Lessons in Darkness

It is a relatively warm day on the first floor of the Tower. The 'sky' is clear, and by sky... it is the unnatural light that seems to act as a ceiling for this level of the Aincrad. The cottage to which Dosbox has been invited sits just outside of the main city streets, still well within the expanse where monsters dare not tread. It looks out onto a small creek that runs between lush green wildflowers. It's all quite beautiful.

The cottage, itself, is a simple house with a tiled roof and no more than a couple of rooms. Kita is currently sitting outside in a flat area of brick which seems to act as a bit of an outdoor art studio. There are half-finished stone sculptures as well as a few woodworking projects that seem scattered throughout the area with an artist's usual haphazard nature.

Among these, Kita sits on a chair, perched awkwardly as she works on sketching something with some measure of intensity.

Dosbox can be seen on his approach, keeping to the road as he, rather than walk like a normal person, has decided to move the earth like it were a wave and he were surfing: only he is sitting down. Given the short legs, and diminutive stature, walking can take twice the time for him in comparison to others, and he has taken to applying creative uses of Earth pillar as a mobility aid: moving long distances, reaching things up high, etc. Unfortunately, he has to use a step stool inside, but that's a different issue.

As he approaches the cottage, he seems to be enjoying the scenery. His speed slows as he comes closer, and when it comes to a stop, he hops to his feet and performs a quick Menu Clean to clear himself of the dirt of travel.

He moseys on over to where Kita is lounging and gives a nervous wave, "Ah, Hi! I see you're - ah - relaxing? Is it a relaxing day for you?" Perhaps the manner in which Kita is stretching is causing the rock gnome some discomfort himself as he begins to look around the area as if he didn't know where he was allowed to look.

The sound of rumbling scenery causes Kita to look up, blinking once before pushing her glasses up on her nose. She watches Borywick's approach with something akin to curiousity. People certainly did utilize magic in interesting ways in this world. All the while, her pencil taps on the page of her book.

"Relaxing?" She asks, her lip quirking, "I suppose you could say so. I'm just working on some lesson plans to help a friend develop her artistic talent." It isn't her usual relic sketchbook that she is using at the moment, but one that seems to have a number of different lesson plans about art. It, oddly, gives her a very hot-librarian sort of vibe.

"So, did you finally come for some training of your own?" She quirks an eyebrow, seeming amused as she sits up more fully, adjusting her posture. "I'm surprised you came alone. Maybe you have more bravery than I first gave you credit for."

Dosbox blinks a few times with surprise, then adopts a nervous smile, "W-why wouldn't I come alone? It's not like you're going to eat me or anything, right?" DosBox says that last part as if he's not entirely sure about it. A few questions start buzzing in his head, 'Do people usually come with others? Kita's a GOOD witch, right? I don't see any ruby slippers. Why should I need bravery for training?' With each question in his head, the metaphorical anime sweatdrops become more solidly formed.

Kita folds her book closed and stands up, taking a few steps towards a workbench where she set sit down, leaning slightly against the wood momentarily before looking over towards Borywick. "Eat you? No." She turns and takes a few steps towards him, reaching a hand out Kita tips his chin upwards and offers a rogueish sort of smile. "I do bite sometimes, but only when I'm asked. Strictly consentual."

As if to accentuate that, Kita runs her tongue over one tooth and then steps back, laughing softly. "You're safe with me. For the most part."

Then, Kita waves a hand in the air, activating her inventory and takes out her spell book. "I believe you were interested in Ley Lines, correct?"

Dosbox's eyes go wide as Kita lifts his chin, forcing his gaze to meet hers. The Rock Gnome felt suddenly like a rabbit who had just locked eyes with a wolf. He knew that his life wasn't in danger, probably. Still, there was danger in this place; Kita was definitely a dangerous lady. Borywick's eyes begin to shake, unblinking, as his lips quiver, attempting to push out words, "I-I-I-I - ah - W-why would someone WANT to be b-bitten?" Sweet, innocent, summer child.

