[ Who can really say what he's feeling behind the expression card? No one, not Nagito Komaeda nor Tia Safalin unless he so wills it, as even those faint shifts in expression are all to easy to repress with just the slightest effort. It's a consequence of being designed to be such a stoic creature, whether that was originally intended or otherwise, and nurtured for so long in a place where even the slightest hint of weakness was as good as a death sentence. One can pick up on the little tics, the little microexpressions and tones that match to cards, but in the end that was at his whims and desires.
But there's a flicker of something that he doesn't mean to show. It's the way his eyes widen just briefly, the way he leans just a little bit forward, the flicker of emotion in that impassive gaze that's there and gone in seconds. It's the way that no response comes except for a slight sound, barely audible, because everything else is choked out, and in all those little things that none would care to notice. It's accompanied by a cloyingly sweet nostalgia.
He should return to what he came here for. But it's too much for an AI that has only existed for just three years, for a human who has only existed for just a short ten days, what can he do aside from stare? If Safalin were here, if Gashu or Miely or even Hiyori were here, he would be reminded of what was important, he would be shoved along, and these situations would be handled gracefully. But they're not here, there's just ASUNARO's failed creation, there's just Rio Ranger, there's just a doll, and the most he can do is afford Komaeda the courtesy to walk away first so he doesn't have to see him exit.
Bitter, rotten, disgusting, but he accepts this conclusion with the same confused uncertainty as all others. He only need do the courtesy of waiting, burning every last second into his memory, before retreating when there's no one to notice and no pain to be had and no weakness to be seen. ]
no subject
But there's a flicker of something that he doesn't mean to show. It's the way his eyes widen just briefly, the way he leans just a little bit forward, the flicker of emotion in that impassive gaze that's there and gone in seconds. It's the way that no response comes except for a slight sound, barely audible, because everything else is choked out, and in all those little things that none would care to notice. It's accompanied by a cloyingly sweet nostalgia.
He should return to what he came here for. But it's too much for an AI that has only existed for just three years, for a human who has only existed for just a short ten days, what can he do aside from stare? If Safalin were here, if Gashu or Miely or even Hiyori were here, he would be reminded of what was important, he would be shoved along, and these situations would be handled gracefully. But they're not here, there's just ASUNARO's failed creation, there's just Rio Ranger, there's just a doll, and the most he can do is afford Komaeda the courtesy to walk away first so he doesn't have to see him exit.
Bitter, rotten, disgusting, but he accepts this conclusion with the same confused uncertainty as all others. He only need do the courtesy of waiting, burning every last second into his memory, before retreating when there's no one to notice and no pain to be had and no weakness to be seen. ]