure in the Game a year back. He gave off a different impression chewing on boba than he did with his usual lollipop, but barely so. As if noticing her observing of his outfit, he leaned back in his chair, one leg casually crossed over the other. "So, Itagal." He sucked in long and loud through his straw, then tilted the domed container back and forth. "How long you figure we'll be waitin'?"
"Given Lady Yashiro's relatively higher ᴡɪʟ compared to Sir Tosai's, I would ask you to estimate instead."
"Heh. Fair 'nough." Sir Kariya shrugged, then checked his phone. "Let's see, an hour from now is...meh, can't be longer than another two hours or so. Not like her to be late for the Black Diablos meet-up."
Nagi inclined her head.
"So...you and Highlights teaching 'em ES, huh?"
"Verily. Might you intend to play as well? Hark! 'Tis never too soon to pursue the holy scripture!"
"Ehhh..." Sir Kariya drew a lazy loop with the straw, transmogrifying it into the spectre of a lollipop. "Don't think I need to collect a whole stable of lords 'n' ladies when I've already got a hand on my heart, y'know?"
She frowned. "One may gift their noblest heart to another and still delight in His Radiance's offerings. Nary a zero-sum game. Moreover, you do not appear to bite your thumb at the prospect of Lady Yashiro playing it."
"Hey, now, that's not what I was tryin' to say. No one's jealous of some cartoon characters." Nagi wisely kept her mouth shut to avoid launching on a tirade of just how woefully wrong he was, given the dramatis personae she had met upon the EleStra forums and elsewhere. "I was just bein' cheeky, girl. I'm not big on games that feel like chores or second jobs. Just aren't fun to me." He stretched his arm out on the back of the chair. "Well, if Uzuki asks me to play it 'cause they need another guild member or something, count me in, I guess. As long as she's doin' the grindin', happy turn my phone over to her. Means she'll have to take my work calls, too." He winked.
Turning her phone over, she set it upon the counter. "Still, His Lordship shall not entice you until Lady Yashiro forces your hand."
"Yep."
"And you attend the meetings of the Black Diablos at her side, despite having presumably little interest in the Prince yourself, given your other tastes."
Sir Kariya raised an eyebrow. "Just said it yourself, girl. 'At her side' has a nice ring to it, don'cha think? 'Sides, I'm supportin' my partner. If sittin' in a chair and doin' jack except nodding along while her pals talk about how they're gonna tag the mural with a pretty face makes for support, works for me."
Nagi observed him for a moment. "When you mentioned the hand 'pon your heart, if I may inquire...did you mean to accentuate the heartfelt patch on your vest, Sir Kariya?"
He glanced down at himself. "The what?" She gestured towards the heart emblazoned on his vest's left side, currently folded in half by a wrinkle. Five skeletal fingers gripped the heart in their icy hold.
"Oh, this? That's a strawberry."
"Pardon?" She leaned forward across the table while he leaned back from the presumed sudden invasion into his personal space, grasping her lenses so as to better peer. With a chuckle, Sir Kariya held the vest taut enough for her to see. "Fascinating. I see now the shape of it, and the intended stem and leaf portrayed in curious crimson rather than the expected green. Why a strawberry? Do you have a fondness for them? Bubblevision offers strawberry tea as well, I believe."
Sir Kariya watched her from over the tops of his yellow-orange lenses until she seated herself in the chair once more. "Meh, when it comes to food, I'm not too adventurous. It's either miso ramen for me all the way down, or something sweet and something bitter. Wonder if strawberries pair well with wormwood."
"I see..." As she fished out the last pearl she could see, Nagi raised the container to the light and swished it back and forth—gritting her teeth against the chill seeping in through the damp napkins—seeking any others she might have missed. Satisfied with her abilities to retrieve the dungeon's treasures, she set the plastic back on the table. "What, then, led to the patch itself?"
"Thought it looked nice. Uzuki pointed it out to me, and I thought, meh, why not?"
