Oh noes, old men smooching!

[paladaddy]

[Okay.

So.

Let's fast-forward a bit, past where Shiro and Stein met and became buddies and so forth. All that stuff already partially happened in Vat anyway. So by now Shiro is at least friendly enough with Stein that he can be honest with him and ask questions without holding himself back.]

You have a lot of scars.

[He's curious, ok?]

Comments

[paladaddy]

[Well, that must be why he was a rogue in the RPG curse: dat flexible guy.]

I suppose not, no. You'd have to trust someone a lot for that.

[circumsutus]

[Flexible and buff. You jelly, Shiro???]

I would. [It's not actually about trust, strange as that sounds. (Though, people don't usually want to cut him open). It's about satisfying his own curiosity, about cutting open his own skin to look underneath. He wants (needs) to know, and second-hand knowledge isn't enough.]

Why are you wondering?

[paladaddy]

[He shrugs.]

All scars have stories. We're friends, but I don't think we ever discussed it before. You're not the only one who suffers from insatiable curiosity.

[circumsutus]

[A laugh, one single tired exhalation. Shiro's curiosity is nothing like Stein's. Stein's curiosity drives him mad, makes him impulsive beyond rationality, means that sometimes he has to rip himself open just to see what happens.

It's less now that he's... older. The screw through his head helped stop the urges, destroyed the part of his brain responsible. Most of his scars are from before then.]

There's not much to talk about.

[paladaddy]

...Ah.

[Oh whoops, he hadn't even thought that the memories could be painful. Stein always seemed so damn cheerful (or psychotic) that he hadn't even thought it could be something bad.]

Sorry, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories.

[circumsutus]

[Silly, shallow, nothing to him except a sadistic streak and a cheerful smile.]

They're not bad memories. Just youthful impulsiveness.

Sort of like getting a tattoo and later wondering if it was the right decision.

[paladaddy]

You can always go over a bad tattoo.

...I suppose you could do the same with your scars. Turn them into train tracks and have little trains added here and there.

[circumsutus]

I'm not going to tattoo trains on my body.

[paladaddy]

Whaaaat, don't like trains?

[Whoops he's grinning a bit now. Tease tease tease]

[circumsutus]

Is that what you like? Tattoos of trains?

[paladaddy]

[frooooown]

Bah, you're no fun. It's impossible to tease you.

[circumsutus]

[Stein laughs.]

I've heard that before.

[paladaddy]

If you were a woman, I would have given up and just tried to seduce you instead.

[Because Stein is a dude, that isn't the first thing he would think of doing.]

[circumsutus]

Do you find me that attractive, or do you just seduce every woman you meet?

[paladaddy]

I seduce every good-looking woman I meet.

[Not commenting on the other part though. He's not a good judge of if a guy is hot or not.]

[circumsutus]

So you think I'd make a good-looking woman.

[paladaddy]

I'd have to see you in a dress first to know for sure.

[circumsutus]

Are you asking to see me in a dress, Shiro?

[paladaddy]

...I keep forgetting how bad you are with jokes.

[circumsutus]

[See, half the fun of jokes is turning them back on the person who started them in the first place.]

I'd look terrible in a dress.

[paladaddy]

Yeah, you probably would. Your shoulders are too broad.

[Don't ask how Shiro knows this. Just don't.]

[circumsutus]

[Well, Shiro's seen Stein shirtless at least once.]

Are you an expert on crossdressing?

[paladaddy]

Well, I DO wear cassocks a lot...

[See, Stein? That is a joke. Jokes are funny like that.]

[circumsutus]

Would you prefer I called it a dress?

[paladaddy]

Call it what you like.

[He's not wearing one right now, though. He's been wearing them less frequently here in Vatheon.]

You wouldn't be the first person to call it a dress.