Title: (like a) rock (formation)
Rating: G
Fandom: Baten Kaitos, specifically Baten Kaitos Origins
Relationship: Milliarde/Sagi
Wordcount: 1237
Short summary: Sagi finds Milly in the backyard garden making...rock formations?
“Milly, I’m home?”
When Sagi opens the door to his and Milly’s small abode, he expects to see Milly at the desk scribbling something or reading some book. To see no one in the chair…well, it is still bright outside. Perhaps Milly is enjoying the sunlight on this warm spring day?
Sagi drops off his bag before going through the back door to their small backyard garden. It’s a garden in the sense that things…grow. Otherwise it is more accurately described as a patchwork of grass, wildflowers, and dirt with a few berry bushes adorning the back side. Still, it is a space they can both enjoy, to get some fresh air but without the complications of being bothered by others. Especially for Milly... It’s not that Milly can’t go out so much as she chooses to stay at home more, to avoid fighting and putting strain on her body which would require her to get maintenance, a decision which Sagi fully respects. After all he too does not want to leave Mira and get caught up in any mess out there unless it is absolutely necessary.
Milly is indeed outside but she seems to be occupied? Sagi can’t see everything from behind Milly’s crouched figure but the fact that Milly has not turned around once or said anything even though Sagi’s footsteps have not been silent makes Sagi curious. Is she absorbed in some project to entertain herself with while he has been absent?
“What’s got you so focused that you didn’t notice my arrival?” he asks once he is merely a single step behind her. He steps back when Milly jumps to her feet and whirls around.
“Oh! Sagi!”
Now that Milly is standing, Sagi can see the piles of small rocks by her feet. They are all sorts of odd shapes but more importantly, some of them are on stacked on top of each other seemingly on purpose.
“Are those…?”
“Yeah…”
Milly gives Sagi a sheepish smile, her cheeks turning a bit pink. “I was…missing it a little, you know? Playing around in that place.”
Sagi immediately remembers which place Milly is referring to. Even if he has only been to Nekkar a few times, Milly’s story made the place stick out in his mind. As well as…
“Making all those weird rock monuments?”
“Hey! I think they were pretty…accurate all things considered…”
Sagi thought his teasing tone had been obvious, but with Milly looking down and to the side, he’s worried that he might have hurt her feelings. He reaches out for her right hand and holds it gently.
“Is it okay if I make some too?”
Milly lifts her head to look directly at Sagi and scrutinizes his face. Sagi holds firm; he is truly curious on whether he could…try…and what the results might be, but if Milly wants to keep it her own thing…
“Sure! I haven’t really found the best combination yet for… Wait, I shouldn’t tell you. It’s going to be a surprise!”
She steps aside before crouching back down, allowing Sagi to join her in picking out appropriate rocks for making human-ish rock “formations”. Sagi mentally calls them formations instead of monuments because, unlike the ones on Nekkar, these rocks are much smaller, pebble-sized…likely leftover small rocks from other people’s landscaping efforts. While Milly scrutinizes her current rock formations in progress, Sagi picks up one rock and then another. Hmm, this one is a bit…chipped. Sagi makes his own resource pile before planning from the base upward. Two “legs”…two well-balanced rocks…and a “dress”…and a “head”… Oh, if he just does a little “etching”…
“How about this, Milly?”
Satisfied with the two rock formations he’s made, Sagi calls out for Milly’s attention. He sees that she has finished two structures but a third looked to only have…”legs”?
“Is that…me?” Milly asks, pointing at the one with the “dress”. Sagi nods. “And next to…that’s not you.”
“Nope.”
Sagi wouldn’t say he has a stout figure, but he certainly does not have the slender structure implied by his second rock formation. There’s also another detail which he waits for Milly to pick up on.
“Then…no…hmm…” It takes a moment for Milly to answer; Sagi wonders what names are going through her mind. He doesn’t get a chance to prod before she shouts. “Ah! You cheater!”
“Huh?”
“I was trying to make Guillo! But you took all the best rocks!”
Sagi blinks. “Uh, I don’t think that’s…” But he stops himself before completing that sentence. Because he etched the rock that made the head of “Guillo”, he technically did “cheat”. But so did Milly, or least she had tried to, considering he had found some deliberately chipped rocks in the pile.
“Alright, maybe I was lucky?” he says eventually while scratching the back of his head sheepishly. “Anyway, should we move them somewhere?”
Milly sweeps her gaze over all 4 finished rock formations. “I’m not sure mine will… Let’s just see which is the last one standing!”
Now that Sagi takes a closer look at Milly’s rock formations, he thinks one of them is upright because she’s wedged the “legs” into the ground. So she might be worried that moving them will mean not finding another location in which she can stand her formations properly. Well, that’s fine with Sagi. It’s not like their “garden” has any real organization to it.
Anyway, despite that “wedging” by Milly of one of her formations, he thinks his “Milly” looks the sturdiest. Mostly because he used thinner rocks to make “Guillo”. Not because he thinks Milly is…strong with her legs or something.
“Alright. I’ll bet on you.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Sagi chuckles as he pats Milly on the shoulder. He managed to choose his words carefully enough this time, for Milly is just confused and not hurt or angry. But of course, since this is Milly, she’s not completely oblivious to Sagi’s tells.
“Are you trying to dodge my question?”
Sagi laughs once more as he reaches further to hug Milly, running his hands up and down her back. Milly sighs happily as she returns the hug. Yes, indeed he is trying to dodge her question, and it seems she’s okay with that if in exchange he showers her with some blatant affection. Which works for him. Because he’s not going to say anything and earn himself a kick. After all, he knows just how strong Milly’s legs are…
Though he hopes all the rock formations manage to stay upright and intact for a while. Making rock formations that look like their most important people… Perhaps they haven’t changed that much despite becoming adults.
“By the way, I got some Mountain Apple Wine and some Pow Cheese from the last guy, if we want to have them with dinner tonight?”
Milly pushes Sagi away and stands up. “Yes! Let me get started on dinner right away!”
Sagi smiles as he watches Milly skip back inside their house. She always enjoys the gifts he’s able to bring back when he does leave for a spell; perhaps to prove that the wait was worth it? Well, he’ll join her soon as he’s still better at cutting vegetables than she is, but first… Is he the left or the right rock formation that Milly made? He didn’t have the heart to ask her earlier. Laughing to himself, he thinks he’s probably one of those two…maybe…?