"A most pleasant story," she said sincerely, taking a moment to arrange her features to ensure that her genuineness, and not any other expression, would come across. "You and Lady Yashiro have been partners for quite some time, have you not? 'Tis a wonder to behold, the fruit of partnership borne. Perchance, the berry of partnership, in this case."
"Heh. Been a little while, yeah, sort of. Went about two, two and a half years...then we split for even longer. Only been 'bout the past year that I'm not flyin' solo anymore."
Nagi placed another clean napkin on her mound of tapioca pearls. "Ah, I meant to evoke neither cage of memory nor thorn of memory."
"Nah, you're good, Itagal. People bounce all the time. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. Sometimes it's exactly the split that gives ya wha'cha need: two folks clashin' about their needs, and going two separate ways means they get to live their passions instead of settling for compromise. Sometimes it's the split that teaches ya the lesson that you had wha'cha needed: two folks clashin', and then reconcilin' back together. Like a buddy-cop flick. Classic."
"Is that your analysis of what transpired betwixt you and Her Ladyship?"
"Well, hey, real-life relationships are messier than some fictional flick's character arcs. But sure, something like that." His tone changed so subtly that she could scarcely perceive it, noticing it only for the way that he'd stopped looking at her and started looking past her. "It's good to be working with her again...that's for sure."
"'Tis lovely to see you in such elevated spirits. You normally say little of yourself...though I suppose one could not classify our previous interactions as under normal circumstances, per se."
That drew a dry laugh from him. "That's one way to put it. But you got me in one. I make it a point not to talk about myself much. Not too interesting of a story, gotta say."
"I shan't pry, if you shouldn't wish to speak. I have no troubles with sitting in companionable silence. 'Twould assist me in replenishing my reserves for the lecture ahead."
"Well...you never know. Ask, girl, and maybe I'll answer."
Nagi pinched a pearl between her thumb and forefinger and brought it to her lips. She ground it down thoughtfully. At least the starchy-sweet taste, lightly flavoured in matcha, and smooth if rubbery texture brought her some amount of pleasure. "Perchance, Sir Kariya, you wish to be asked?"
"Meh, never said that. Can't say I mind doing some stargazing at folks here, either. Just tryin' to keep you entertained...like a good and proper host."
She allowed the silence to settle between them as she ate through her heap of piled pearls. Sir Kariya seemed to take a while to finish his tea as well, scarcely taking sips and masticating the pearls sucked in through the straw for far longer than she did. When she followed his gaze, she found herself studying the restaurant's patrons who moved in and out, the myriad of different people milling in, out, and about, the couples requesting one cup with two straws, the couples adamantly wanting very distinct flavours, the gaggles of friends sharing inside jokes with one another stopping their conversations just long enough to order something, the solo fliers with their faces buried in their phones or more rarely a book to keep from looking alone, the businesspeople chattering away and scarcely peering at the menus, the regulars whose orders the server already suspected—
"I'll betcha ramen that I can guess folks' orders better'n you can just from lookin' at 'em."
Nagi peered at Sir Kariya, who spoke to her without tearing his gaze from the entrance. "Alas, I do not partake in ramen much..."
"The ramen isn't really the point. More the fun of bettin' on something small."
"Mayhaps you find yourself...bored?"
"S'more fun to stargaze when you're stargazing with someone."
Her line of her mouth squiggled as she curled her forefinger about her chin. "Apologies that I cannot emulate Lady Yashiro."
He swished the tea container back and forth. The few remaining slivers of ice crackled against the plastic sides. "Nah, you're good the way y'are, Itagal. Just strikin' up a conversation in case you wanted to chat."
She studied him. No, not bored: he seemed the type who could genuinely stand for hours beneath the underpass watching passersby or examining wall tags. Nor antsy, nor impatient. Should Lady Yashiro and Sir Tosai take many, many hours to conclude their shopping, Sir Kariya would not so much as twitch an eyelid. Nor particularly talkative, in the sense that he had something he wished to share with her. Perchance, exactly as he had said, he had broached the topic in case she wished to speak of something, but if she chose silence once more, he would respect that choice until their respective partners returned with shopping bags in hand and over shoulder.
