youraffection | [IC] Overflow @ cerealia

[ It's not really any of his business, but he is curious. She's such a nice person, it does make him feel bad to think that someone could have forgotten her. Friends are important. What she says, though, is actually going to become very important to his understanding of the place. Yosuke's eyes widen slightly. ]

Wait, like...from the future? Are you serious?

[ That's news and really weird to think about.

He's always ready to talk about Yu, though. Maybe a little too ready. ]

No way! [ He perks up immediately at that. ] Yeah, he's just the kind of guy that helps people out. That really sounds like him. He wouldn't want to see something happen to a nice girl like you.

[ Oh, she'd have plenty to tell him about forgotten - which is why it's probably good that she doesn't think to at the moment. Being off-time from someone is a lot less horrible than actually having been discarded. At least this way it's somewhat less crippling for her self-esteem. ]

Mmhm. At least, that's the idea. Apparently that sort of thing happens a lot here - people being from different points in time. [ Again, she has her own concerns about the theory, but-- better not to get into that. ] The person I mentioned... it's like I'm from his future. He didn't remember me because to him, in his time, we hadn't met yet. He's not the only one, either. There's at least one person here who says he's from more than a thousand years ago.

[ Of course, she already knew who Roxas was even back then, but-- details. Details which are unimportant because talking about Yu Narukami is apparently considerably more interesting to both these kids than essential world mechanics. She seems to have a lapse back into a certain amount of shyness at being called 'nice' again, her shoulders rising slightly and cheeks threatening to color. Can't take a compliment, this girl. ]

I-- well, I don't know if it had anything to do with that. I got the feeling he really was just a good guy. He started protecting me right away, before we'd even had a chance to talk much. It was very impressive...! [ Both on a personality level and actual fighting ability level. Coolest senpai, hands down. ] -- But I'm sure you'd expect that, since you're good friends. [ Speaking of which, ] How did you two meet?

Really? That's crazy...

[ Considering that he knows that he was apparently here before is strange enough, so he guesses that the timeline thing actually makes more sense congruently with his own memory woes. ]

So you knew him but when you went up he was like "who is this"? That's gotta be rough if he was one of your friends.

[ Thinking back on it, Rei had said they were friends before. That's got to be how she felt, huh? He makes a mental note to make a good effort to get to know her again. ]

He is a really good guy. [ Yosuke looks almost proud to say that, common knowledge as it seems to him. ] He'll do whatever he can so people don't have to get hurt. [ But, oh man, how they met? Yosuke looks a little embarrassed at that and shifts on the stool, not entirely due to his swimsuit. ] Uh, well...he transferred to my school our second year of high school. We ended up in the same class. I'd also transferred out there six months earlier, so we had similar circumstances. It was kind of inevitable, you know?

[ TOTALLY GLOSSING OVER THE WHOLE GETTING STUCK IN A TRASHCAN THING. ]

It kind of was.

[ Because even though she's seen some pretty crazy things and some especially strange stuff relating to memories, she's really not used to people forgetting her without it being her intention for them to. It was all the more unnerving because of her experience with the matter. ]

Sort of. That's not exactly what he said. [ Close enough, though. ] We weren't... friends, but... [ She says it as sadly as though they were. There's a peculiar sort of grimness that follows after; clearly this is something that troubles her a lot, regardless of her claim. ] ... He was-- is important to me. So yes, it was pretty 'rough'. I think I made him uncomfortable at first. I've been trying not to since then, but I don't think it's working out as well as I might have hoped.

[ In fact, she feels pretty sure that she has not been successful in that endeavor. Not for lack of effort, at least. Taking note of Yosuke's shifting, she registers the slightest hint of curiosity in the subtle raise of her brows, but the explanation that comes after is relatively mundane. Maybe he was uncomfortable about something else...? (Glossing over successful.) ]

I understand. So you had some things in common, then. [ Makes sense. Although - once she's had a moment to parse the whole 'transfer' aspect of things (which she has to sort of jury-rig a comprehension of because most of the worlds she's familiar with were probably too small for that kind of thing), it holds her interest. Seems like a shame being uprooted like that, if she has accurately construed his meaning, especially for someone who appears to value their relationships. ] Why did you move?

Oh--uh, sorry.

[ WHOOPS? Jumping to conclusions? He just assumed--man, what would it be like if he ran into Adachi and Adachi had no idea who he was? That would be weird. ]

I shouldn't have just assumed.

