justacriminal | [Video, morning] First Strike

[The sun is starting to rise when this tall, dark, wiry young man finally makes it to town. He'd been lucky enough to find his own clothes nearby when he woke up about five miles up the western lake's northern shore. Considerably warmer than the random white pants he'd been magically wearing upon waking. Maybe somebody realized he'd be walking a long time. Who knows? At any rate, the sky is finally starting to get light again when he finally finds himself in a civilized area. He's been walking for about a day and a half trying to find a place to rest-- he hasn't stopped for more than half an hour at any time, worried that he'd come across monsters while he's unarmed. He'd looked for a town at the lake, but no dice-- he wound up following the river into the village.]

[Yuri just hopes there are people up already. He's perplexed and bewildered by...well, everything, really, but at least he's had plenty of time to poke around at his journal while he walked. Figure out what it did, and found a few answers to things he wanted to know.]

[When the video starts, he's quite relaxed and laid back, his confusion fairly well hidden behind a very calm poker face. It might be possible to see the fountain behind the tree he's leaning on, if you look closely enough. He's tucked his wings into his shirt--while he doesn't know how they got there ore what they mean, he's pretty sure he doesn't really want to risk messing with them yet.]

Morning. Name's Yuri, Yuri Lowell. Judging by what I've been seeing on this... journal if that's what it is, I guess I'm not the only one who's been dragged here recently without any warning. And it sounds like it's been going on awhile. So who wants to volunteer and tell yet another newcomer about your nice little town here? Or at least tell me where I can sleep for awhile. It's a pretty long walk from that lake to here, you know?

[OOC: Feel free to action it up, if you prefer. Find him making the post or whatever you like! He's not hiding, really.]

[EDIT: Wow I'm a loser, who says 'evening' when the sun is rising. I do apparently, whoops.]

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I, um...

[He looks down.]

... we knew each other last time, that's all.

...Hm...

[Oh. ...He's not really one to volunteer a frienship. But on the other hand, he does feel kind of bad. Just a little.]

You mind starting over?

[Now Emil's head jerks back up, eyes wide with surprise. Did he really hear that right?]

You'd be okay with that? I mean, you don't even know my name, and...

...It's pretty easy to fix that part, you know.

[Yuri snorts and flaps his hand idly, a gesture of "it's really not a big deal."]

I don't mind. Mind you, I'm not guaranteeing we'll be best buds or anything.

I know, but it must be strange having some total stranger say they'd met you before when you don't remember any of it. I wouldn't be angry if you were upset by it or anything.

Hey, if I am, I'm not upset at you personally.

[He's more bewildered and frustrated than upset-- but who can blame him? This guy might know a lot about Yuri already, and he's not sure that's a very comfortable thought. At all.]

It's just kind of... how's it even work, you know? Seems like a really unforgettable place. And really unforgettable people.

It really is. I don't think I'll ever forget the people I've met while I've been here.

[There's the slightest bit less uncertainty in his voice now, replaced with something warmer and more relaxed. So maybe Yuri doesn't remember him, but he's willing to start over. That's about the best he can hope for under these circumstances.]

But it's easy to say that when I've never been sent home. I don't know for sure what would happen if I was.

[If that's all it took, he's glad he offered. There's not really anything wrong with making another friend-- just something he wouldn't have otherwise offered.]

Sent home? ...Guess that'd make more sense than people managing escape. Sounds like you've been here awhile.

Edited 2014-03-20 03:30 (UTC)

[There's a moment of hesitation while Emil decides whether or not to tell Yuri the truth. There isn't much point in denying it, really, not when it would come out eventually, but he doesn't want Yuri to feel sorry for him either.]

... it's been about five and a half years now.

[Yuri lets out a low whistle.]

Five and a half years? Wow. Really makes it sound like there's no easy, straightforward way out.

[He'll try not to feel sorry for him. At least, not to his face.]

Guess that just means I'd better start getting to know some people here, huh?

Yeah. People have been trying to find ways to go home for years, but it seems like it only happens when this world decides it doesn't want you here anymore. No one has been able to go home under their own power yet.

[He sounds more matter-of-fact than sad, though.]

But it means that we just have to make the best of the time we do have here.

That's a good attitude to take, I guess. Works for me, anyway. Can't say there's a whole lot waiting for me at home.

What about your friends? Aren't you going to miss them?

[He certainly misses his own friends, even though he's glad that they're at home where it's safe.]

Well... yeah.

[Yuri hesitates. Just a little.]

Doesn't mean there's a whole lot waiting to greet me going back home.

[Since he's... 99.9% sure he'd be either dead or dying out in the cold Inner Sea if it weren't for getting scooped up by this place. Like a goldfish in a stall game.]

Oh... I'm sorry.

[There really isn't anything for him to apologize for, yet he can't help but do it anyway. He can understand that feeling, though, because he knows that if he'd been brought here before he'd met his friends, he would've felt much the same way.]

Don't be. I've got a friend here already, right?

Huh? You do? Who is it?

[... yeah, he can be a little slow on the uptake sometimes.]

[It's a familiar type of person, at least...]

I wonder who it could possibly be. Could be talking to him right now. You never know.

[And then it clicks.]

... oh, right. You mean me, don't you?

Hey, you caught on faster than I expected. Good job.

[Hahaha.]

H-hey, don't tease me like that!

[With all the indignation of an annoyed puppy.]

Can't help it. You just remind me of somebody I know.

[He'd admit it. If Emil was a puppy, he'd take him in.]

And you're definitely the same Yuri I know.

[Because only Yuri can tease him quite like that.]

At least you know what to expect.

[And he's starting to think he does, too. At least, with Emil.]

...So, what was your name again?

Emil. Emil Castagnier. It's nice to meet you again, Yuri.

[This is nice, in a way. Though Yuri may not remember him, he still teases him exactly the same way, so it takes the edge of the hurt a little bit.]

[Video]

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