[ Link watches her pour the drink, and looks up just in time to watch her run her pink tongue up the neck of the bottle. Unavoidably, the image of her on her back, mouth slightly open, idly running her tongue along her upper lip in ecstasy, flashes into his mind again. ]
Uh... how old? [ He asks, cheeks pink and eyes averted, still trying to brush the distraction from his mind. The filled cup gives him an excuse to be silent for a moment to think; he brings it to his mouth and takes a small but drawn-out sip. ]
...I know this sounds strange, but it's hard to answer that question. I don't know the exact number, and even if I did, I guess it depends on what you mean...
[ He settles back against the same hunk of half-ruined stone that Kiritsubo first sat against, like he's sitting next to her on a park bench for a friendly talk. ]
Strictly speaking... I'm about 123 years old. That's how long ago I was born. But, I was asleep for a hundred years of that time, so maybe it's better to say I'm about 23 years old...
[ But it doesn't end there. After hesitating, ]
...I don't remember almost everything from before I woke up from that sleep, though. That was about five years ago, so... I guess, in a weird way, you can say that the old me is actually dead, and the current me has only been around for five years...
And then, there's all the... past lives. I don't think you'd normally count those, but... I remember a lot of them now. And if memories are what you're measuring by, then...
no subject
Uh... how old? [ He asks, cheeks pink and eyes averted, still trying to brush the distraction from his mind. The filled cup gives him an excuse to be silent for a moment to think; he brings it to his mouth and takes a small but drawn-out sip. ]
...I know this sounds strange, but it's hard to answer that question. I don't know the exact number, and even if I did, I guess it depends on what you mean...
[ He settles back against the same hunk of half-ruined stone that Kiritsubo first sat against, like he's sitting next to her on a park bench for a friendly talk. ]
Strictly speaking... I'm about 123 years old. That's how long ago I was born. But, I was asleep for a hundred years of that time, so maybe it's better to say I'm about 23 years old...
[ But it doesn't end there. After hesitating, ]
...I don't remember almost everything from before I woke up from that sleep, though. That was about five years ago, so... I guess, in a weird way, you can say that the old me is actually dead, and the current me has only been around for five years...
And then, there's all the... past lives. I don't think you'd normally count those, but... I remember a lot of them now. And if memories are what you're measuring by, then...
[ then he'd be much, much older than 123. ]