[ Is she just avoiding him then? He kind of wants to ask but has a feeling he'll just end up with his foot in his mouth again, which is fairly par for the course for him, sometimes. He does feel bad if he's made her uncomfortable, though, which she doesn't seem to be too keen on the subject. Might as well blab on more about himself, huh? ]

My dad got a new job, so we moved out from the city into the middle of no where. It was a pretty big culture shift. But it ended up okay in the end. The place kind of grows on you, you know? I made a lot of friends.

[ The way she cants her head at him, her confusion reads clearly: she doesn't know why he felt the need to apologize. He clarifies that quickly enough, however, and she's quick to attempt to rectify things. ]

You don't have to be sorry. You didn't say anything wrong. [ Although now that she's thinking about it, she's imagining it being someone else from the Organization, and that-- well, that'd be weird in a whole different way. ] I would have liked for him and I to be friends. It just didn't quite work out that way.

[ If only for lack of opportunities to interact. Ah, but it isn't discomfort that plagues her; no, she would be sad about that whole situation no matter how or with whom it came up. Still, Yosuke's life is a lot more welcome a topic than her own. ]

Oh...! [ There's something just a little bit off about it, like she has to think harder than she ought to to wrap her head around the idea. It doesn't last long, however; that's another one of those things she has no personal experience with but doesn't have trouble comprehending if she's had a second to envision it. ] I think I might know the kind of place. [ Destiny Islands were sort of like that, weren't they? ] It's good that you were able to adjust, then. It must've been hard to have to leave your other friends behind when you moved.

[ He nods, accepting that since he doesn't know all the details. Still, awkward for her and probably awkward for the guy, too. How is someone supposed to deal with that kind of stuff, anyway? The same way Yosuke and his friends deal with the whole TV World thing...? Just don't talk about it?

But she seems to understand what he's getting at, at least to some degree. He smiles, although her final comment gets an awkward laugh. ]

Ah...well, it was kind of a rough transition at first, but I'm probably better off for it. I knew people back in the city, but my real friends are in Inaba. So it's worth it.

[ Oh, but he's just talking about himself, huh? ]

Sorry, it's easy to blab about them. They're good people, but you already kind of know that, huh?

[ She's still trying to work out how to handle things, herself, but semi-avoiding each other appears to be the plan of attack so far. Don't have to worry about not talking about things if you flat out never see each other. (Except that's horrendously sad, too. The whole thing is sad; she and Roxas were created together, and yet they may as well be strangers. This isn't how she wanted things to turn out.) ]

[ In any case, she's sufficiently distracted from that by his awkward laugh and her own reaction to smile back, gentle and unperturbed in an attempt to soothe any discomfort he might have. ]

I'm sure...! I'd never lived in a city before I came here, and it's been a big adjustment this way, too. [ Although she does wonder briefly about that - was he not close with anyone in the city back home? Funny - especially considering how many more people there probably were there than Inaba. Still, she chooses not to read into it. ]

Oh-- no, I don't mind...! But yes, I got the idea. [ About his friends being good people. She's not inclined to disagree if Yu's any indication of his taste in associates. ] Actually - I think it's really sweet that you care so much about your friends. It's always nice to meet someone who does. Even-- considering the circumstances.

Oh yeah? Really? [ He's definitely never lived in a city quite like this, he'll come to realize. At the moment, though, all he's seen is sand and...more sand. There's been a lot of sand in his two dives into ViViD. He'll be happy to see something that isn't sand soon. ] Where're you from originally? Small town?

[ He's learned that there are good things about small towns, at least. ]

Well, hey...friends are friends no matter what, right? As long as you've got them to back you up, it's like you can do anything. And that goes for you too.

Mm. [ The smile on her lips ebbs slightly as she gives a quiet 'um' as her initial response to his question. The way she pauses, it's not hard to tell she really has to think about how to answer that, but it isn't out of any dishonesty. ] Not exactly. [ A mostly empty castle in an indistinct part of the universe is not a small town, but it was certainly small population-wise. She does not actually explain where, 'originally', she is from, and instead, ] But I lived in a pretty quiet one for a long time. It wasn't small, exactly, but it wasn't nearly as... busy as things are here. There weren't as many people, either. [ She falters briefly, as if debating with herself, then adds, ] I didn't get out much, anyway, so I never got to see most of it.

[ If 'much' and 'ever' are the same thing. In any case, her smile begins to regain strength at his other words - although the last bit makes her perk as though surprised. ]

-- Me? [ ... Huh. Well, he's not as wrong as he might have been before she came to Cerealia, but even now there are only a few people who have hit her upside the head with the 'friend' title and gotten it through her selectively thick skull that she's allowed to call them that. She's not quite as somber about it as she might otherwise have been, at least, but there's still a sort of subtle wilting. ] Why do you say that...?

