"Hey Marso" A 12 year old said, walking up to the tall man who was cutting up some vergetables for lunch. He looked to his side with a hum and smiled, ruffling the small boy's hair. "Ah, you've gotten so much bigger already..." He checked his gold and shining pocket watch, twirling it around and observing it. "Is my watch broken?" He shook it near his ear.
Kenshin laughed, knowing Marso was doing it on purpose. Marso chuckles a bit and put it down. "Really, though. It always looks and feels like time's moving so slowly yet also very fast. Why can't time make up its mind? Why not just stay at one speed? Changing speed sounds tiring."
Kenshin thought about it and hummed. "I don't know, maybe the arrow thingies get stuck sometimes or something."
Marso paused in his cutting and blinked for a moment, then furrowed his eyebrows and thought. How do you fix a stuck watch??
He didn't really know, actually. His father never really did teach him, he only watched. Ah, yes. His father.. Nevermind. He didn't know the whereabouts of any oil in this castle, and brought a finger near his chin, thinking for a moment. Kenshin watched with confused eyes, looking down and reaching for the food. Do eggplants taste like eggs?
"..Would..would butter....." Marso asked himself as he hesitantly, almost nervously walked towards the fridge, then opened it and looked down at the butter with wide, confused eyes, that didn't need food, nor sleep. Only. Answers.
Butter.. Is in the same category as oil, correct? Would... Would it.....
To save the butter at least a little dignity, he took a butter knife and took some butter, put his pocket watch on the table with the lid open and with a shaking, hesitating hand he held it down as though he felt like it might squirm and slowly brought the knife down-
"AUGH!"
He froze and looked to his side at where the sound came from, and saw Kenshin making a really weird face. He laughed loudly, and asked "What are you doing??"
Kenshin gagged and shook his head. "IT LOOKED LIKE A TINY ORANGE OR SOMETHING I THOUGHT IT LOOKED CUTE-- WHY DO YOU HAVE THIS"
Marso laughed a bit more, tears in his eyes. "That's calamansi, Sev gave it to me because she couldn't find any lemons."
Kenshin looked like he was going to vomit and put a hand on the table. He yelped as the knife cut him, the sour juice on the table getting in the wound. Marso immediately stopped laughing and went to Kenshin's side, who winced from the pain with a bit lip. He sighed as he saw the color he's all too familiar with come out.
--×--
"...You know," Marso began as he messily put a bandaid on Kenshin's hand after cleaning it with water and alcohol in a panic. "It took me a long time to find out that red isn't always good."
He's really bad at bandaging, he can never be bothered to wrap things entirely and close them up when it comes to tape and fabric bandages. He always gets distracted and even if it hurts, he'd leave his hands unwrapped and bleeding whenever he cuts himself with broken ceramics by accident. He also sometimes finds himself dancing around the room like a ribbon dancer with the bandages and just stops and blinks, thinking: ..What am I doing?? One time Dee came in after he did that. He barely said a word as he closed the door again.
"Huh?"
"The red. When I was younger, I just thought it was colored water, and sometimes it'd be all that was left for me to drink when it wouldn't rain and I wasn't allowed back inside. When I got older, I thought it was just something that showed pain, and sometime before I died.. I thought it was something I could use to my advantage."