When Kita releases his chin, he realizes that his arms had been flailing, and he consciously stops that. "Ah.. Yeah! Leylines I have dabbled, but I haven't really been able to achieve any sort of MASTERY in it. I have been sort of just... Skating by because I am really good with Earth magic, bit there seems to be something I am missing." He gradually calms down as he speaks of magic; one would definitely not call DosBox unflappable, but magic is well within his comfort zone.

A low chuckle follows as a wicked expresion forms on Kita's features, "Oh you poor man. You really haven't had that much experience, have you?" The corner of her lip lifts and the Imp's whipcord tail lashes once behind her.

Just as he is left to wonder, what she might mean, Kita leans in close with what could only be a seductive whisper, "Why? Because it feels /really/ good. Just this sweet edge of pain and pleasure." She whispers a sigh that may just brush his ear.

Then, it is back to business as Kita pages through her spellbook, that amusement still written in her features as she stands again. "The key thing about magic is that it runs through everything. Earth, trees, sky, air. Arcane magics are a little more subtle." She sweeps an arm out, taking in the courtyard. "It's not just being 'goth' or 'emo'. It's about sensing the flow of magic around you and then twisting it to your will."

Dosbox freezes as the wolf approaches, and goosebumps appear on his neck as her breath wafts past his ears. The prey shivers unblinking as the predator toys with its food. A stray thought pops into his head that he does, in fact, have an unusually high pain tolerance, and a thought which demonstrates a complete and total disregard for his own safety tries to insert itself into his head, but as Kita moves away to go through her spellbook, he shoves that feeling right into a little box in his head and compartmentalizes: they are here to talk about magic today.

DosBox pipes up in a squeaking, crackling voice, "WELL I NEVER--" He stops, clears his throat, and continues, "Ah - I never tried the twisting it to my will, really... I just kinda... Asked. Politely at that. Should I try the... The dominance thing?"

"Is that an invitation? Because... you could count me curious." Kita replies, her brows lifted and her expression one that still clearly toys with amusement. She bites at her lower lip in a teasing look.

Then, just as quick she flips the page in her spellbook and looks down at it. "You can look at it as dominance, but it's more control." She lifts a hand, snapping her fingers to create a small flicker of flame that she passes between them. Then, she leans forward and blows across the fire, causing it to spark and flare purple.

"The elements are more than just blips on your status sheet. They're part of what makes up who you are. They are yours to do with what you please. You own them." She looks towards Borywick, head tilted as if she were gauging if he understands what she is saying.

"You're skilled in Earth magic. Summon me a boulder. Hover it right here." She motions in the air where she wants him to place it, then stands back and waits.

Dosbox realizes what he had said and almost short-curcuits at her response, "Wha - AH - I didn't mean -- I was just -- Haaaaa...." His clayish brown skin takes on a much redder tone as... Is that steam wafting from around his hat?

DosBox is easily distracted from flirtation as the talk of magic continues; even so powerful of an emotion as that is easily defeated by ADHD. "Ah, yeah! I can do that!" As requested, he summons a boulder with earth and keeps it hovering in the air with his decent control of air magic. "Right there..." A hand made completely of amethyst appears, tapping on the boulder twice gently.

With the poor Gnome quite so flustered, Kita doesn't push that particular matter further. Instead, she focuses on the lesson. The Imp girl walks around behind him, the subtle sway of her whipcord tail and the flutter of those small wings as she observes his use of magic. She's taller than he is, but not by so much as many others, but it still means that he's head-height to her cleavage at the best of times.

"Now, I'm going to use some of my magic to accentuate yours." Kita may just lean in riiight next to his head as she does this, her hand reaching out and wrapping that boulder in dark energy. It gives it a strange, almost metallic sheen to the stone. "Feel that?" She asks, voice too close to his ear. "Feel the way that the arcane energy wraps around your own elemental abilities?"

Dosbox is, as mentioned before, easily distracted. He finds himself being caught by the tail movement more often than other things, but his notice of the tail is subtle, and his notice of... SPECIFIC AREAS... is usually accompanied by a quiet squeak and a dramatic shift of his gaze. Even though he isn't, he THINKS he's being pretty low key on his lack of unflappedness.

