vatheon | Another time, another town

Entry tags:

Another time, another town

Who: Yukio, Rin, and OPEN.
When: Thursday, May 30th
Where: Starting near the clinic and eventually ending up at the Villa.
Style: Starting in Action, but feel free to switch things up and I'll follow!
Status: Initial discovery is closed to Rin and Yukio, but interactions after that are open to all~

[Yukio scowled up at the sky for a moment, sighing heavily as he made another futile attempt to clean his glasses. It was a fruitless effort with the rest of his clothing completely soaked through, and it it didn't look like he would be finding suitable replacements any time in the near future. Not until he could figure out where he was and just what the heck was going on.

The residents of this strange place had been almost entirely unhelpful. Not just unhelpful, but almost infuriating with their incessant, empty chattering. A city under the sea? What sort of nonsense was that? The constant smell of salt water emanating from his clothing supported the theory to some extent... except for the part where it was still impossible.

The exorcist stepped to the edge of the path, leaving room for regular foot traffic as he carefully examined the odd (and let's be honest, downright impractical looking) device he'd found upon waking. His own mobile phone was soaking wet and unusable, but the locals had at least managed to inform him of his alternate option. Perhaps he could contact someone a little more cooperative.

Or maybe he should just head for the nearest door with a lock and try every key on his person until he found a destination that made sense.]

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[Things hadn't been going well at all for a certain half-demon as of late. It had been a myriad of 'one thing after another after another' and he was sick of it, as were many people who dealt with Vatheon's special brand of crap sandwiches, but like the rest there was absolutely fuck all he could do about it.

But that just served to make him more cranky in the recent weeks. It had finally all come to a head when Maka and Kid, on the same day no less up and vanished like so many before them. Rin had thought that was the end of it, and while the first day he had become a puddle of depressed teenager on the couch at the Villa, the two days following had him attempting to pull himself back up again and move on. Minus the serious lack of sleep he was getting from suddenly having half his bed vacant, he had been doing alright...

Until they returned, both of them having gone through something awful back home and worse the wear for it. They were in the clinic now, recovering and doing moderately well all things considered, but Rin was still running on very little sleep, what reserves of energy he had left, and a noticeably shorter fuse than normal.

Yukio's arrival put him right in the path of his (somehow older looking?) twin, as Rin had returned to the Villa for a change of clothes for himself, Kid and Maka as well as some food that wasn't the crap they tried to pass off as meals at the clinic, and was on his way back right at that moment.

Only in his current state - head down, hood of sweatshirt over head, tail out, sword on his shoulder along with a backpack - he wasn't exactly paying attention and instead plowed right in to Yukio's arm hard enough to make him drop the covered bento boxes he was holding.

The whole set clattered to the ground, one on the bottom shattering and spilling it's contents all over the pathway. He wheeled around, fully intent on tearing in to whoever the hell had the audacity to get in his way.]

OI! WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOIN', ASSHO--ooh.... 'kio...

[Well.

Shit.]

[Between his last conversation with Shura and his sudden displacement into a strange new city (the latter was far more prevalent, honestly, but the former certainly did nothing to temper his mood), Yukio's tolerance for unexpected surprises was running very, very low. He stumbled forward a step or two, unconsciously gritting his teeth for a few seconds before forcing his expression to even out. One rude person who wasn't looking where they were going was not reason enough to lose his temper.

If anything, that rude response made Yukio a bit hopeful. It wasn't like the empty words the locals he'd met so far spouted.]

Excuse me-

[He cut off quickly after turning around, peering through water-spotted classes at the hooded boy before him for a moment before some of that scowl reappeared. Hood or no hood, that sword and tail were a dead giveaway.]

Nii-san?

... yeah.

[Rin tugged his hood down, revealing the usual mess of blue-black and a fairly tired, if not moderately surprised expression. This was a week of returns he wasn't expecting at all, and Yukio was at the very top of the 'never gonna come back' list for Rin.

He very nearly said the words 'you're back', but he knew better than to hope for the good luck he had with Maka and Kid. Chances were high Yukio wasn't going to remember anything, and he didn't want to start off the already awkward conversation with something even more confusing than his presence in the bubble was to begin with.

Which left him stumbling for a few words until he finally grabbed on to something useful.]

... you're soaked.

[Useful, but painfully obvious.]

Obviously. I don't suppose you have any what's going on? If this is a prank, it isn't funny.

[Not that Yukio even knew who could be responsible for something like this. Certainly not Rin. Maybe Mephisto?]

I don't have time for this.

[He looked his brother up and down, hesitating when he realized that he didn't have to look as far down as he was used to. Was Rin... taller? Something was off. The change was small, but even a small change was plenty when dealing with two people who had literally known each other for their entire lives.]

