[Fanfan runs after Mikoto! Run, Fanfan! Don't let him get away! She catches up to him in the stables; he's saddling up Nami.] * Fanfan is a runner, but is still slightly out of breath. Wait-- * Mikoto glances over Nami's back at Fanfan, tightening a saddle strap. "Yes?" Mikoto...may I come with you? * Mikoto pauses a moment, glancing at Fanfan carefully, and then says, evenly, "No. Please don't be offended by that, it's nothing personal." ...oh. * Fanfan looks all sad and stuff. "I apologize for presuming. I simply...there is nothing left for me here, with them." * Mikoto straps his medicine bag to the saddle. "Perhaps not. There is something about them, I grant." A wry smile. "A certain je ne sais quois, I suppose. I've never met anyone like them, and I've..." A rather too-pregnant pause. "I've met a lot of people in my short lifetime." ("Je ne sais quois", from a pre-universal language Injun word meaning "pack of hyenas") ( /me snickers. ) (Ha!) * Fanfan shrugs. "I am afraid I am not so experienced..." ( Mikoto's leaving because he's having a baby o.o ) There is something to be said for innocence... * Mikoto levels his gaze at Fanfan. "But some intuition tells me that you're more experienced than you're telling anyone." * Fanfan winces a little at that. "At...welll, not at this sort of thing." ( And will come back in a later episode, because John is the father. ) * Mikoto grins, and it's quite uncharactieristic compared to his usual demeanor. "It's not pleasant being called a liar to your face, is it?" he says placidly. "Though we both have been lying to them from minute one. Social life is a carefully-constructed web of lies, Fanfan. The trick is to be the most artful dodger." (They're heading to the stables. Be prepared to be shunted into the main channel!) [*shunts you both*]