Of course, that goes out the window when Kita gets up close and speaks into his ear again. The boulder suddenly goes molten, and spikes pop out of it. Dosbox speaks in that squeaky, crackly voice again, "Y-Yep, I feel it!" He was talking about the breath on his ear, but he also felt her dark magic mingled with his. To him, the two sensations felt rather the same: one was physical, the other magical.

The reaction doesn't seem to surprise Kita as she chuckles softly again, the sound almost musical near his ear as she steps back. "Now, I'm going to release my mana, but I want you to hold that same force using your own. Keep up that same warping of the Earth effect. Hold both at the same time."

Knowing that her presence may very well be a distraction, Kita steps back and to the side a little, folding her arms across her chest as she appraises his work with magic. This is, afterall, just the beginning...

Her magic steps back just as Kita does, and DosBox's knees go a little wobbly, just as the magic does; still, DosBox is quite good with the Dark element, so as Kita withdraws hers, the Rock Gnome fills the space in with his own, creating that same metallic sheen as the boulder smoothes out the spikes and cools down into a large chunk of obsidian. Holding the Earth effect, Air effect, and now the Dark effect seems to be quite taxing, and the amethyst hand he had hovering near the boulder dissipates. Still, holding three elements in their raw form at the same time is still something, right? "Ah- Like that? Am I doing it right?" He asks, uncertainty in his voice.

"Perfect." Kita's appraisal is filled with warmth, the exact sort of way one might expect from someone quite familiar with training others and guiding them with the right amount of positivity. "Now, you're currently wielding multiple elements. Try to focus on how the different elements feel working together. The mana should feel slightly different."

She weaves her own example, but utilizing fire. That flame which turns into that black-purple effect again as she holds it in her hand. "Feel the connection the mana has to the ground, to the land around you. Feel how it is part of you, but also part of everything around you."

It sounds somewhat like new-age bullshit, but there is a truth to it as well. There is something that echoes in the mana of the world and that of his own body. "Feel how it flows down through your feet and into the ground. Once you feel it... start channeling your dark mana downward. You should be able to feel it flicker along the Ley Lines."

The instructions do sound a lot like new-age bullshit, but rather than being metaphorical and spiritual, DosBox is following a literal set of directions. Perhaps it is because he is so analytical in his brain that he is good with magic in ETO: his brain treats it exactly like the computer program that it is. And rather than lines of magical energy, DosBox moves his mana down like circuits on a motherboard. Strategic. Precise. Efficient.

Truth be told, he had done this procedure before, but he had never thought to use the dark element to manipulate the energy. Indeed, he felt the flicker she described. He felt, perhaps, he could do more, but he held fast at this state. He was being taught this time; he wasn't doing self-exploration. Going any further than what was currently being instructed might interfere with the lesson. "I feel it. Flicker, flicker..." He says clearly, emotionlessly. It seems like the new-age stuff as brought him into some sort of calm.

As Borywick seems to be understanding the instructions, Kita steps back closer to him, making sure she doesn't completely pull him out of the state of calm. "I'm going to try to show you. It won't hurt, I promise." There is something softer about her tone as she speaks, stepping up behind him and laying gentle hands onto his shoulders.

The magic seems to gain more confidence, her own magical abilities amplifying his own. It's as if she were lighting the path for him to follow. Making it easier to feel the way to activate those leylines.

There is a soft sound that seems to accompany the shift of mana and that bolstering of his own abilities. He may very well have seen the likes of Uta or Kauchemar use music in their magic, and it appears that Kita does so, as well. Her voice has a beautiful, haunting quality.

Dosbox seems to lack the emotional response that he did the last few times Kita came into contact with him. At least, physically, he seems to be very tranquil. The reason for this becomes apparent when she touches his shoulders, and through that, his magic. The Rock Gnome seems to be quite invested in the magic he is weaving at the moment. He isn't straining to maintain the spell; instead, it appears as though most of his mind is being spent on analyzing every minute micrometer of what is happening with the magic.

As Kita begins her manipulations, several things become apparent due to the connection they are currently sharing.

