A Year Passes by...

[smallspot]

Who: Diarmuid Ua Duibhne (smallspot ) and anyone else who wants to talk to him!
Where: His room (2-17, Building One), the library (1st floor, Building Two) and a grassy area outside near Building One.
When:  First prompt is on 9-10, the last two are on 9-11.
Format: Starting in prose, but please use whatever you want to reply!
Summary: Diarmuid wakes up back in the city after being sent home for a year.  Thankfully, he doesn't have to wait too long before his friends find him again.  After spending a day readjusting to being in the city, he heads out to the library to try and teach himself how to read and write. Then, he is going to stop by his favorite grassy spot near Building One to practice...only those aren't wooden practice swords he's using now, are they?
Warnings: Cuteness, one little boy acting far too old for his age, angst?

Room 2-17, Building One (9-10):

Diarmuid might be a year older when he returns to Saeng Seong, but he still hasn't outgrown the habit of curling up in a nest of blankets when he sleeps.  That is why he doesn't notice anything is different from any other morning right away.  The sense of loss that he has become use to over the last year is still there.  His drive to become a better knight is still there.  His butterfly...

The boy sits upright with a small gasp of surprise and delight when his butterfly lands on his nose.  For the last year, he has thought his precious pet was lost.  He had begged his father to do something to bring him back, but all Aengus had been able to do was sadly say that once lost, some things can never be found again.

But here he is.  Little Dia is here.  The boy carefully gathers the butterfly into his hands and holds it close to him before looking around.  On the corner of his bed, his swan family watches him sleep.  On the table are the open candy bags from the last time his friend had visited.  He's back.  Back in Saeng Seong.  He had spent a year at home.  How much time had passed here?  Were any of his friends still around?

Was Cu Chulainn?  Lord Wing?  Suzaku?  Lord Auron?

Diarmuid should go find them, but instead of jumping to his feet to run and do that, he just sits on his bed for a while holding his butterfly close.  Since his feeling of loss had started around the time he had lost his butterfly, part of him had thought that to be the cause, but he has his butterfly back now...

...and the feeling of loss is still there.


Library, 1st floor, Building Two (9-11):

It takes a little while for Diarmuid to readjust to being in a place so different from his home, but seeing his friends again helps.  Now, a taller and more solemn looking Diarmuid can be found in the library wearing his dark green yukata that has little birds in lighter green embroidered on it.  He is so happy it still fits even though he has grown in the past year!  Unfortunately, most of the other clothes he has don't.  He will have to thank the lady at the shop where he got it when he goes back next for telling him it was okay to get it a little big so he could grow into it.

Laying in front of him there is a notebook along with a book meant to help people learn to read and write.  It's open to a page with numbers on it, and Diarmuid is very carefully writing numbers in the notebook next to him.  Of course, the writing messy and unsteady since he isn't used to holding a pencil.  He knows some ogham, which is a written language that uses mostly straight lines for letters, so many of the lines for his numbers are disconnected or slanted in strange ways.  This is especially obvious with numbers that have curves in them.  He just doesn't seem to know how they should go together even with the example right in front of him.

His frustration in clear in the frown on his face.  After messing up yet again, he sighs and drops his head down on his arms.  At this rate, it's going to take forever for him to get anywhere!


Outside Building One (9-11):

Diarmuid has changed since his time at the library and is now wearing a new set of clothes that obviously must have come with him when he came back to the city since they actually fit.  There is nothing special about the clothes, though.  In fact, they are very plain and obviously made for training in.  The shirt is a simple tunic in dark green.  The pants are simple as well and also dark green.  However, if the boy liking green is something that hasn't changed, there is very definitely something different about the picture he paints while he is practicing.  Before he was only practicing with a child's wooden sword.  Now he's certainly not practicing with a wood sword.  While still child-sized, Diarmuid's weapons are made of metal and are very real.  Not to mention, he's using them two at a time.

It's clear whatever he did during the year he was gone, his fighting skill has vastly improved.  Children his age usually aren't allowed to practice with a live blade, let alone two of them.  From the way he pauses every so often to repeat a move, it's obvious that he's being very picky about them.  If those who saw him practicing before thought him very serious about things, one wonders what they might think now.

Comments

[smallspot]

Diarmuid pauses in the cutting of the next vegetable to watch what Suzaku is doing closely. He wants to make sure he remembers everything so that when he tries, he won't do anything wrong. He wants whatever he makes for his friend to be good, after all!

"I will be careful, Suzaku! I don't want anyone to get hurt or to waste food. Both of those things are bad!"

[swordofzero]

Suzaku nodded, "I am glad." He pointed at the water, "When it is ready for the vegetables you will see the water begin to bubble, then you can add the things you chopped."