Yeaaaah... 'bout that...

[There was something different, but like the 'you're back' Rin had forced himself not to say, there wasn't an easy way to tell your twin that you were some how inexplicably two years older than he was.

There was an awkward cough from Rin, and he finally set his things down, nudging what he could of the broken bento mess out of the way with his foot, muttering something that... may have been 'wait here a sec' before he suddenly ran off without letting Yukio protest, let alone answer.

He wasn't gone long, though, returning with a stack of fluffy blue towels in one arm, and something paper in the other.]

Here. Take these, and read this.

[Yukio watched Rin dash off, caught somewhere between annoyance and confusion. He was wet, he had bento on his shoes, and he still had no idea what was going on. Thankfully Rin's return was swift enough to keep the exorcist from trailing after him. He took the offered towels in one hand, taking the paper in the other, skimming the first few paragraphs quickly while he absently toweled at his hair.]

An underwater city in a different world.

[Coming from someone else, that might be an honest question, but not from Yukio. Not from the ever-logical exorcist with the weary expression on his face. Nevermind that the paper held the same information he'd gotten from the locals. That proved nothing.]

Edited 2013-05-31 03:03 (UTC)

... don't gimmie that look.

[Rin was about at the same level of 'done with bullshit' as Yukio was, for entirely different reasons, but it came out in the exasperated tone he used after Yukio spoke again. Huffing at his bangs, he took one of the towels Yukio didn't use and went to clean up the mess of food and broken box bits off the ground.]

Have ya even bothered to look up since you got here? If you ain't gonna believe the pamphlet then at least do that, 'cause I'm pretty sure we're not all hallucinatin' the damn fishes swimmin' around out there.

[He went quiet after that, focusing on his task, but his movements stopped as he picked up a piece of the box (he really liked that one, too. It had a nice red and gold motif etched in to the black...) and stared at it, scowling at it rather than his brother.]

Look... I've been here over a year, okay? Just. Trust me. It's real, you're stuck until the coral decides to be a bitch again, and no it doesn't care that you "don't have time for this".

Looking has been a little difficult.

[He pulled his glasses off and gestured briefly at Rin with them before carefully wiping them off with the dry edge of a towel. He would be pretty lost without that particular accessory, but they weren't all that effective when he kept dripping water on them from his hair.

Unfortunately for Yukio, it was a bit difficult to hold on to that sass once his glasses were back on his face and his eyes were pointed skywards. And what Rin was saying...]

... Okay, assuming that everything you're saying is true and we've been kidnapped by evil coral... a year? I saw you this morning.

[But Rin wasn't that tall this morning. Come on, Yukio, visual evidence.]

It's not really evil...

[But Rin didn't really know what moral ambiguity was so he just let that thought trail off.

Mess cleaned, he stood and tossed the garbage in a near by trash bin, shaking out the towel as much as he could to get the last bits of rice, fish and other food stuffs off.]

Yeah, so? I saw you a month ago. Here. In Vatheon.

[Well on the island but whatever.]

Time is screwy here, okay? You're just gonna have to take my word on that.

[Rin was being serious for once, and even if he hadn't been exhausted on top of everything else, his grim expression would have been evidence enough that there was no prank or joke going on.]

This is real.

[A month ago? But he'd never been here before. He'd never been anywhere like Vatheon before... but neither had Rin, and here they were.

Yukio looked between Rin and the welcome brochure in his hand a few times, a sort of acceptance settling into his expression just a little bit more with every pass. Maybe he was dreaming? He could have fallen asleep at his desk after Shiemi's visit. Maybe Shura's sudden appearance had actually startled him so badly that he'd knocked his head and was now unconscious. Either way, none of this made sense, but it was what he would have to work with for now. As much as he'd prefer not to, he would have to take Rin's word.]

... Over a year?

Yeah. Over a year.

[Keeping himself busy momentarily, Rin went for the items he had put down - the stuffed backpack, his sword and what was left of the bento.]

I got here iiiiin... April, 2012. It's a day to June, 2013 now. 'least that's everyone's best guess. The calendar doesn't even really match up and for a lot of people this isn't the right time for them either.

[And by that, Rin would be seventeen already.]

... uh. Look. I was headin' somewhere. If you come with me I can take you back to where we-- I live after.

[Yukio watched Rin gather his things, ignoring his still dripping clothes as he continued to process. June? Apparently "his time" ~~hell if I know what month it actually is for him~~ didn't match up with Vatheon time either. There were so many inconsistencies, though that would kind of make sense if the entire situation actually was a dream. Time didn't make sense and his older brother was now more than a year older and-...