Firstly, as Kita guides him, DosBox has no trouble keeping up with her guiding pace, and there is no hesitation.

Secondly, there is a feeling of fascination in DosBox as he watches Kita's magic move in comparison to his and as he notices the similarities an differences.

Thirdly, and this one happens last, DosBox feels the warm, haunting beauty of Kita's Magic, and seeing it beside DosBox's cold, calculating emotionlessness, Kita would notice that, perhaps, DosBox feels that something is wrong with his magic. A small, very tiny seed of doubt appears, and Kita would feel the metaphysical representation of DosBox plucking that emotion right up, putting it in a box, and setting it in the stack...

For the briefest of moments, because DosBox is so mentally invested in his magic, Kita would unintentionally see within DosBox's 'storage room'. There were, perhaps, hundreds, thousands, an uncountable number of boxes stretching left and right and up out of sight. He sets the one box down with the others, and his 'storage room' shuts once again. He is focused on the magic.

A great many things seem to happen in that moment. It is rare that people tend to use their magical energies together outside of battles against horrific monsters. This is not frantic magic being thrown to buff attacks or desperate healing being thrown towards those on the edge of dying. This is softer, more gentle, and likely speaks far more to both magic users than anything else.

Though she may not quite get the full picture of how Borywick keeps himself isolated, she can feel some of it. The connection isn't mind-reading, but it does give her some impression of how tightly drawn he is, and how much he separate shimself from his own magic.

After a moment, Kita draws her hands from his shoulders and steps back. It's a little exhalation of breath. Something in that moment of connection seems to echo in her own memories like Deja vu.

"I..." There is that moment of hesitation, then, she takes a breath and speaks more normally. "I think that's probably enough to start with." Kita steps back towards her workbench. "You'll want to keep working on that. Work on finding the arcane energy and pushing it into the Ley Lines beneath your feet. Once you activate them, it will radiate power back into your magic." She explains.

And yet, while Kita is still being as kind as before, there is something certainly 'off' about her reaction, her brows drawn together, as if she were thinking.

Dosbox rapidly blinks a couple times as he pulls himself back, out of whatever sort of trance he were in. He releases the magic slowly, safely. He gives a little stretch, reaching up high with one arm and pulling on it with the other, bending at the waist, then the other way. "That was educational. I never thought of using Dark magic to do that. I will definitely practice that..." He trails off, doing something that Dossy is very rarely able to do: he notices Kita's non-verbal queues, "Ah, are you okay? Did I do something wrong?"

Kita's hand reaches out and touches the surface of the work table. It feels real beneath her fingers in the same way everything has felt since the day of the Apocalypse. Not the distant, dream-like way it felt prior to that. It is as if she were looking for something to connect her to the moment.

"Mmm." The sound is soft acknowledgement, not quite the brazen brash forwardness that she had previously exhibited. There are many sides to Kita, it seems.

"When I interacted with your magic, it... reminded me of something." Rather than pushing him for his own story, she offers a sliver of her own. "The feeling of trying to lock away the parts of yourself that feel weak, vulnerable... Shutting away feelings as if they weren't valuable or important."

Her head lifts to look at him, blue eyes peering from behind her glasses. "I've been there. It took a lot to let other people in." She pauses, and there is something genuinely soft in her eyes. "Just know that if you do, it'll be worth it."

Then, she laughs, "Then again, what do I know."

Dosbox looks confused for a second, and then has a bit of realization when it clicks in his head what she's talking about. He forces out a nervous smile as he shrugs, "I-it's not like I am trying to hide myself from OTHERS, really... It's just, well, sometimes, things are in the way, so I have to - ah - put them aside. For later."

He looks down at the ground with a sigh. "I... have a lot of self-doubt. And other things like it. And they get in the way of me doing things. I've got THINGS to do, you know? I don't have TIME to deal with... with... whatever it is that my brain is trying to do with it's...!" He gets a little frustrated at his inability to explain what his going on in his head.

