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Cartoons, Marty decided, were awesome. Like comics, everything was drawn out and almost a bit over the top. And by the Gods they loved it. Action, adventure, intrigue, romance, drama, you name it, between Amir and Aoi they had it. The pair still refused to explain what hentai was, and Marty was a bit scared to look it up on the POM-2. But in Marty’s defence, Amir brought it up first.
They were early into this series, TRIGUN, and Marty immediately clocked why Aoi liked it so much. The lead character, Vash, being pretty easy on the eyes helped, but Sol above the guns. So many out there gun designs that seemed impractical, and were impractical. But holy crap they were cool. The fights were also fairly cool, if somewhat outlandish. Vash’s tendencies reminded Marty a lot of Amir. When they pointed this out, the man went ramrod straight, squeezed out a thank you, blushed, and then finally turned back to the TV.
Frank revealed his hand, pointer and thumb both extended, the way a child might mime a gun. “Hah, wasn’t even loaded.”
Vash chuckled and showed his hand as well. No gun. “Heh, sure wasn’t!” The surrounding crowd cheered in celebration, the pair had saved the town and didn’t even fire a shot.
Marty outright chuckled at the reveal. An outlaw known for his firearm prowess, was entirely unarmed. One hell of a twist.
“Aha! I knew this would get you to laugh! Pay up, Aoi!” Amir shouted from the far end of the couch the three shared. Aoi grumbled and begrudgingly handed Amir 5 Höllars.
“What the hell? You’re gambling on me?” Marty asked, feigning indignance.
Aoi, to Marty’s amusement, didn’t pick up on the playful anger they spoke with and tried to defend herself. “Just on like, silly things! We swear!”
Marty smirked and waved at Aoi, who was still jammed between them and Amir on the couch. “What kinds of things? Is this like how Arthur’s been following me around?”
Aoi and Amir simultaneously blanched and asked “He what?” They both had a look on their faces which hinted to them that this might not be normal.
“Has been following me around,” Marty shrugged. “Guess he’s still vetting me or something. Wait, did you two not notice?”
Amir was agape, unable to formulate any noise period to respond to this information. Aoi, on the other hand, showed no small amount of irritation. “Ugh, I will talk to him, since he clearly doesn’t just wanna ask you if you’re gonna murder us in our sleep.”
Marty startled at that slightly. “Is that really a question anymore?”
“Apparently!” Aoi angrily put her head in her hands. “If you see him follow you again just throw something at him, he’ll probably get the picture.”
Marty wasted no time and threw a nearby pen towards the door to their abode. The trio heard what sounded distinctly like Arthur when he stubs his toe. “Sol, how long was he there for?” Aoi asked.
“I only noticed him a few minutes ago,” Marty shrugged, relaxing back onto the couch.
“And you didn’t think to say anything?” Amir asked, still moderately concerned.
Shrugging even harder Marty responded “I thought you knew. Anyways, about these bets about me?”
“It’s nothing serious, you just…” Amir trailed off before he could get started. “Don’t smile?”
Marty squinted, lips slightly parting as they were about to respond. Aoi interjected with “Not that you have to! You’re kind of difficult to get a read on.”
“So instead of asking me how I feel you’re gambling?” Marty would be more offended if the whole premise weren’t so outlandish.
“Well when you put it like that, you make it sound ridiculous,” Amir pouted.
“That’s because it is ridiculous, but do go on. I am admittedly curious,” they said, leaning back on the armrest of the couch.
“It’s easy, we’ve been… I guess competing as to who can make you express a new emotion,” Aoi explained. “We figured it’d be easier to make you express it rather than you expressing randomly.”
“Apathy’s a hell of a drug, I guess,” They said, looking back at the tv. Marty wasn’t sure when the show paused. They looked at Vash’s overly jolly expression. How happy he looked in the moments after saving the town. The man wore his heart on his sleeve, and wore it proudly.
So what the fuck was wrong with them?
“Where do you go that I can’t follow?” Amir said, both saddened and amused. Marty snapped back to attention. The sadness, they realized, was feigned.
They looked at Amir, who held a pouty expression. His eyes still held humor in them. “Sorry, you two. Got lost in thought there.”
“Feel like sharing with the class?” Aoi asked, head tilted. “You said something about apathy?”
In for a penny. “How much have I told you two about Duviri?”
They both shook their heads. “Right, well. Long story short, I got stuck there for a… long time. So long, looping the same events over and over again that it all just,” they looked to the ceiling and leaned back against the couch. “Stopped mattering, I guess. Feeling was a sort of misplaced hope. So I just stopped, and did my best to survive.”
