[oh, wow, no one's really done that before, either. Really, not a lot of people get this close back home - except the kids when they're playing, but even then no one dares to go near the claws. He watches her thumb for a few moments before he nods] I guess it wouldn't be well-known in other places if oni aren't common there, but - okay, here goes.
[Itto clears his throat and shifts to sit up straighter as a cinematic begins to play]
A real long time ago, there were two oni - best friends, the crimson oni and the blue oni.
The blue oni looked more human then the crimson oni, but he was more reclusive. The crimson oni was gentle, but he scared the humans. They'd throw beans whenever he tried to get close, even though he wanted to befriend them.
So one day the blue oni tells the crimson oni, "hey, I'll cause trouble in the village and you come stop me. Then, the humans will accept you!" And that's what he did, and the crimson oni's good deed spread far and wide and he was finally accepted.
But when he went to tell the blue oni about it, he was gone and all that was left was a letter: "I went traveling. Don't come find me, or they'll treat you like a naughty little oni. But don't worry about me, no matter where I go . . . we'll always be friends."
That's the fairytale everyone knows, and some of it's true - the blue oni really did choose exile, while the crimson oni stuck around. But there's way more that a nice little story like that leaves out.
[She does catch the way he looks at how she's touching him and it does make her wonder, for a moment, if he's really not used to that kind of contact. Though since he doesn't pull away she doesn't stop, and she leans on the table while he tells his story.
It comes across like a fable, like something meant to make a point or give a message, but the last thing he says...]
Is it true?
[Something like that, did it actually happen? Vennessa glances up at Itto's horns, then down to the markings on his skin, before she meets his eyes again.]
And you... you're one of the crimson oni, right? [One corner of her mouth quirks up in a little smile.] What happened to the blue ones?
Some, yeah. The crimson oni really did stay behind, and the blue oni chose to isolate themselves.
Way back then, Inazuma was dangerous, so to get the Raiden Shogun's protection, you had to play nice with the humans. Oni are real proud, so this led to them splitting into the two groups: the crimson oni who wanted to be friendly, and the blue oni who were more stubborn and kept to their own. And the humans - well, they just saw all of 'em as hard to get along with, no matter what color their horns were.
Eventually the two leaders got together to come up with a plan and made an oath. The part about the blue oni playing the bad guy - that part is true, too. But it came with conditions, so that the crimson oni could integrate with the humans. Nowadays, most folks don't even know blue oni exist. Oni are oni to them.
I do know one - I met him not too long ago. There was a whole big thing that he got involved in and we helped him out. But aside from him and the ones he lives with, I'd never met any blue oni. They really isolated themselves.
[but he lifts the free hand to tap his horns, grinning] But yeah, I'm a proud descendant of the crimson oni!
[She does sound genuinely impressed, and looks up at his horns again with a smile when he taps them. It does mean a lot to have something like this explained to her so well, and so simply, and she likes hearing stories from other countries.]
It must be hard for the blue oni to hide so well, with so many people around. [Just how would a whole group of oni just... vanish like that? Where could they even be?]
Do you have any idea where they are? Do they all live together?
They've gotta have it mastered by now, hiding from everyone.
[that's really the only explanation, and a question he didn't really think to ask Takuya at the time. Maybe it'll be one he can ask when he goes back]
Far as I know they all live together - I've got a vague idea where they are but I, uh, got arrested and couldn't go see 'em. Then some other stuff popped up and - [he's still in Liyue, as far as he knows]
[How sad... to have to hide like that, an entire people, for so long... just to keep the other half of their kind safe. And how brave, and true for them to have done it for so many years.
Hearing that he got arrested, at this point, is not actually too surprising to her and she manages to keep from smirking. Instead, she squeezes her fingers gently around his hand.]
You'll find them some day. What do you think you'll do when you get there?
[he could go on and on about how great the blue oni are, he had so much respect for them and honestly, even more after meeting Takuya despite the circumstances. Being able to tell their story to someone who cares aside from the traveler is just, really nice]
I hope so, I wanna visit when I get back to Inazuma.
. . . I, uh, I don't know what I'll do, though. Learn more about 'em? I mean, running into oni is rare as it is, even crimson oni. I asked Takuya some things, but it'd be totally different in person.
[She'd honestly love to hear it. The whole time he's been talking she's kept her hand lightly curled around his, the side of her thumb occasionally shifting back and forth across one of his fingernails, and her attention hasn't left his face for a moment.
It's true enough that she finds strength appealing, but there's something else as well. He's sweet and eager in a dorky but earnest way that she finds entirely endearing. The way he approaches everything with such energy.]
Do the crimson oni keep away from humans too? Or are there just... not that many oni?
[She doesn't know much about Inazuma but surely it isn't so big that it could hide two large groups of people like that? But then, she has heard that there are many large and deep caverns beneath all the countries of Teyvat... even with Khaenri'ah put aside.]
[he scratches a hand through his hair, face scrunched up as he thinks of how to explain it]
Not in the same way the blue oni do, nah. But there aren't too many of us, at least that I know of? I know I'm the only one running around the ports and the city.