Nope. One thing at a time. Yukio shifted his grip on the towels, ready to follow Rin to wherever it was they would be going.]

Who do you live with? [As if he wouldn't catch that.]

[So much for giving him little bits of information at a time. With slip ups like that, this was going to become a common thing.]

Buncha people. Uhm... Izumo, Bon, Shiemi. Some other friends of mine that I made here, friends of theirs...

[And suddenly, Rin had to cough, but it wasn't because of a tickle in his throat. Oh no, he was covering up a word.]

... it's a big house. There's apartments and stuff but when people we knew started showin' up we decided to move in to this place and it's just kinda... picked up people ever since.

[Yup nothing suspicious here.]

[Rin, you will never be nonchalant.]

Shiemi-san, too... [And even some of his other students. How long had they all been here? Probably not as long as Rin by the sound of it, but who knew. At least they weren't alone.]

How many people?

[Yukio shot his brother a long, searching look. He's spent a lifetime with Rin. He knew when the other boy was trying to hide something.]

[Let's just say... Rin is rather glad Yukio doesn't seem to have any weaponry on him. Though he may have to break the news before he gets to the Villa given that he left a decent stash there...]

Uhhhhm... tw... elve now I think? I think Jade's brother just got back, and Maka and Kid, too... so yeah twelve sounds right.

[Aw, he wouldn't shoot his own brother... maybe...

Well, that's seven people Rin's mentioned specifically, so five are unaccounted for. Not that it was the most important thing to worry about considering the current situation.]

Where are we going now?

[All the questions, just for Rin.]

[With Rin on his way back to the clinic to check on his girlfriend (something he was still processing), Yukio was left to explore the villa on his own. It felt strange to be left alone to poke around in a house he'd never been in before. It was even more strange to know that he had a room already... though it was especially odd knowing that it had once belonged to a different version of himself. On the plus side, the clothing inside fit him perfectly, so he'd swapped his soaking uniform for a more comfortable sweater and a pair of slacks.

He moved quietly through the common areas of the villa, committing important locations to memory while at the same time continuing the irritatingly slow process of working through the information that the welcome brochure had provided. And that Rin had provided...

The exorcist still wasn't convinced that this wasn't all a dream.]

Edited 2013-05-31 23:02 (UTC)

[It's not himself that Rin is worried about...]

Vatheon Clinic.

[And again, another topic he wasn't having a difficult time finding a delicate way around, so he went with a more common Rin tactic: blurting it out tactlessly]

My girlfriend is there right now.

[... Well, that's one way to get the information out there.

Yukio actually stopped mid-stride, staring at Rin's back. Did he hear that correctly?]

You have a girlfriend?

Yes.

[He certainly didn't hesitate with that answer.

Rin heard the steps stop behind him, and halted in kind, turning around while adjusting the bag on his shoulder.]

Her name is Maka Albarn. And she left for a while like you did, but when she came back she remembered everything and was really... fucked up from somethin' that happened to her back in her world. So... yeah... clinic...

[Really, Stein isn't the person to convince anyone that they're not dreaming. Between the stitches on his clothing and face and the screw in his head, he looks more like an imagined mad scientist than anything actually real.

But real he is, sitting on the sofa, reading a (somewhat water-stained) book.]

[Yukio's expression softened a bit at that news, and he hesitated for only another moment or two before getting moving again. The girlfriend weirdness was easily overshadowed by the obvious fact that whoever the girl was? She was important enough to Rin that there was no reason to dally. Yukio could walk and ask questions at the same time.]

... Does that happen often? People coming and going, I mean.

[Rin quietly appreciated that, and once Yukio was moving again, he was as well.]

This is your third time here, if that tells you anythin'. Hell, I went home once, too. Came back about a month later. Maka's even left and come back a coupla times before this one.

And it's a complete crap shoot, who's gonna remember and who isn't.

[He motioned to a building not that far ahead of them with his free hand.]

That's it right there.

[Finished with his self-guided tour for now, Yukio wandered back toward the living room. He had been told that there were about a dozen people living in the villa, but things had been oddly quiet since Rin had left to return to the clinic, so the sight of another person was a small shock. The appearance of said person... was something else altogether.

He stopped in the doorway, staring silently at the man on the couch for a moment before he reached up to adjust his glasses. He was definitely dreaming, and if he wasn't? Now he was hallucinating.]

[Hallucinating, probably. That's a common theme with people who live in the villa. Or maybe just Soul Eater characters.

Without even looking up from his book, Stein's soul perception sweeps over Yukio, prying and inquisitive.]

You can come in. I don't bite.

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Another time, another town

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In the Villa | OPEN

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