bright fame

No matter who the enemy, I'm going to mow them down!

[dissimulative]

— ♔cookie clash.

[dissimulative]

  The obvious chagrin was not a determent as nothing could be with the mindset the prevaricator currently had. Negativity had simply ceased to exist, the air of unequivocal bliss permeating from him something that all seemed to emit in his eyes. This truly was immensely different from the usual persona he never failed to use, the upbeat disposition genuine as a mask was not needed in order to keep the appearance of one unbothered by the world at large. It seemed as though the influence of the bite was not all bad as it’d allowed for Kano to at long last reveal himself, though in retrospect these emotions were still not true.

Regardless of the actual ingenuity, the acceptance of helping would’ve been received with high spirits either way, even more so due to how it came from one of the very people the delectable treats had been meant for. While the surprise would be all but ruined, having the man decorate his own cookies to his liking would most assuredly bring about even better enjoyment in the end.

With that in mind, the teenager quickly ushered the man over rather than shoo him off elsewhere, beaming brightly all the while. “C’mon, c’mon! Let’s not waste time, Roberto-kun. There’s only so many cookies we can finish, right?” Not exactly concerned about whether or not all the aforementioned treats were finished, fingers grasped at an icing tube, a hand holding a heart shaped cookie in place to ensue it would not move about. Expecting the warrior to do as he without needing to be outright instructed did vibrant pink icing begin to border the edges of the baked good as the blond set to it.

[nightsveiled]

     Startled by Kano's chipper reply, Roberto blinks, momentarily thrown off; in an instant, he's been dragged over to the table. A seemingly endless amount of cookies stares him in the face.

     With some sort of upbeat remark, Kano sets to work on the sweets, decorating them with a tube of neon pink icing. A companionable silence falls over the two of them as blue eyes subtly track the younger boy's movements. Hesitantly, the young knight grasps a tube of red icing, weighs it calculatingly in one hand as if deciding what to do with it. Roberto isn't all too sure what he's supposed to do here--back in the castle, Wustum had guarded the kitchen jealously as his precious territory, and as a result, Roberto had only ever stepped inside once. Having an angry man wielding a cleaver at the kitchen door tended to dissuade the majority of the Starbearers from ever entertaining the thought of cooking.

     Roberto is among that majority--he knows how to make sandwiches and roast raparo birds over a fire, harvest vegetables and wash them off before he eats them, but anything that's actually done in a kitchen is beyond his comprehension.

     Still, he'll never know how to do this if he never tries, right? Skills like decorating cookies are the sorts of skills he needs to get by in this world, so he'll just have to figure it out as he goes. He traces a sloppy star on one cookie, a frustrated scowl decorating his face. Thoughts of the disgustingly romantic couples outside forgotten, he improves the design as he goes, holding the tube tightly and steadying his hands until the last star he draws is nearly perfect.

     "There! How does that look?" he asks, gesturing triumphantly to the cookies.

[hikineetism]

♛ !*CRIMSON CAPES

[hikineetism]

  Ah— He had unexpected company.

It was foolish of him to speak out to himself, first of all, especially out in public where he still had a long way to go before he could act as a normal citizen might; secondly, it seemed he failed to acknowledge his surroundings and has thus seemingly offended his company. As far as real situations were going, Shintaro was clearly doing terrible.

Black clashed against blue as their eyes met and defense was given, the sheer force of his minute opposition enough to deter the NEET a little. Still, his reasonings were his own, the new arrival giving him a break with his last remark, and he would therefore take it.

“Really? What’s your definition of ‘real deal’?”

“Maybe heroes can save people, sure. But I bet they’re not always as brave as they lead on to be.” He hadn’t been in that desperate moment, and that had to be what brought his downfall. She, as well — how brave was she before she fell off the roof? He could only imagine those tears in place of any heroic image he might have had of her.

