Mikodez opens the door into the same rooms he'd brought Shiro into during their...adventures in port. He's moved around a few of the chairs, set up a medium sized table with a pot of tea in the center along with a few plates with carefully sliced pieces of fruit arranged in decorative patterns. He gives Shiro his usual warm smile, eyes crinkling a little more when he sees what she's brought. Sweets always have his favor but it's even nice to see rice - not his usual fare but closer to home than a lot of the food here.
"Please, come and sit down. Dar, Annette, Elm, Tizio and Cypress were very excited to hear that you were stopping by. They're the 31st Company military, ah, squad." They had spent a lot of time figuring out names. "They wanted to get polished up. Some of the others are a bit more reclusive but they seemed happy to hear about it too. We can all talk later, after dinner."
The table is a nice surprise, the chairs all around making her feel--not claustrophobic, which is almost surprising. She usually doesn't do well with gatherings. Maybe it's because they're much smaller, or because of how she'd met them. But it's nice.
Leaving her boots at the door (it's only polite), Shiro approaches the table, finding a clear place to set down the bowls and plates of food. She doesn't actually know if the toys eat, at least eat what regular people do, but better to have extra than not enough. "I didn't know they had names. They didn't--when we asked before, they didn't say." Had she not asked right, or is that a new thing? Either way, she'll sit down towards the middle of the table after everything is set out.
The soldiers, polished to a nice shine, are mostly sitting pressed close together, still - perhaps always, they're still deciding on preferences - more comfortable when together. One or two have made some slight changes, the one who nodded their head at the name 'Dar' has added a sash to their uniform, the most dramatic divergence and perhaps why they're the first to speak - though on the whole they prefer to leave most of the communicating to Mikodez. Still, they've all agreed this is important and Shiro had been the one to talk with them.
"We didn't then. Some had names given to them but we were just soldiers. We chose them." They sit again after a stiff nod to Mikodez to carry on the explanation.
"We've spent some time looking through books to see what names might feel appropriate," he says, pouring her a cup of tea. "Is not always an easy process, Bear has had a particularly hard time, he didn't want the name they had given him but having had one he's a little...in between. Still, there's no rush."
"Oh--that's--that's really good. Getting to choose your own names," she says, directing the words at the soldiers themselves. She'll remember the names, although she might need a little help from Mikodez distinguishing them until the names really click. "I'm--it's good to meet you all. Properly, I think." Isn't that what you say? She's fairly certain. But it's good, that they're getting to choose. She's glad for that.
Although it's not as easy for all of them as that, she thinks, and there's a tug of understanding in her heart. She knows what it is to be given a name, instead of choosing it, a name that maybe reminds you of your lack of choice. "Maybe--I could talk to Bear. After." Maybe she can help. She'd like to.
She gets several nods and slightly stiff bows in return.
"It's still difficult for them to speak more fully about a range of subjects," Mikodez says, dipping a piece of apple in honey. "The expectations at the toy shop were more limited." A lot of variations on the joys of belonging to someone, words that the toys that had come with them had generally already been slower to speak or still find silence an easier way to resist the habit. But he's happy to act as a spokesperson for however long they might want.
He looks over at Elm, he's closer to Bear than the other soldiers, before nodding. "He'd probably appreciate that. Dinner was a bit much but Elm will take you to him later." He grins, "But dressing up first. After dinner, of course. We can see if there's any fun to be had in all the fuss of changing or adding clothes." He says that with another smile directed in the soldiers' direction, it's been a mostly friendly debate between the toys - he makes an effort to just linger as moderator, just in case - and it'll add examples all around.
Shiro takes an orange slice to start, pours a cup of tea as she listens. When she speaks, her words are directed to the toys as much as they are to Mikodez, even if she looks mostly at her plate. "The words are--hard. If you never learned them. Like I told you before--it took me a long time to learn what a choice even was, and then longer to learn how to make it." She looks up, then, a glance at him, and then a look at all the toys. "It's hard, but it's worth it. Worth learning. You get to--learn a lot of new things." A look back at Mikodez again, then, a faint smile on her face. "Like dressing up, I guess. How to do that. It's nice to choose what I am on the outside, too." Vaguely, she wonders if someone could use the sewing machines in the art room to make clothes for them, if they should decide they want to change their uniforms. Or would paint be better for that? She isn't sure.