On one hand, Nagi truly did not wish to pry into his private matters. She has no need and no reason to do so, merely a curiosity into this Reaper who apparently personally knew of Angels, which Nagi had not had much knowledge of until Sir Rindo had reminded her of the existence of the infernal Kubo Tanzo, whose very spirit had left her memory prior to Sir Rindo's explanation of his Angelic misdeeds. Since then, Sho had informed her further of the 'obtuse angles' and their litany of crimes against humanity. Nagi did not generally endeavour to prise secrets out from those who did not willingly share them; such behaviour did not go hand in hand with peaceful interactions.
On the other hand, if he did not wish to speak about himself, he would simply decline to answer or dodge her questioning, as he had during the Game. And, if she would see more of him in the coming months—either as part of an EleStra guild, or through Lady Yashiro's decision to inquire about their recent goings-on in the UG, or once Sho became Composer, for instance—she would not misstep for attempting to learn more of her companion.
"Sir Kariya, pardon the inquisition..."
His pupils sliding in her direction, he glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes. "'Sup?"
"You mentioned Lady Yashiro had drawn your attention to the strawberry patch. Under what circumstances?"
His mouth curved up. "Just somethin' from a secondhand shop."
"When was this...?"
"A li'l before Shinjuku went the way of the dodo." Nagi blinked; she hadn't expected such a straightforward answer. "Pretty much one of the last things Uzuki and I did before she got her promotion and we split as partners. Guess I kept it as a reminder. Pfft...think every time I'd see her the next few years it'd be to chew my ear off 'bout how bad I was rockin' the boat with the Shinjucrew."
"Fascinating..." She adjusted her spectacles, taking care to ensure that the lights' glare would not obscure her vision. Not when he had more thoroughly turned his head towards her, a slightly affectionate lilt to his tone. "If I may extrapolate from this and the details divined during the Game, your partnership with her moves me."
Whenever he shrugged, she had noticed, he shrugged with not only his shoulders but his arms as well, reminding her of that kaomoji so often seen in the 'Gacha Rolls & Salt' section of the EleStra forum: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. The gouya tea container balanced precariously in his palm as he did so, but he caught it before it slipped free. "Hope it doesn't move you too far. Don't really wanna break a sweat tryin' to catch you."
As Nagi suspected, whilst he might not answer questions of himself, he had little resistance to speaking of Her Ladyship. Then, she would advance her rank-and-file a step and see if the ground held firm. "Would you regale me with the tale of how you two first met?"
"Mmh?" Sir Kariya twisted in his chair to look more properly at her now. "Meh."
"Is that a rejection?"
"Just not too interestin' of a tale. Or maybe it is."
Nagi leaned forward. It took her a moment to realise that she had been eating with her mouth open for quite some time; hastily she swallowed the pulp of pearl.
"Yeah, sure. I worked the Reaper gig. She won her Game and didn't have the points to spring herself back to the RG. Picked gettin' a job over hittin' the bricks. Boss-man said, hey, you, partner up'n show a girl the ropes. I said, hey, do I gotta? Kinda enjoyin' the whole sittin' around doing jack bit. Spitfire shows up all full of piss and vinegar. Ooh, she's mad. Raging against the machine, all that good stuff. Couldn't believe she got cut down in her youth, overworked at a part-time, yadda yadda." He paused, glancing at her over amber rims. "I'm throwing the whole story under the bus here, but you know what I'm gettin' at. One Reaper's tragedy is another Reaper's tall tale."
Gulping down another pearl, she stuffed her mouth with two more. His jovial method did not preclude the gravity of his remarks, but neither could he regard the full acceleration of death's force. Curious, in a manner of speaking, that she perched upon her chair in Bubblevision carrying on a conversation with effectively a corpse. Yet not so, given the vibrant Soul and Imagination tuning the sounds before her, the sulphur and salt yielding what the mercury had not, as Sho would teach her. Even with the end result mercurial.
Yet since the very first time she had ever failed to obtain a Lord Tomonami unit upon the first spin—when she first entered her father's credit card information at the tender age of sixteen—and examined the soothing offerings of the 'Gacha Rolls & Salt' threads, she comprehended well the import of humour as a coping mechanism.