[smallspot]

"When it bubbles, add the chopped stuff," Diarmuid repeats the directions to make sure he has them right. "What about the other things? Do they go in then too?"

[swordofzero]

"The meat needs coked first, we can do that next." He told him, finding another shallower pan.

[smallspot]

"Okay!" Diarmuid moves from the table to a safe place to watch Suzaku cook the meat from. "Will you cook it over the fire too? That is more fun than cooking it in the magic box, I bet. That's boring. You can't see anything!"

[swordofzero]

"Yes, though you have to be very careful if you make your soup with meat, if you're not sure you can cook it without hurting yourself make sure to find me, or another adult and we can cook it for you."

He put a little bit of oil in the pan and put it on a low heat before adding the meat."

[smallspot]

"Don't worry! I will be very careful!" Diarmuid sounds very sincere about this, though his expression becomes confused when Suzaku adds the oil to the pan, "What is that? Why are you adding it to the meat?"

[swordofzero]

"Oh. This is oil." He passed the bottle down to Diarmuid so he could look at it. "You just use a small amount, to stop the meat from sticking to the pan and help it cook."

[smallspot]

"Ah, because of the pan," Diarmuid nods and then looks up at Suzaku with wide eyes. "If you cook it on a spike or a stake you do have to worry about it sticking to anything."

Doesn't Suzaku know that is why cooking over a fire is so great?

[swordofzero]

"That's true, but we can't make a proper fire in the apartment." He told him, "Maybe at some point we can do some outdoor cooking and you can teach me." Not that he didn't already know how, but Diarmuid might know some things from his world that Suzaku didn't.

[smallspot]

"Yes, that would be bad. You aren't suppose to have fires indoors unless it is in a special area. This place doesn't have a place like that," Diarmuid looks around the apartment, frowning like it is a major failing of the apartment. "Maybe we can cook fish over the fire when we do that? I like fish too. I wonder if there is any place to catch fish here..."

[swordofzero]

"No it doesn't." He nodded, liking the idea. "We can perhaps see if there is somewhere to catch fish, or buy some to cook if we can't."

[smallspot]

"I would like to do that, but I don't know how to fish yet. Can you teach me, Suzaku?" He gives the man a hopeful look, "Father finally started to teach me to swim, but I can't fish yet. At least, I don't have to be as afraid of water anymore!"

[swordofzero]

"I can," Fishing was something he was pretty good at. "Fishing and reading, you are going to be very busy."

[smallspot]

"Fishing and reading and practicing and cooking! I will have a full day, but knights are busy a lot. It is something I should get used to," Diarmuid nods confidently. "Will you show me how to cook the fish too?"

[swordofzero]

"You should," He nodded, "Of course. We can cook the fish on the fire." He went back to turning the meat, it was almost cooked now. "Once this is done it can go in the water with the vegetables."

[smallspot]

"And it is done when it's not red anymore!" Diarmuid leans a little closer to the pan so he can look at the meat, "How long does the soup have to cook for once it is all together?"

[swordofzero]

"That's right." He nodded. "It takes about half an hour, we still need to add a few herbs and things." He found some jars and showed them to Diarmuid. "Then you just leave it on a low heat whilst it cooks."

[smallspot]

"Low heat," Diarmuid repeats the words while he looks at one of the bottles of herbs. "What kind of herb is this? How much do you use? It doesn't look like any herb I have seen before. It's all dried out!"

[swordofzero]

"Yes they dry them so that they last longer." He explained, turning the meat again. "This one is called Mitsuba, the herbs here are close to where I come from, from what I can find."

[smallspot]

"Mitsuba?" Diarmuid looks at the herbs bottle again, "I've never heard of that herb before. What does it taste like? Is it used in anything other than soup?"

[swordofzero]

"It tastes... well like Mitsuba..." He couldn't really describe it. "It's used in a few dishes, like sushi as well as soup. It can be eaten in salad as well."

[smallspot]

"Okay. I will wait until the cooking is done so I can try it!" Diarmuid sits the herb bottle down and leans toward the meat pan again, "Is it done? Not quite, but soon!" He pauses a moment and then a question hits him, "What is sushi, Suzaku? Salad is leaves, right? I don't think I want to eat that..."

[swordofzero]

"Soon yes." Suzaku nodded. "Sushi is rice and fish, sometimes other meat as well. The rice is sticky so it all stays together. We will have to see if anyone sells it here, it's a bit too complicated for me to make." He's not sure if Lelouch ever picked up how to make it. "Salad is leaves and other vegetables, but it can be tasty, you might like it."

[smallspot]

"Oh! If it is made with fish I want to try it. I bet it will be good!" While Diarmuid seems excited about the sushi, he doesn't seem anywhere near as convinced that a salad can be good, "Leaves don't taste good at all! How would you make them taste good? I like trying new things, but..."