Before Takuya, the only ones I really knew were my parents. [an easy shrug] Might be that all the crimson oni are living in different villages and I just haven't run into them.
[She does appreciate the way he's so patient in explaining all of this to her. Vennessa, though uneducated in many things, is always curious about the wider world and especially now, when she has the freedom to be curious.
And Itto is so very interesting.]
Maybe they are. Have you not travelled Inazuma very much?
[It's islands, she understands, and so not so easy to simply traverse on a whim as Mondstadt.]
My tribe used to move around a lot... though Inazuma was always out of our reach.
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[Itto clears his throat and shifts to sit up straighter
as a cinematic begins to play]A real long time ago, there were two oni - best friends, the crimson oni and the blue oni.
The blue oni looked more human then the crimson oni, but he was more reclusive. The crimson oni was gentle, but he scared the humans. They'd throw beans whenever he tried to get close, even though he wanted to befriend them.
So one day the blue oni tells the crimson oni, "hey, I'll cause trouble in the village and you come stop me. Then, the humans will accept you!" And that's what he did, and the crimson oni's good deed spread far and wide and he was finally accepted.
But when he went to tell the blue oni about it, he was gone and all that was left was a letter: "I went traveling. Don't come find me, or they'll treat you like a naughty little oni. But don't worry about me, no matter where I go . . . we'll always be friends."
That's the fairytale everyone knows, and some of it's true - the blue oni really did choose exile, while the crimson oni stuck around. But there's way more that a nice little story like that leaves out.
no subject
It comes across like a fable, like something meant to make a point or give a message, but the last thing he says...]
Is it true?
[Something like that, did it actually happen? Vennessa glances up at Itto's horns, then down to the markings on his skin, before she meets his eyes again.]
And you... you're one of the crimson oni, right? [One corner of her mouth quirks up in a little smile.] What happened to the blue ones?
no subject
Way back then, Inazuma was dangerous, so to get the Raiden Shogun's protection, you had to play nice with the humans. Oni are real proud, so this led to them splitting into the two groups: the crimson oni who wanted to be friendly, and the blue oni who were more stubborn and kept to their own. And the humans - well, they just saw all of 'em as hard to get along with, no matter what color their horns were.
Eventually the two leaders got together to come up with a plan and made an oath. The part about the blue oni playing the bad guy - that part is true, too. But it came with conditions, so that the crimson oni could integrate with the humans. Nowadays, most folks don't even know blue oni exist. Oni are oni to them.
I do know one - I met him not too long ago. There was a whole big thing that he got involved in and we helped him out. But aside from him and the ones he lives with, I'd never met any blue oni. They really isolated themselves.
[but he lifts the free hand to tap his horns, grinning] But yeah, I'm a proud descendant of the crimson oni!
no subject
[She does sound genuinely impressed, and looks up at his horns again with a smile when he taps them. It does mean a lot to have something like this explained to her so well, and so simply, and she likes hearing stories from other countries.]
It must be hard for the blue oni to hide so well, with so many people around. [Just how would a whole group of oni just... vanish like that? Where could they even be?]
Do you have any idea where they are? Do they all live together?
no subject
[that's really the only explanation, and a question he didn't really think to ask Takuya at the time. Maybe it'll be one he can ask when he goes back]
Far as I know they all live together - I've got a vague idea where they are but I, uh, got arrested and couldn't go see 'em. Then some other stuff popped up and - [he's still in Liyue, as far as he knows]
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Hearing that he got arrested, at this point, is not actually too surprising to her and she manages to keep from smirking. Instead, she squeezes her fingers gently around his hand.]
You'll find them some day. What do you think you'll do when you get there?
no subject
I hope so, I wanna visit when I get back to Inazuma.
. . . I, uh, I don't know what I'll do, though. Learn more about 'em? I mean, running into oni is rare as it is, even crimson oni. I asked Takuya some things, but it'd be totally different in person.
no subject
It's true enough that she finds strength appealing, but there's something else as well. He's sweet and eager in a dorky but earnest way that she finds entirely endearing. The way he approaches everything with such energy.]
Do the crimson oni keep away from humans too? Or are there just... not that many oni?
[She doesn't know much about Inazuma but surely it isn't so big that it could hide two large groups of people like that? But then, she has heard that there are many large and deep caverns beneath all the countries of Teyvat... even with Khaenri'ah put aside.]
no subject
[he scratches a hand through his hair, face scrunched up as he thinks of how to explain it]
Not in the same way the blue oni do, nah. But there aren't too many of us, at least that I know of? I know I'm the only one running around the ports and the city.
Before Takuya, the only ones I really knew were my parents. [an easy shrug] Might be that all the crimson oni are living in different villages and I just haven't run into them.
no subject
And Itto is so very interesting.]
Maybe they are. Have you not travelled Inazuma very much?
[It's islands, she understands, and so not so easy to simply traverse on a whim as Mondstadt.]
My tribe used to move around a lot... though Inazuma was always out of our reach.