"Language is a medium of control, if you don't have the vocabulary for choice it's hard to think of it as a possibility. Even before you start on the difficulty inherent in choice itself." He smiles back at her. "But it's a language worth learning. Clothes have a language of their own, as it happens. Even if they're just saying you got to chose what you're wearing, that's nothing to scoff at." He has a collection of paint and cloth for them to go through, but it's a matter of choice.
He's also happy to enjoy the dinner with Shiro, there's no reason to rush - that's a tactic that's served him very well over the decades.
"No. I mean, it isn't, and you're right," she clarifies. "The words are
important. Words, names or clothes, all of them. It's important to know."
It's part of why she's here. To learn, so she can make choices, but also to
spend time with him, and with them. They're all good reasons. Almost enough
to make her forget the part where she's also agreed to go to a party with
more than two people at it. But that's far enough away that she isn't too
worried about it. There's plenty of time yet to enjoy dinner, to eat and to
talk. He was right. It is nice, getting to see the toys getting used to
being away, to see them learning how to be themselves and what it all
means. It makes her--happy. She thinks.
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new years, for dressing up
"Please, come and sit down. Dar, Annette, Elm, Tizio and Cypress were very excited to hear that you were stopping by. They're the 31st Company military, ah, squad." They had spent a lot of time figuring out names. "They wanted to get polished up. Some of the others are a bit more reclusive but they seemed happy to hear about it too. We can all talk later, after dinner."
no subject
Leaving her boots at the door (it's only polite), Shiro approaches the table, finding a clear place to set down the bowls and plates of food. She doesn't actually know if the toys eat, at least eat what regular people do, but better to have extra than not enough. "I didn't know they had names. They didn't--when we asked before, they didn't say." Had she not asked right, or is that a new thing? Either way, she'll sit down towards the middle of the table after everything is set out.
no subject
"We didn't then. Some had names given to them but we were just soldiers. We chose them." They sit again after a stiff nod to Mikodez to carry on the explanation.
"We've spent some time looking through books to see what names might feel appropriate," he says, pouring her a cup of tea. "Is not always an easy process, Bear has had a particularly hard time, he didn't want the name they had given him but having had one he's a little...in between. Still, there's no rush."
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Although it's not as easy for all of them as that, she thinks, and there's a tug of understanding in her heart. She knows what it is to be given a name, instead of choosing it, a name that maybe reminds you of your lack of choice. "Maybe--I could talk to Bear. After." Maybe she can help. She'd like to.
no subject
"It's still difficult for them to speak more fully about a range of subjects," Mikodez says, dipping a piece of apple in honey. "The expectations at the toy shop were more limited." A lot of variations on the joys of belonging to someone, words that the toys that had come with them had generally already been slower to speak or still find silence an easier way to resist the habit. But he's happy to act as a spokesperson for however long they might want.
He looks over at Elm, he's closer to Bear than the other soldiers, before nodding. "He'd probably appreciate that. Dinner was a bit much but Elm will take you to him later." He grins, "But dressing up first. After dinner, of course. We can see if there's any fun to be had in all the fuss of changing or adding clothes." He says that with another smile directed in the soldiers' direction, it's been a mostly friendly debate between the toys - he makes an effort to just linger as moderator, just in case - and it'll add examples all around.
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He's also happy to enjoy the dinner with Shiro, there's no reason to rush - that's a tactic that's served him very well over the decades.
no subject
"No. I mean, it isn't, and you're right," she clarifies. "The words are important. Words, names or clothes, all of them. It's important to know." It's part of why she's here. To learn, so she can make choices, but also to spend time with him, and with them. They're all good reasons. Almost enough to make her forget the part where she's also agreed to go to a party with more than two people at it. But that's far enough away that she isn't too worried about it. There's plenty of time yet to enjoy dinner, to eat and to talk. He was right. It is nice, getting to see the toys getting used to being away, to see them learning how to be themselves and what it all means. It makes her--happy. She thinks.