[nightsveiled]

     "The real deal—?" Honestly, Roberto hadn’t really considered his argument before he spoke to this stranger. Foresight has never been one of his strengths; he’s a decent tactician when there’s a blade in his hands, but in conversation, he has an unfortunate tendency to open his mouth before he’s thought his words through. He closes his mouth, pauses for a minute, searches for a rejoinder to this cynical boy’s voiced thoughts.

     "Well, the ‘real deal’ would be a hero who does things completely for others, right? They never think of themselves, and they help other people without thinking of compensation." As he grows more comfortable with his argument, the words flow forth. He’s definitely not thinking of anyone in particular! It’s an opinion based on his observation of several heroes. Like Queen Chrodechild! And Meruvis! Who says he was thinking of anyone else?

     "And even if a hero's not as brave as he seems to be… Putting up a brave front and pretending he doesn't need help would make him even more courageous, wouldn't it? Doing things by yourself takes strength."

     A brief caesura follows his bold assertion; he tries to picture if the One King could have been defeated by just one person, and amends his statement. "Trying to fight enemies alone, however, is a completely stupid idea."

[nightsveiled]

// Casually slides into the character introduction post thing.

Last Christmas break, my family went to visit my relatives in California. One of my uncles lets me borrow his DS whenever we're around, since I don't have one of my own--it has a bunch of games loaded onto it through some weird technomagic of his, so I've been working through the games loaded on it for a few years now.

During this particular visit, I didn't really feel like playing Super Mario for the nth time, and my Final Fantasy file wasn't working for some weird reason, so I scrolled down to the very bottom of the DS's games list and found Suikoden Tierkreis. I played for a few hours or so, and I was hooked! 

About a quarter of the way through the game, the protagonist, Sieg, meets Roberto during a reconnaissance mission, and the first thing Roberto does is say how disappointed he is--he was expecting to meet someone big and strong, but instead he meets the scrawny, fifteen-year-old, country "hayseed" (his words, not mine) of a protagonist. I'm pretty sure my first reaction to Roberto was something along the lines of "wow, rude".

But then, somewhere along the line, certain events happened--everything from recruitments to road trips--and I started to relate a lot to Roberto!! He's completely devoted to his cause and incredibly loyal to his commander, but at the same time, he puts so much of himself into his knighthood and swordsmanship that he ends up being terrible at anything involving feelings. Basically, he's the textbook definition of a tsundere. And he's super sarcastic sometimes. I can relate.

The way his friendship with the protagonist grows also makes me really happy--they go from antagonizing each other at every step to becoming really good friends. Roberto even jumps in front of Sieg to protect him when his HP are low, and do you know how hard it is to get characters to do that

(He even protects Sieg when his own HP are low, which is nice and all, but really Roberto please you're gonna protect yourself to death)

I guess the long story short here is that I've known of Roberto's existence for approximately two months, but gosh. I love him so much.

[nightsveiled]

oo2 ♞ epidemic | closed

     The effects of the love bug have died down, it seems. Roberto hasn't seen any couples crowding the streets lately. Benu is actually quieter than it's ever been since he arrived. Now, no one displays their affection publicly; in fact, he notes as he looks around, no one's displaying anything at all. The few merchants who sell their goods on the street are closing up their stalls, their faces pale, drawn, and gray, and are steadily streaming away in the direction of the residential district.

     There's a distinct feeling of wrongness surrounding the whole situation. Roberto finds it odd that a town so lively could transform so quickly into the ghost town before his eyes. He's not sure if it's the unsettling atmosphere or the fact that he ate some strange-tasting vegetables for breakfast this morning, but his stomach churns unpleasantly, and a sudden wave of nausea sends him reeling.

     Gritting his teeth, he staggers toward the nearest alley, braces himself against a wall, and dry-heaves into a trashcan once or twice. He feels pathetic, like the adults who drink too much wine at feasts and make complete fools of themselves. Staggering around like a drunk? Throwing up in alleys? Disgusting. Queen Chrodechild would be ashamed of him. Stars above, he's ashamed of himself. Hopefully no one saw that.

