{🍀} “I guess… but if everyone’s playing the fool together, then doesn’t it just make you stick out more when you’re, uh, looking like that?”

The spatula especially was rather amusing- what could he expect to do with that? She supposed he could probably deflect the arrows, but you’d imagine it’d be smarter to grab a cookie sheet or a couple of plates to use as shields, in that case.

“Geez, I don’t think things get that bad, do they? I mean, it got a little weird in December, but it was manageable. I hardly expect a war to break out or something because of those cupids.”

“Yeah, and no one thought when a bunch of the civillians here started talking that it would end in giant monsters destroying every sector around, but that happened didn’t it”

He did sigh however, realizing that he looked even more like an idiot hiding behind a bar with a spatula at the ready to defend himself. But like he said, you could never really predict what the scientists were planning when they did things like this. They had proven to be the sort of people who would swap out the love arrows with hatred, just to see what would happen.

          “You lot speak more immaturely than CHILDREN-”

“...Guys.....”

Roxas finds some comfort in what he says. He’s glad to know and see for himself that he isn’t the only one to think in this way, that he isn’t the one that’s apparently wrong as he’s often told that he is or that what he wants is wrong or he has no right for it. He stays silent for that whole time though since he makes him contemplate the response himself. He wonders what he’s thinking of in order to come out with that answer himself. By the look on his face and how long it took him to come out and say it..it must be something heavy for him. He does feel a bit bad for having asked so suddenly and out of the blue, thus inflicting some critical thinking but he has to know. Is he so wrong? “Y-Yeah,” Roxas nods his head in agreement. Roxas definitely doesn’t appreciate when decisions that are rightfully his to make are made by others and without his knowledge at that. It sucks more than anything.

“Sorry for suddenly asking like that.” He’s sure that he probably would have appreciated some kind of warning for it. “I just did something horribly lately and..I know I lost control.” He doesn’t want to be too specific, he still feels shame because of it. Because of all of those people who’re probably looking for a new home, those injured, some dead..and waiting to be brought back to life. “A lot of people got hurt in between because of me, coming to find out a truth and it just hurt a lot.” He sighs, steering the warm soup he has before him with his spoon. “I’m so lost. I don’t know what to do.” It surely doesn’t help that he doesn’t want to be very open about it either. He just knows he has the capability of being extremely destructive now..at least it’s very clear now. “If something hurts a lot..how do you handle it?” He really wants to know, it’s actually already quite surprising he can even claim that he’s hurt.

He had opened his mouth to dismiss the others apology, but the chance never came as Roxas begun to talk about why he seemed so down. The conversation had really taken a turn since questions about the truth, at this rate his soup was going to end up cold. Ludger stayed silent however, letting the other talk and get everything out into the open. In the back of his mind, the former agent knew that whatever the other had done, it would probably pale in comparison to his own actions, but then Roxas looked a lot younger then he was. Hurting people, whether it was intentional or not, never did get easier.

“This why you’re staring at my soup instead of eating it?” he asked jokingly, the smile never wavering. “I don’t really know a lot about you, but if you lost control it must’ve been something bigger then you expected, right? I guess you found out something you didn’t want to know?”

“I’m not really sure if I have the answer though.”

He went silent once more, gaze lowering as he wondered what to do. The boy across from him really did seem hurt by whatever he’d done, he clearly regretted whatever it was. But, without knowing what had happened, was it really worth it? Then, how could Ludger judge whatever Roxas had done. His body count was impossibly high  by the time he finished that trial. “Look...I..I’m responsible for a lot of pain. At least, I was, back home.” The words barely got out, but he had never been one to run away from the trial, or the consequences of his actions. “And, I’m still not sure how to deal with it. There was a reason why I had to do what I did...but even then...” He swallowed back the doubt, shaking off the memories and pulling up that soft smile once more. Hiding how he felt had always been easy after all. You couldn’t destroy a world if you couldn’t lie.