Amir tried to smile, and look on the bright side. “Well you made it here, right? Did a decent job at that.”
“No, no I did not,” Marty replied. They lifted up their shirt slightly, showing off their midsection. It would have been easier to point out where there wasn’t scar tissue.
“Oh,” was all that fell from Amir’s mouth, as he looked at their stomach. Aoi stared agape.
“Yeah. So, apathy. Easier to deal with all that shit if you can’t feel anything. It helped at the time, but now…” they trailed off.
“Now it’s stuck on?” Aoi offered. She looked remarkably sad over the brief story.
“Pretty much.”
There was a brief bit of silence. The hum of the TV was oppressive to Marty’s ears. They could hear Amir humming and hawing to himself from the far end of the couch.
“Just spit it out, dude,” they finally said.
“Doyoustillfeelnoworisthatgonetoo?” He spat out at a million miles a second.
“Amir!” Aoi turned and scolded.
“No, it’s okay. I do now, it’s just different,” They put a hand on Aoi’s shoulder, in reassurance they weren’t offended. “When I was a kid, it was a lot more physical, I’d say. Ejabi is still like that.”
“Who?” Amir raised a brow. Aoi nodded knowingly.
“My sister,” they clarified. The full story could wait. Only Aoi knew, and for some reason Marty felt like keeping it that way. Their little secret. “So how do I go about making it… I dunno, easier to read me?”
Amir immediately jumped to his feet. “Ooh! Mood rings!”
“Gods, no,” Aoi leaned back and covered her face in her hands. Marty could see ger smiling regardless.
“Oh yes! I’llberightback!” And with little more than a zap, Amir was gone.
“Aaaaaaand he’s gone. Doesn’t take much to get him running,” Aoi joked, her hands finally revealing her face again.
“Those are those color changing rings right? Arthur told me about them, they sound cool,” Marty smiled slightly, excited at the prospect. “Granted, pretty much everything right now is kind of cool.”
“Well except the techrot,” Aoi chuckled.
Marty shrugged. “Sure, but you’ve got the internet, cool games, interesting foods,” they poked their own hand as they counted. “We have all sorts of stuff in the future too, but this?” They waved their hand around the backroom at everything around them. “I guess I’m a bit spoiled for choice now.”
“Not much room for the little things on the Zariman?” Aoi asked. Marty nodded. Aoi’s voice took on a mystical quality. “Now you’re in the era of indulgence.”
“Seems like a lot of that around,” Marty finally felt a full smile morph on their face. It felt nice. Aoi similarly smiled back. “So how do I go about expressing myself, in your eyes?”
“Just be honest and open about your feelings, let that face just play along with it, too,” She suggested. “Buuuut maybe still wear the mood ring, just in case.”
The pair laughed softly. Marty was still excited about the ring, but Aoi’s suggestion had merit. No easier way for people to know how they were feeling than just saying it.
“Hey, Aoi?” Their eyes met hers. Aoi had one eyebrow risen to say ‘Go on’. As Marty took a breath, their door opened to reveal Amir.
“One Amir has returned with-”
“I think you’re really attractive and I’d like to know you better, Amir is kind of worrying me with something, I think Arthur might actually try to kill me, Eleanor reminds me of my actual mother, I think Quincy either is trying to fuck me or fight me and if I get injured Lettie may actually just let me die,” they blurted out all at once. Aoi just stared, her jaw looked like it was ready to hit the floor. Amir had jumped up to their balcony to watch as Marty said everything to Aoi. His eyes darted back and forth rapidly, with one hand over his mouth, clearly stifling laughter.
Aoi on the other hand progressively got more and more red. Both her hands were doing everything they could to hide her face. Eventually she gave up, grabbed a pillow and stuffed her face in that instead.
“I feel like I did that wrong,” Marty concluded, as their face scrunched up. Amir finally let out a laugh as he handed the same five Höllars back.
In between giggles he declared “Aoi, you had cringing but man it was worth it to lose that!” He patted Aoi on the back. Aoi took this opportunity to grab Amir’s arm and throw him over the couch, flipping him onto his back with the skills of a master.
“Shut up!” Aoi, still blushing, ran out of the backroom at nearly full speed. Marty frowned.
“Yep, definitely did that wrong,” they shook their head slowly, and reached down to grab a small ring that Amir was holding up, as he wheezed on the floor.