He lets out a small sigh as he continues, dejectedly, "I am sure you know a lot. You have probably been through the same type of stuff I have. And you're right. It feels good to open up the boxes and deal with those feelings so I'm not just... HOLDING ON to them anymore. But there's a time for that, and there's a time for this, and time for the other thing." Then he says firmly, as if it were his mantra, "SEPARATE BOXES."

He clears his throat, before offering cautiously, nervously, as if he were testing a bear trap with his foot to see if it would go off, "If... If you want me to talk about it, I can?"

"Just make sure you /do/ give yourself time to deal with what's tucked away in those boxes." Kita replies in that same, soft tone. "Otherwise, sooner or later you'll walk in there and they'll topple over onto you and you won't have any way out." There is a look that suggests she may very well have some understanding of what he must have gone through. They surely were not the same, not by a long shot, but trauma has a way of rearing up for many people.

Pushing her glasses up on her nose, Kita offers a strangely shy sort of smile, "That's up to you, really. If you want to talk, I'll listen. I'm pretty good at that, all things considered."

"But... let's have some tea." She motions with one hand towards the cottage. Kita steps towards it, opening the front door and then inviting Borywick inside.

The inside of the cottage is small, but cozy. There is a singular fireplace along with a basic kitchen by Yamato standards. There is one larger main room, and two smaller rooms off to the side. One appears to be a bedroom, just barely visible from the doorway, the other seems to be an art studio for works that require being kept out of the elements.

More noticably is that Kita definitely lives here with someone, though that person is clearly not at home. There is a set of armor tossed in one corner that most certainly does not belong to the black mage. There's also a few pieces of clothing tossed over the back of a chair that are certainly not her style.

"Take a seat. I'll get a kettle warmed up." There is a sort of love-seat and chair combination near the fireplace. Kita crouches at the edge of it and puts some water into a kettle and then sparks some flames to the wood within.

Dosbox follows Kita as she leads the way. A brief feeling of wariness pops up in his head, as if he were a rabbit willingly hopping into a wolf's den, but he mentally waves that feeling away.

Upon entering, he takes a good look around the room. "Cozy," is the entirety of his analysis. When she tells him to have a seat, he does so, sitting on the love seat farthest away from the tea kettle. "You've... Got a really nice place here. Do you... live with someone?" He asks, noting the very not caster armor on the other side of the room. He did say he would talk, but she's still making the tea, and she should probably get settled first, and - and - and... He's fidgeting, kicking his feet as they don't reach the floor.

The kettle doesn't take long to heat up with magical means, so all too soon, Kita is pouring hot water into two mugs and putting a little metal container with loose-leaf tea into both. "Just let it steep for a moment or two." She offers it out to Borywick and then settles into one of the other edge of the love-seat. There's still plenty of room between them.

"Thanks. I had this place built just after we fully settled the refugees into Tolbana. I wanted to have a place to go when things got a bit messy." Kita rubs her hands against the mug, but her expression falters slightly at the question. "It's... complicated." That is the best way she can put it.

Kita shifts, tucking her legs up underneath her slightly. "In the interest of honesty... yes. Sometimes." She motions a hand towards the armor, "That belongs to my girlfriend. We were together back in the real world, before coming here." And yet, there is sadness in her blue eyes, "Things aren't really the same as they were back there. So I'm still trying to figure out what that means for me." Pause. "She... hasn't been around for a while."

Remember that discussion about boxes? It's almost like watching Kita neatly put that emotion away as she looks towards Borywick instead, "I thought we were going to talk about you." Change the subject.

The tea cup is taken gently by a floating amethyst hand which is spontaneously there when the cup is offered. DosBox offers a, "Thank you," as the hand hovers next to him, waiting the time it takes for it to steep. When Kita sits next to him on the thing called a LOVE seat, he does seem to appear a little shy, looking down at hands as he fidgets with his fingers.

After Kita says her piece, DosBox displays a concerned frown as he looks up at her, "Well... We were going to, I suppose. I AM willing to talk, no doubt, but... Over the past few months, I have been lucky enough to gather some friends who are willing to listen to me and my worries and fears... I... Do you... have... anyone to talk to? How long have you been... Alone out here?" He posits the questions with hesitation, hoping that he's not over reaching, hoping she takes this as genuine concern and not as judgement as he would have, when he was in the same position...