“It doesn’t stop hurting...it gets easier, but it never goes away. The things you do, the mistakes you make, the people you hurt. You’ll never forget it. But...I don’t think you should try to forget it either.

“I truly have no idea. I had approached him while he had begun such a thing our of curiosity and now he ran off. Was he under the influence of a drug or perhaps booze?” He asked, making it seem like he himself was curious as to what had happened as well. Nothing pointed to him, nor should so he should be fine. 

“This city is odd. Insane one minute, and sane the next. Maybe he is unstable? “

“Well...with this city, its not impossible...”

He had seen stranger after all. Whether it was a good thing or not remained to be seen, but one man losing his mental state in the middle of the street was hardly the most unique thing to happen here. Ludger sighed quietly, rubbing at the back of his neck before shaking his head. As if this guy had anything to do with it, right?

A lost Pearl? “There’s two Pearls in this city… but I think I know which one you’re talking about. I’ll keep an eye out, my dude.” No promises that she’d be able to help with whatever was wrong with her, though, if he meant the one she was thinking of.

She scoffs at his ‘Mister Boring’ excuse. “Lemme tell ya something, man: I ain’t never met a boring person in my 1000 years. And the people these scientists pull in all have something weird going for them.” Marceline folds her arms, lounging midair. “I’m half demon, and the queen of the vampires. And I used to be a vampire hunter, but… well, I guess you can prolly figure out where that took me.”

“This one was...well. Blue. In every way you can imagine.” It was the easiest way to describe the pearl he’d met. Not only did she look blue, she simply acted the same way. Although, whoever had taught her she wasn’t worth the time of day definitely didn’t help matters. “Thanks, though. There isn’t really much else I can do for her anyway.”

“Look, I prefer the idea of being boring...its why I don’t go around trying to get all my stuff back from these scientists.” Especially since one of the things they took from him did nothing but destroy everything in its way. His smile faltered at the other, and with a quiet sigh he shook his head to dismiss the idea of telling her anything. “And besides...I might not be able to change my past, but I’m the one who’s living with it.

You shake warmly, though not too strongly. You’ve never had a very solid handshake. If you remember right, that’s something your mother always told you… 

“Nice to meet you, Ludger. Maybe uhm, the next time we meet, it… won’t be like this.” You laugh a little. The branches on the tree behind your shrink backwards a slight.

“Gaius and Milla… are they your parents?”

“Its fine. I told you, we all think like that at some point. No harm done, right?” He smiled and took back his hand, doing his best to not gaze in confusion as the plant life around the other reacted to everything he did. He’d just talked about this with the vampire queen, after all. The city does tend to take the surprise out of the unique, after a while.

Then Atlus asked if Gaius and Milla were his parents.

“P-Parents?” Not only would that have implied he was the prince of Rieze Maxia, but somehow the child of the lord of spirits. “Wait, no! They’re just friends, how’d you get that idea?  Can spirits even have children...can Gaius even have children? 

No, that’s not important, they are definitely not my parents. No, that is the last thing that they are.”

“Huh…”

“So giving up, in a sense, hurts the memory of people you’ve left behind or let down. You may as well keep trying, even if they can’t see…”

You nod a bit. “Thank you. I think that’s a good thing to hold onto.” You smile. A few buttercups pop up around your shoes, and the grass grows a little taller. “Oh, my name is Atlus, by the way.” You blink, remembering to hold out a hand to shake. “And you?”

“Basically.”

“You just keep on moving. Its the least you can do for those who were hurt because of what you did.”His hand lowered from massaging at his neck, offering a smile and taking the others hand in his. “Its Ludger. And don’t worry about it.

“Oh.”

“Well, when you put it that way… if the person I let down didn’t do what they did, things wouldn’t be the way they are. That’s true.

“Do you think everything awful happens for a reason, then? Or are we just supposed to let bad things happen,” you sigh, “until we tumble into something better? Or maybe… we never see anything better at all?”

