vatheon | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: Dr. Stein and you!
Where: The plaza
When: Right after his arrival! (Tuesday, Jan 29)
Status: Open

[There are some people who don't mind getting soaked to the skin. There are some people who do mind it. Stein is one of those people who acts a bit like a wet cat, removing his lab coat and shaking it out, carding his hands through his hair and trying to flick out the water, and making an annoyed expression at the general wetness involved in arriving in Vatheon.

This does mean that the tall, scarred man with the metal bolt stuck through his head is not exactly looking where he's going.]

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He's a demon living with us at the villa.

[Yeah, apparently demons are actually a thing!]

Actually, during a recent curse, he spent some time as a Witch. It's the only time he's ever been actively destructive to other people, he's otherwise well behaved for his kind.

[Demons are a thing, curses turning people into Witches are a thing, a villa packed full of impulsive teenagers is apparently a thing...

And Stein is probably the only responsible adult associated with the Shibusen students.]

It sounds like there's a lot I need to get caught up on.

[Isn't that awesome?!]

That won't take you long, Professor. What else do you wish to know?

I've only been here a few months, but that's long enough to be able to answer any questions.

[Actually, he knows the precise amount of time he's been here, but doesn't see any particular reason he should spill extraneous detail.]

Those living in the villa are a varied lot, much like the rest of the foreigner population in the bubble.

What do you think I should know?

[Kid's expression doesn't really change, but there's a kind of uncertainty there, not necessarily visible in the carriage of his body, but of the soul.

No, what Maka's been through, the details should be only hers to confide.]

The brochure covers most of the essentials, and I've touched on the remaining students already.

I could warn you about the curses, but...

[That's in the brochure.]

What's the last thing you remember, before arriving here?

[Interesting.

Stein had asked in order to see what Kid would tell him, what the young reaper thought was necessary information and how much he was going to hide. That uncertainty... there's something there.]

I have the feeling I'm a bit behind the times. [You're like, a foot and a half taller than you were this morning, Kid.]

The last I remember, I was on a boat heading towards the Lost Island on a mission to recover the BREW before Arachnophobia reached it.

[There isn't much to say that isn't already covered by the brochure, in terms of what to expect of the place, what to avoid and what to do to get by.

The more social aspects aren't his to really talk about, and are facts he is sure Stein will come to know. Maka's relationship with Rin, for example, which endangers no one and so, Kid doesn't expound on it.

What he does neglect to mention is nevertheless significant, dragged around with him like a proverbial ball and chain, but one is a self-assumed burden, carried like a reminder.

Surprised:] Incredible, but you're right. You've missed a lot, or you've forgotten. Either is likely; Vatheon's curses can alter or remove even a person's memories.

I take it you have experience with memory alteration?

Yes. Just before your arrival, a widespread curse caused many of the foreigner population to advance in age or go back to childhood.

[Kid takes a turn at one corner and continues as he walks.]

Some kept their original memories, others remembered only what was appropriate for their apparent age.

I had believed myself older, complete with two centuries of memories of remaining in this place. Many of the villa's residents were young children.

[Two centuries of memories in this place. Hmmm.]

Do you still have those extra memories?

They aren't real, if that's what you're asking.

[In other words, yes.]

It put one or two things into perspective, but that's not a curse I'd revisit if given a choice.

That wasn't what I was asking.

[An even heavier sigh, mildly exasperated.]

I do.

[Happy?!]

Not that it makes much of a difference.

Did you learn anything from it?

[Ever the teacher and scientist, huh Professor.]

Quite a few things.

[It also served to complicate his friendships with a few people, by way of introducing a few peculiar sentiments with regard to their loss and rediscovery.]

Although they have nothing to do with each other, I coincidentally feel I understand my father a little better.

Oh? How so?

The manner with which my Honorable Father addressed the students and faculty of Shibusen made it easier for him to reach his intended audience. This, I understood intellectually, but comprehending it on a personal level was beyond me until in a similar position, myself.

[He'll just elaborate more on this, like he's delivering a report on the beauty of the number eight in front of the class. Probably just as mind-numbingly boring in tone, too.]

Some definitions for certain sentiments seem more enriched by my experience. My understanding of camaraderie and loss, for example. I was a little chagrined by my long exile.

I think I had begun to assume it my responsibility as a reaper to see after the health and safety of the coral, and by proxy, Vatheon itself.

Edited 2013-02-05 22:52 (UTC)

[Many things bore Stein. Human psychology, for one. The thought processes of a young god are an entirely different story.]

It makes sense for you to feel an obligation to a place you lived for hundreds of years.

Even though the curse is over and I now know that everything I thought I experienced was a mere fabrication, this remains.

[A weary sense of obligation and fondness, gently bruised by centuries of impotent waiting.

Furthermore, that awkward moment when you wake up after a curse and realize your heart ached to see your friends again, even though they were helpless children who didn't even recognize you for who you were.

To say absence makes the heart grow fonder does not even begin to describe it.

Kid's expression has, in the meantime, gone from stoic concentration into a scowl of discomfort. Ugh, feelings. What do. Dismissively flicking a hand, he continues:]

This side-effect is sure to pass, like with all curses.

[The walk is taking longer than it should for a single reason: Kid insists on taking left-right-left-right turns, in that order precisely.]

[Left, right, left, and if Stein knew where they were going, he would try to lead Kid there, but he doesn't, so he just lets the neurotic little god point him down the winding roads.]

Is it really such a bad thing?

Bad or good, I couldn't say.

[Confusing? Hell yes.]

In indulging a fantasy of two centuries, I've complicated an otherwise satisfactorily straightforward friendship. Two, to be precise.

[Because when isn't he.]

There are pleasant and unpleasant aspects. The balance struck between these two has a certain appeal, of course, but it otherwise seems to serve no other purpose.

The complications happened while you were under the influence of the curse?

It was only particularly complicated once I realized those two centuries never happened.

[There was no longer a justification for this baffling, strong sense of attachment, the swelling sense of joy when he sat at breakfast with all the others and saw them chatting away as if nothing unusual had taken place at all.]

It's unbecoming. Father would be ashamed, surely.

Kid, your father has never been ashamed of you.

What you remember might not have happened, but that doesn't mean you can't let it affect you.

[That darted, sidelong glance at the professor might well have been a trick of the light reflecting off his eyes.]

It seems foolish to be affected by a known falsehood, Professor.