fortunefail | Appointments

[Yuan's just returning to house #8 after taking a walk in the forest. Now that the weather's displaying all the trademarks of summer, he finds that it's a lot cooler out between the trees than it is inside the house. He could've stayed out there for a while longer if he hadn't gotten hungry. It's suppertime.

He hasn't noticed Souji just yet, instead just fumbling with his house keys.]

Edited 2012-07-22 14:16 (UTC)

[It must be dumb luck that he's passed by the road to Yuan's home, then; he'll stare for a moment, trying to draw out the few lingering memories of this place he has again, before trying to approach.

Surely he'd notice the footsteps going his way, and recognize the voice that follows. ...He hopes, anyway.]

...Hello? [That's as much as he can think of. What he can remember of him is too foggy; not to mention, he doubts that they ever introduced themselves the first time around.]

[He'd noticed the human presence in the back of his mind and brushed it off as irrelevant. There are more than enough humans in the village, after all. It isn't until he realizes the footsteps are coming closer that he pauses in turning the key and glances over his shoulder.

He knows that voice. He knows that boy. Official introductions or not, he couldn't possibly forget the one who was his son in some twisted 'reality'. The question is, did Souji forget who he is, or is this approach more than just a happenstance?]

... Good afternoon.

[It's hard for him to not see the recognition in his eyes. He still remembers after all this time...

Funny, how memories seem to resurface once one thing shows itself in front of a person. He smiles a little; this may well have been the one he'd recalled earlier.]

Time sure has a habit of flying away, doesn't it? [Casual, familiar, comfortable -- should be more of a signal that he still has a vague idea of who he is.]

[The signal is caught loud and clear. Yuan manages a small smile of himself, but it's a mix of both pleasantness and helplessness. The chances that Souji would return with his memories intact after all this time were slim, but he managed it anyway. This unlike most others who are close to Yuan.]

It passes a lot faster than most would like, yes.

[At the very least, now that he's back, it's a good opportunity for them to understand the other better.] Mm. I've been told I was gone for a while, but...it doesn't seem like much has changed here. [...A depressing thought, really, if there are still people he knows cooped up in this bloody world. ...But first, a concern he needs to address, given circumstances.]

How have you been holding up?

[It may not seem like much has changed, but that doesn't mean nothing's happened in Souji's absence. How long has it been? Half a year? No, more. There've been plenty of incidents in that time. To say he's been fine would be an outright lie.]

I've been holding up the best I can in this place.

[An entire year, if Kouki is to be believed...] I guess I'd be saying the obvious, if I said this village was being especially rough on you. [...he doesn't mean to offend. It's just...man, he must have put up with so much while he vanished off the face of whatever planet this village is on.]

[You don't even know, Souji. He bows his head a bit before responding.]

It's rough on everyone. I doubt I'm much of an exception.

[He's...willing to put that into doubt, but it might not be such a good idea to ask straight away. Probably wiser to continue on to something else, for now.] Fair enough point. [...Hm.] Do you mind company right now? [He's also not sure of how to read him at the moment; Yuan doesn't seem like he's against having someone around, but he's worried he might not be in the most festive of moods (...hah, like he's ever in a good mood because of this place? :S); so, best to be sure, right?]

[He was just about to go and prepare some food, but he supposes that can wait a bit longer. If Souji came all the way over here to visit someone like him, he can't exactly turn the boy down.]

I wouldn't mind at all. [With that, he turns the key all the way to open the front door.]

[That's good enough for him; he'll nod in gratitude and quietly follow suit. There's probably quite a bit they have to talk about; he...hopes so, anyway.]

[He waits for Souji to enter before shutting the front door again. Looks like Kratos is absent from the house, but that's really nothing new. It just makes things easier. He leads the way to the dining room, just outside the kitchen.]

Can I get you anything?

Just something to drink. [He doesn't feel the need to munch on anything, really. Probably should be fine if he takes a seat ahead of time, too. :|a]

[That didn't tell Yuan as much as he would've liked, so he just lingers in the doorway between the dining room and the kitchen.]

Water? Tea?

Tea sounds good. [Sorry, he's made it a habit to be rather passive. :|]

Just a moment.

[With that, he wanders into the kitchen to put the kettle on. It's going to take a while for the water to boil, so he grabs an apple from the fruit bowl and heads back into the dining room to join Souji at the table.]

[Hmm. He'll prop his chin on his hand and eye the rest of the house for a moment.] Was it always this empty? ...I could've sworn there was someone else...

My housemate is out right now. [Which doesn't entirely answer the question. He's sure Souji is thinking about Martel, that's a topic he'd like to avoid if he can help it.]

[He is, yeah. Thankfully, he doesn't recall her enough to directly mention his 'mom', so it doesn't take much to misdirect him. ...At least, for the moment.

When he does, though, surely it'll get a little pressing for Yuan once he asks again. <_<;] Nothing to worry about, then, I guess. [...A little saddening, isn't it?] Anything that I need to know of? It'd be nice to know if something's changed.

[Something that's changed... It takes Yuan a while to come up with something. Luceti's been going through the same cycles of arrivals and departures, the same incidents of experiments and drafts. Same old, same old.]

I don't know if you were told, but Catherine- the Malnosso's CEO was targeted by the rest of the organization. They were desperate to retrieve him from the village, but he died in our care a few weeks ago, if I'm not mistaken.

He's gone?

[...Well, that's news to his ears...a Malnosso of all things, dead. And from the sound of it, they couldn't bring him back from the brink. That's...troubling, to say the least.] ...What led to this in the first place?

It's hard to say. There's been conflict within the organization for years now, possibly even centuries. We can't claim to know even half of what truly keeps the Malnosso occupied, nor can we distinguish the truth from lies.

[He absentmindedly rolls the apple between his fingers, thinking.] Catherine died of old age and sickness. He was likely revived outside the barrier within a week, but nobody's heard from him since. There's no telling who got to him first.

Edited (Whoops, used the wrong word to describe that) 2012-07-24 22:04 (UTC)

...That isn't a good sign, is it? [Granted, it's someone he didn't have the best of chances to talk to, but...]

Tno telling how much longer it's going to last, either, is there? [Maybe he's looking into this too deeply. Maybe not. Still, it's a legitimate worry as long as they're stuck here as far as he's concerned.]

Edited 2012-07-24 23:47 (UTC)

No, there's not. We can only hope he still has enough influence outside the barrier to keep himself safe. We can't count on the Malnosso to keep us updated on the situation, or even to tell us anything remotely useful.

[Oh, how much he would love to get to the bottom of all this.]

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