DosBox distinctly remembers the years-long period of his life where he had no human interaction, a hikikomori in his office building. He thought he had been happy then, with just him and his cat... Now that he had REAL friends, he wouldn't have been able to handle it now...

Whatever Borywick might attribute to her sharing the seat with him, Kita doesn't seem to have the same sort of reaction. Her whipcord Imp tail does flick close to him, though, as if it had a mind of its own. She blows across her own tea and swirls it slightly before removing the leaves and giving it a sip.

"I'm not alone out here." Kita replies, her smile more gentle in this context than before. There is none of that teasing edge to it. It is, however, enough to make one wonder which is the real person, the teasing flirt or the quiet Imp with the cottage-core home. "Tolbana is my home. I've spent the past two years building this place as a refuge for those who have nowhere else to go. I have friends."  

She pauses then, looking at her own reflection in her tea before laughing, "It's not the same, though. Is it?" Lifting her shoulders in a half shrug, Kita seems to let it flow off of her like water.

"What about you? You talk as if you didn't really have friends before coming here." Once again, she tries to push that focus onto Borywick. Not that she is uncomfortable talking about herself, but... it just seems that he may need the ear more than she does.

Dosbox looks right down at HIS tea, taking it from his vanishing gem hand and sipping it as he spills the metaphorical tea, "We'll, I didn't really. When I was a kid, I had two childhood 'friends', but I look back, and I guess they were more treating me like a pet dog than a friend. And later, I eventually had people that were NICE to me, but that's because I was their supervisor, so like... You know. They wanted me to like them and stuff. We didn't really talk or do anything outside of work. I... I had Baxter, and that was it." He lets out his own sigh. "I realize I've been lonely my whole life, you know? But Asuna, Uta, and now... I guess Marchioness Wake, too. They are... THERE for me, you know? They'll listen to me when I am having these troubles. And... Well, I do have a LOT of stuff to unpack, sure. But the important thing is that I have finally started!" He gives a soft chuckle, "I have a lifetime of emotional baggage, and I am finally starting to address things one by one, and it feels great, you know?" He looks up at her expectantly as he asks a rhetorical question, but actually wanting an answer.

Kita is quiet and attentive as she listens. That little spaded tail twitches against the seat between them. She doesn't immediately comment, letting him work through his story little by little.

And then, as if she felt it was only fair to share a bit of her own story, Kita begins, "When I was in my early teens, my father and I were riding on his motorcycle when we got into an accident." She sets the tea down on a table and reaches beneath her dress. It almost looks like she might be stripping. Just for a split second, though. She unclips a band which keeps the two gloves attached across her chest.

Rolling down one of the two, it reveals a long series of scars which lash across her arms. If she hadn't explained the source of them just before, it would very much look like the sort of thing that comes from someone who self-harms. She could be lying about where they come from, of course, but...

"My dad got more fucked up than I was, and we were both in the hospital for the better part of a month." Her head tilts towards him, "When I went back to school, everyone thought they knew what happened. No one would believe it was anything other than that. So I became the broken kid. The one who hurts herself. I became the target because people thought I was an easy mark."

She laughs softly, but there is no humor in the sound. "So I know what it is like to feel isolated and alone." Turning her blue eyes to him, she does seem to find a more genuine smile, "I'm glad you've found friends, though. They are a blessing. One that's really important when things get bad."

Dosbox does, in fact start to panic a little as Kita begins to remove an article of clothing. He sighs with relief as it was just her gloves, but that sigh gets caught in his throat halfway as he sees the marks on her arms. If he weren't paying attention then, he was now. He listens intently throughout the entire explanation before nodding with a bit of a sour grin, "I... Yeah. Wow. I mean, I have something SORT of similar. Heh... My... 'father'... He was hitting my mother, and... I wanted him to stop. And... That was kind of a mistake. I ended up breathing threw a tube for a few weeks, my father went to jail, and my mother never forgave me." He looks briefly at the scars, "I am not sure if you can tell, but... I didn't get a body scan. This isn't what I look like in the RL. I am... A lot bigger than this. I tried to distance myself from who I was in the real world. But... How about you? Are those scars important to you? Is that why you did the Body scan?"