By making a jape, a jest, a joke, if one would, one could turn away briefly from the oppressivity of a world in which a part-time job could somehow lead to one's inevitable demise.
Certainly, Nagi could embrace the philosophy of not fearing death.
Yet convincing her heart of hearts of it had become much more peculiarly simple and challenging alike since her time in the Game.
"Anyway, spitfire shows up and drags my sorry ass outta the alley. Show me the ropes already, she goes, and boy does she go. Can't even take a second to piss without her yelling at me that we could be rackin' up points instead of killin' time—figuratively, I mean."
"Erm, figuratively referring to the relieving of bodily functions or the murder of the concept of time?"
Sir Kariya laughed. "So—" Perhaps he had mistaken her legitimate question for a jape. "—she hated my guts. Don't blame her. Getting shackled to someone who doesn't care, woof. That's rough, buddy. First partner turned out to be a dud. Man, did she try. Sun-up to sun-down. Longer hours than anyone else. Not like Reapers can die from overwork, I guess. I tell 'er, girl, you start seein' the light at the end of the tunnel, you come take a break in the Lounge. You know, girl got pipes. 'Specially when she's tellin' me we gotta get points or we will be seein' the light at the end of the tunnel. The brass didn't always have our Reaperly interests at heart, but my old boss was right about one thing. Not like I was gonna let some other Reaper get erased 'cause of my problems."
She continued chewing on the pearls. His problems, hm. Would he lapse into silence if she did not provoke him? He had taken on a fond, nostalgic smile. Mayhaps not nostalgic, per se: considering the past in the context of the present. "I would not have anticipated that she disliked you upon commencement, although I am no stranger to such changes in one's feelings for another over time."
"Heh, it's funny..."
Nagi adjusted her spectacles.
"You 'n' Highlights do kinda remind me of me 'n' Uzuki. Not in the way you two act as people, but the way you couldn't stand 'im at first, and now he's..." Sir Kariya's eyebrow quirked up with the corner of his mouth.
"My best friend and comrade-in-arms," she supplied.
"Sure."
When he failed to resume, she prompted him: "What caused the turnabout?"
"You'll have to ask her what she sees in me, heh. Other than an ugly mug to give a lesson or three to. But if she was that determined to live, what was I gonna do? Roll over and die?" Nagi worried a bruise into her lower lip. How much could she extrapolate from his words? "Nah, seeing her throw all of herself into her work...didn't make me any less lazy, mind you." He winked at her. "But it did give me a 'ppreciation for the little guy. Made me take a look at all the folks out on the street. Folks I'd barely looked at before. Everyone's their own little star, shining away with their own well of gravity. When stars crash into each other, all those flying sparks and twisting fires give rise to some real pretty twinkles. Watching this town change and grow...it's beautiful, Itagal."
She nodded. "'Tis most wondrous indeed. I failed to recognise the depths of my appreciation for Shibuya ere the Game."
"Which Game?" he asked innocently, then smirked. "Nah, I know you meant the one that nearly blew the city's top for the second time. Not your garden variety Games that've happened since then."
"...I do not often ponder that detail, true, of Games occurring with some regularity."
"And, hey, dyin'—or thinkin' you might be dead or die soon enough—tends to do that to a gal. Careful you don't go supernova too soon, girl."
"I solemnly swear to do my utmost not to spontaneously explode."
He laughed at that. "Glad to see you've got a sense of humour, girl."
A lapse of silence. She directed her troops further into the no-man's-land, though she could sense the border drawing near. "And so...that caused the turnabout, then? Witnessing her lust for life and developing an appreciation for the lives of the pedestrians around you?"
"Something like that, at least from my end. Like I said, don't know what made her opinion of me turn around. Well, at least enough of a turn around that she wanted to be my partner again. Not every lifetime you meet a girl capable of snappin' you outta Noise possession just by chewin' you out." He sucked up tea at length, until too many pearls caught on the end and he had to yield, briefly, to the laws of physics. It didn't stop a chuckle from escaping him as he swished the container around. "She's a keeper, a'ight. Oh, and the ramen bets."