“Trust me...there’s a lot I wish I could change. There’s more then you could even imagine that I wish happened differently, that I would love a second chance at.”

He’s rubbing at the back of his neck, trying to relieve the tension of this entire situation. Because if anyone had a list they wanted to redo, it was Ludger. “But if nothing happened the way it did, then I’m not even sure what world I would’ve created. Sure, bad things happen, and sometimes I didn’t know if I could keep going. But I also get the feeling, that if we don’t accept the choices we’ve made, we’re letting down everyone who was affected by what we did.

“Do you ever think that if you had just… I-I don’t know, if you had tried a little harder, that…”

“Maybe you could’ve fixed something? That history wouldn’t have moved on the course it did? Is there any worth in thinking about that at all?”

“Sometimes, sure. Everyone thinks about what could have been at one point or another.”

“Hah! Boy, don’t I know it. There ain’t much that can get to me after two visits and almost two years here, bro. Heck, man, my girlfriend’s a rock alien and I’m buds with a dude who’s a clone. This place is hella crazy, but you reach a point where it’s just neat, and not weird.” She grins at him. “So, what’s your weirdo background?”

“Yeah...this city sort of sucks the weird out of everything. That might be a good thing, when you think about it. You’d never meet half the people normally, if it wasn’t for this place.” And considering the last thing he did before coming here was fade out of existence, it wasn’t such a bad place considering the choices one had for an afterlife. “Rock alien? Do you mean like those gems? There’s this pearl I met...she seemed sorta lost. And really down. Don’t suppose you could look out for her, since you know them.” Although at her question, he smiled calmly and shook his head. “Sorry. Nothing special, just an ordinary guy in this city. I mean back home I was just a cook in a train station. Mister boring, remember?”

Marceline snorts, raising an eyebrow at him. “Heh. Never thought about it like that. You’re alright, dude. I mean… you’re wrong, I’m an undead vampire demon, that’s just the facts. But like, from a philosophical point, that’s pretty good.”

“Like I said...I’ve seen a lot of, well, undead. You’re more alive then any of them. They couldn’t really talk, for starters.”

“….pff..!” she immediately dissolves into laughter. “No, dude, I–I’m absolutely definitely dead.” More laughing. “Okay, technically undead, but the point remains.”

@kresnikslance

she was used to being stared at. her appearance wasn’t exactly subtle in any sense of the word, and she held herself far too proudly. however, the eyes that bore into the back of her head this time were difficult to ignore. perhaps it was a side effect of traversing an unknown land, though it’s never bothered her before. so, with her best attempt at keeping the caution out of her expression, she turned towards the culprit.

            “ did you need something from me? it’s difficult for me to discern that without you speaking up. ”

Ludger had been in the city long enough to understand the rules. That people could show up from his world, but have no idea who he was. That if Milla Maxwell started to walk through the streets and pass him, she may very well keep walking with no intention of paying any attention to him. Why would she, if she had never met him. And yet, when it happened he couldn’t stop himself from staring. Keeping his expression as neutral as possible, despite the face of a friend looking at him as if they had never met. 

“Hmm… yeah, no, still dead inside.”

“Perhaps we should just walk away from the situation. He is not guns ablaze or anything of the sort it seems. “ 

It was still a odd spectacle for them both to see currently, and more so when it looked as if the man seemed to stop. His eyes blinked, and looked around before looking down and noticing what he was doing as he screamed. He seemed to throw the bag off of his head and run wildly away into the street. 

“What…..” 

He had to act this off, or else something may look suspicious. Why did the man stop? He instructed him to do that for the day, not five minutes. Unless…was his geass now limited?

“Yeah...that’d probably be for the best...”

He nodded quickly in agreement, and had turned to continue walking past the stranger, before a sudden scream had him flinch in surprise. Head turning back to check what had happened, all he saw this time was the man without the bag, running into the distance. “...That didn’t seem normal...”

Then, what part of this situation was?