Under most circumstances, Kita always leaves those scars covered. In fact, she can count on a single hand how many people have actually seen them. Her still gloved hand reaches across, the fingers lightly rubbing over the white lines. They had been in the game over two years, but these seem far older than that.

Her eyes seem to look over to him as he mentions the differences between body-scanned avatars and those created using the randomizer. "The scars are something my father and I share. He was... /is/ a good man and I miss him a lot." Her relationship with her father is obviously very different from that of Borywick, with real affection there for the man. "Each scar is a memory. Ones for my father." She lifts her arm.

Then, she touches the small scar at one edge of her lip and another that bisects part of her eyebrow. "These are from old piercings that I had to get rid of in order to not offend the sensibilities of my girlfriend's high-brow parents." Kita rolls her eyes at that. She still had quite a lot of piercings, just most seemed to be religated to her ears. At least, those that are visible, anyways.

Then, focusing on the Gnome, she seems to steel herself a little. "If I can be blunt. It sounds to me like what you did was fucking brave as hell. Your father sounds like an asshole and your mother a coward." Her brows furrow. There is real anger there, anger that likely stems both from Borywick's story as well as from her own experiences. "Fuck the both of them. You deserved better."

Dosbox actually feels somewhat comforted by Kita's anger as he gives her a soft smile, "I... I know. Most of my life, I thought I deserved what I got. I thought that..." He bites his lip, the smile fading, "I thought I was... Trash. And that I should know my place." He says the words as if he were quoting someone, as if they have echoed in his head for a long time. "Enough people tell you something, and you start to believe it, you know? It's taken a lot for me to understand that I'm not. And that I am worth something."

DosBox's smile returns, "It took people telling me that I WAS something great. That I was worth while. That I was worth fighting for." He shakes his head, "I am not Tanaka anymore. It took... my friends to realize that." He looks to Kita questioning, "We're friends too, right? You and me?"

Kita's lips press together in a way that suggests fighting with he rown emotions. Though her experiences pale in comparison to those that Borywick had suffered in the real world, that doens't mean that she doesn't feel each blow as if it were her own past coming back to haunt her. "I know." She replies.

Slowly, she pulls the glove back on, attaching it again across her chest. "I felt weak for a long time. But being here has taught me that I'm not weak. And one of our biggest strengths comes from when we stand together." Kita flexes her fingers, making sure the glove is fully back in place.

Then, she turns those intense blue eyes back to him. "Well, let me repeat it if you need to hear it again."

Leaning forward, Kita closes a bit of that distance between them on the couch. Her hand reaches out to his Gnome cheek and touches it with a delicate, light touch. "You are worthwhile. You are someone worth fighting for. You matter." Her eyes flick back and forth with some measure of uncertainty.

And then, he asks her if they are friends. Her hand drops from his cheek in a slow motion as she answers with a nod, "I'd like to think so."

Dosbox closes his eyes when Kita touches his face. He fights back the tears as he smiles, "Thank you. You are, too." He gives a sniff, as he looks over at the suit of armor on the floor, then back at her, "I... Think you are worth while, too."

He looks at her with a serious expression. "And not just because you are teaching me ley line stuff, by the way. You are a person with feelings and emotions. And you're kind, and you're cool, and a bunch more things that are good, and I am sure as we are friends for longer, I will add a bunch more things to that list!"

That serious expression followed by the string of compliments is enough to have Kita laughing, causing the white streaks of her hair to bob slightly before she brushes the strands back behind one pierced ear. "Well, I appreciate the kind words." It seems to have lifted her mood, as well.

"You're always welcome to visit, whenever you'd like. I... don't get out from Tolbana as much as I used to." Though the smile remains, there is still that hint of shadow behind her eyes. "I do need to visit Asuna, soon, though. I promised her that portrait of Yui."

From there, the two would share a bit more tea, some more mundane conversation, and some company that seemed long needed, bringing life to the small cottage that seems to have been quiet and lonely as of late.