[ Yosuke, of course, has no reason to imagine anything but towns and cities and villages and...bigger cities? You know, normal places to live and grow up. So he pictures maybe a quiet suburb. Still fairly innocuous. ]

So that's something you get to do more here, right?

[ It's easy for him to throw those ideas around, though. Ever since he bonded with the Investigation Team, it only seems right to do what you can for nice people, regardless of how well you know them. ]

We're all in this together, right? So that already makes us teammates. I'm sure Yu feels the same way.

[ Twilight Town may as well be a quiet suburb, just in a different style than most and probably with taller buildings. Not many white picket fences there, but maybe more of the sentiment than anywhere else she ever got the chance to visit. ]

Right. [ It's a touch hesitant in her bemusement, but not out of any lack of actual agreement. ] More than I ever have before. Sometimes I don't even know what to do with myself, or all the free time I have.

[ Because there's so much, all of a sudden. So many people and places and things and for the first time the freedom to explore them. It's been quite overwhelming for a girl like her. Even so, her experiences have yet to make her so eager to throw around such ideas, herself. ]

Well-- I suppose that's true. [ And she has to resist saying, 'You really think he does...?' After all, if they're close friends, she probably shouldn't be questioning it. Cautiously, she attempts a smile, but it turns out a little weak and a little odd. The feelings associated with such a notion - she's fine recognizing they're all in it together, but giving it a name like 'teammates' feels a lot more personal than she's used to. ] I've... never been part of a team before. [ Remembering something, she pauses for a second, and then her expression becomes slightly more neutral, as though she's trying not to remember it again. ] Not this kind of team, anyway.

Edited 2016-06-26 04:16 (UTC)

[ Free time to go exploring? Really, this place seems to be a juxtaposition on itself. Battle Royale and a city to pick up new hobbies. How people reconcile those two extremes?

He sees that attempt to smile and tries to silently encourage it. She seems hesitant...is it an odd sentiment? He's gotten fairly comfortable with the concept of just right out helping people, maybe at one point a bit of a hero complex, but he learned that thanks and glory aren't the point, nor is acknowledgment. It's to do the right thing. That's the point.

Yosuke is a little surprised by her response. ]

Not even for clubs or anything? [ Maybe she's being more literal than he had meant, but... ] Well, it's like...solidarity for shared circumstances, you know? Helping each other out just makes sense.

[ By being from pretty crazy situations themselves, probably. Or at least, that's how she's been able to work it out. Her life never made sense before, so why should it now that she's been ripped away to an alternate world and or time by a suspicious and possibly nefarious organization she knows almost nothing about? ]

[ She can hardly disagree with him, in actuality. He has not, in her opinion, thought wrong, only phrased it differently in a way that's difficult for her to fit into her world view. But sensing that he might be surprised, she looks very slightly more self-conscious. ]

No. I've never been in any clubs, either. [ For a second, she falters; her reflex is to try to explain, but it feels as though there's no real way to do that accurately without giving away more than she'd like. So she says instead, ] I never really had the chance.

[ And just to be sure he knows she knows-- ] It's not that it doesn't make sense. It does. In fact, I'm really glad that everyone has been able to work so well together so far, for all our sakes. It's just.... [ Her head tips slightly as she parts her lips, then presses them together, mentally trying out one phrasing and then discarding it. ] ... I never would have thought to call us a 'team'. It seems kind of-- [ Presumptuous? Is that the word? Like saying they're all friends, somehow - but that's more her perception of the word than anything else and she can recognize that. Still, she tries, ] Forward?

Well...I guess that makes this kind of a new opportunity then, right?

[ Not that Yosuke had really taken a big part in any school clubs, he hadn't really wanted to and his part-time job took up more time than that, anyway. Maybe Yu would be a better person to talk to about the whole idea of meeting people over similar interests or in this case, obligations. ]

Forward? [ He considers that for a moment. ] I guess I never thought about it that way. My group of friends has always been kind of a team, you know? We came together because we all were working together towards the same goal, using similar power and were there to support each other. That's what a team is.

It is. It has been in-- a lot of ways.

[ There's a sort of falling toward the end, half thoughtful and half as though it's an admission she isn't entirely certain she should be making. Whatever's on her mind seems to have subsided, however, by the time she responds. ]

Well, yes. But I-- [ And this, unfortunately, is a part of her own psychology that remains somewhat obscure to her. She falters, focus retreating inward as she tries to determine the root cause of her reluctance. It isn't something she can put words to, and she struggles with it for a moment or two before finally shaking her head, lips pulling into a small frown. ] -- No, you're right. I don't know why I'm being so silly about it.

[IC] Overflow @ cerealia

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