"The so-called 'ramen bets' you attempted to foist on me earlier?"
"You upset about it?" he said mildly.
Nagi touched her hand to her mouth, felt the squiggle instead of a welcoming smile. "Hemblehm? Ah, no, pardon my features. Not always do they align with my inner expression. This should suit us better." Now she arranged her lips into a grin. "It heartens me that you endeavoured to include me into your fold of betting on ramen, even if I declined the invitation, Sir Kariya. What did you say concerning the ramen bets?"
"Huh, a'ight. Her idea. She said if I liked miso ramen that much that I never ate anything else, she was goin' to keep the ramen from me unless I actually put in the legwork. The ramen, I didn't really care about. But making work into a game for me as much as she'd made the Game into work for herself? Yeah, I'd erase some Noise, some Players. I'd play the Game. 'Sides, didn't know it then, but now I do: seein' her happy makes me happy."
The longer he explained, the more broadly Nagi beamed, until she could hardly chew the tapioca. "Lovely, the coping mechanisms we teach to one another. Did you keep the patch during your aforementioned separation as partners in remembrance of what she did for you?"
"Somethin' like that."
"Out of..." Her single-scout strike team would move stealthily where her entire platoon could not. Sally forth, scalpel! Onwards, waffle deployer: "...dependency?"
"Nah, not like that. She'd still call it slackin' off, and I sure was slacking. But I wasn't back in the pit or anything. Didn't think we'd ever end up partners again, to be honest. But I like the patch myself. Like that little bag you got on you."
Nagi glanced down at the only branded item she wore presently on her person, the small garagara satchel meant to hold her Tin Pin deck, quiet yet present at her hip. "Ah...yes, the gift from Sir Tosai."
"Even if you don't think you'll ever be friends with someone again, girl, you can keep what they gave you. The good and the bad. Lessons learned and bridges burned. Doesn't mean you're dependent. Means you're learning from your experiences and others'. Having those sparks fly and burn, even if you're just stars passin' in the night. A strawberry doesn't have to be a heart to be a strawberry. If it happens to be a heart, too, well, ain't complainin'. So no sweat if you don't ever seen 'em again. And if you do end up reconnecting—" He smirked as though recalling a particularly humorous inside joke, or perhaps envisioning Lady Yashiro's angered expression; somehow the line of his brow softened at the same time. "—all the better."
"Fascinating. I...thank you, Sir Kariya. Sir Tosai once posed such an inquiry to me, of what might happen should our bond fail, at the time that he gifted me the bag thusly, and I had little answer for him but to assure him that it would not." Running fingers over the bag he had presented her, she relished the uneven texture. If she wore it against her skin, it would discomfort her within a few minutes, but in small doses at her own discretion—like fingering a pin or the rough straps of her itabag—she found it more stimulating for her fingertips than the soft, smooth fabric she chose for her tees. "Perchance when he queries me once more, I shall pass on your wisdom."
"I hear ya, girl. Learn from others' burned bridges too and all that jazz. Well, you're welcome."
Her final push, deep into enemy territory: "When you described her as having shaken you from your fugue, you described how she did so, but what manner of fugue were you in?"
"Meh. Details!" Sir Kariya's straw rattled as he sucked up the last of the tea. "Say, did you want to try that stargazing game?" She had advanced too expeditiously, too aggressively, and now she had lost her chance on difficult terrain. Supply lines cut! Hark, a full about-face and retreat, to continue the fight another day! "Highlights calls you pretty good at nailin' folks in one."
"'Tis not an eye for judgment, per se."
He shook his head. "Who said judgment? Call it a discernin' eye. No judgment involved. The way folks are, we're celebratin' it. Name of the game isn't making fun, girl; it's admiring." She frowned, and he leaned his elbow on the table. "You think we make fun of the stars when we look at 'em?"
"N-no, not exactly, but stars cannot feel discomfort if they do take offence to the constellations we connect or the stories we weave..."
Sir Kariya chuckled. "You've got some interesting ideas, Itagal. Would'ja call it discomfort if we're just betting on what they're gonna order?" Nagi allowed the lighting to refract from her lenses, and he snorted in return. "Lemme guess. It'd be them lookin' over and not knowin' what we're whisperin' about, right? How would you feel about it if we were in the UG?"
"I suppose that that would remove the problematic element of potentially causing anxiety." But her forefinger remained curled around her chin.
"So, gossipin' is harmless if the gossipee never hears about it?"
Her arms flinched up over her head of their own accord as she pushed into the seat's back. "Nay!" she cried, her volume suddenly so loud that even Sir Kariya's eyebrows rose, but her vocal cords would not accept the wrangling, not even as the other tea-drinkers directed their attentions to her. "Hggarhhhk! Such betting does not gossiping make! Never would I gossip behind one's back, merely confront them to their face!"
He dropped the tea container onto the table. "A'ight, a'ight, point taken, point taken."
Her hands slowly lowered to her lap, her cheeks burning from a combination of embarrassment-hastened blood and the salt from her eyes. "...pardon the exclamation."
"Meh, I shouldn't push you like that. 'Least, not when you've made your morals known." Sir Kariya tapped the straw against his lip. "Well, hey, you said the stars don't feel discomfort, ain't that so? Got any stories about the constellations to share?"
"Please, ask me not to regale you merely to comfort me."
"I'm not asking you about EleStra, girl; I'm asking about estrellas. I wouldn't be askin' if I didn't want to know." He gestured skyward. "Sure, I like stargazing of the sea-level variety. But stargazing at night is pretty mundane, too." When he brought his hand back down, he rested it, perhaps subconsciously, on the hem of his vest just beside the strawberry-heart patch. "Mundane in the way I like it."
"Ah...I have somewhat recently..." The flush in her cheeks took on a slightly different hue the longer she considered the patch. "...researched something of the stars, yes..."
She could hear the amusement—discerning, not judgment—in the curve of his timbre. "Oh, yeah?"
"Indeed."
Another tapioca pearl disappeared into her mouth, and she ground it down fully prior to speaking. If he had any stroke of boredom whilst he waited, she detected none of it, not in the slightly interest-narrowed eyes, nor in the way he had put his chin on the back of his hand.
"Within the constellations of the twenty-eight heavenly mansions, the Vermilion Bird's southern mansion spans from the Well, the Ghost, the Willow, the Star, the Net, the Wings, and the Chariot, and each constellation further contains a number of asterisms. Somewhat recently, I noted a curious coincidence in the overlap between the heavenly southerns and the Grecian stargazing traditions. For, you see, much of the Well, and the presumed croaky panic of the frog within, overlaps Canis Major, more specifically the asterism of Bow and Arrow. Much as the Chariot overlaps Corvus, the latter bird-like, the former evocative of divine partners to the last. To unwrap these associations, permit me to explain."
Her finger scratched across the damp napkin yet bumped into no pearls. Nagi grimaced when she glanced down and noted she had polished them off. Her twisted features did not seem to escape Sir Kariya's notice either. "Itagal, you want seconds while we chat?"
"If you would do me the favour of inquiring merely for a refill of pearls and not icy tea, I would appreciate it. Are you partaking of any yourself?"
Sir Kariya shrugged even as he slid lazily from the seat and unfolded his frame into a casual leaned-back posture, his smile good-natured, his interest sharp and sincere as the strawberry patch. "I've got your upcomin' stories to fill me up. Don't need much more than that." He paused, then flicked out a—box of cigarettes? No, he drew out a lollipop instead, then tucked the box back into his vest. The inner pocket, she noted from the position of his hand, likely hung just beneath the strawberry patch. "Well, your stories and some anko."
"I shan't assume Lady Yashiro had a hand in your enjoyment of lollipops, as well."
He unwrapped the candy just to hold it between his fingers, delicately as a flower stem. "Can't give you aaall my secrets in a single outing. Gotta keep the mysteries up to keep it entertaining. Try again next time."