     Straightening up, he wipes his face with his sleeve. He's about to recover from this shameful episode and go home to rest when some poor, unfortunate bystander picks this moment to make eye contact with him.

     "What do you think you're looking at?" he scowls. On unsteady legs, he staggers toward the bystander-- his vision's fuzzy, and he can't quite make out their face, but they seem just a little bit familiar.

     A few steps later, his knees turn to jelly, and before he knows it, he's on the ground again. This day just couldn't get any worse, could it.

[dissimulative]

— ♔cookie clash.

By casting the illusion of a green-clad individual over his own visage had obtaining access to the kitchens of a particular bakery been far too effortless, gaining free reign of the back acquired just as easily by simply volunteering to cover the shift of the sole worker within the store. Any obstructions had been removed promptly in order for the blond to begin experimenting with a recipe of his own design without any real delay, the intended goal being to create festive treats that were an absolute must due to the amicable nature he presently had.

Despite any misconceptions about a lack of efficiency when it came to homely things of this sort, the tantalizing aroma of freshly baked sugar cookies proved to be almost as alluring as any Kido had made. It was the result of a job well done, the finished product laid out across a table positioned just left of the establishment’s entrance way and fashioned into a multitude of shapes. Decorating them in a way that complimented the spirit of the approaching Valentine’s Day was all that remained, but the amount that needed to be tended to was rather daunting as he’d went all out.

It truly was a stroke of luck when a would-be customer chose then to enter.

Disguise long since having been discarded, a clearly delighted smile graced the male’s lips. “Welcome ~ ! You came just in time, you’re exactly what I needed!” A hand roved over the spread upon the table in order to direct the newcomer’s attention to it. “See them all? It’d be a real doosey to finish them myself. Think you could help a guy out? We can snack on them together when we’re all done. ~”

[nightsveiled]

     Today, the downtown area of Benu is frankly disgusting.

     Roberto grimaces as he passes yet another couple smooching on a sidewalk. Sure, there's some sort of bug going around the town, and maybe it is affecting how everyone feels, but he'd thought they would at least have the common decency to go somewhere private before deciding to stick their tongues down each other's throats. Even in Castle Ratselhaft, which had been full to bursting with both married and unmarried couples, people had had the good manners to go and be ridiculously romantic somewhere where he hadn't been able to see them.

     An exasperated sigh escapes his mouth when he turns a corner and almost runs straight into another couple. Not for the first time, he thanks his lucky stars that his outfit leaves very little skin exposed; he'd hate to be bitten and become like these poor saps.

     However, even if he isn't like them, he still has to deal with them, and that's almost as painful.

     Fed up with having to watch these pathetic, hopelessly sappy people, he ducks into the nearest building in hopes of escaping the romance that's settled over the town like a thick fog. To his surprise, he's greeted not with the sight of another couple testing the limits of the human body's capability to hold its breath; instead, he sees an assortment of cookies, steaming slightly and sending up a delicious, sugary scent.

     Intending to buy himself a cookie to distract himself from the romantic hell outdoors, he's fishing for his wallet when he hears a familiar voice making an offer.

     "... You again?" A pause. Free cookies are free cookies, even if this kid has gotten him into more trouble than he can measure. "I guess I can help you out, then."

[nightsveiled]

how'd we get in this mess,,

1. got lost in the woods

     "Man, do you ever go outside?" Roberto hisses, because honestly, this boy in the red jacket has been more trouble than he's worth. He's already angered a hive of bees, almost run them off a cliff, and basically been worthless for any sort of forest exploration. He wouldn't have lasted five seconds in Flesaria Forest. Yanking him by the collar of his jacket, Roberto steers him away from another beehive. They've already been chased by enough bees today to last Roberto a lifetime, thank you very much. Sure, the bees here aren't enormous like the X Bees that infested Citro Plains, but they probably sting, and Roberto's already in enough pain as it is from having to deal with this idiot.

     He stops for a minute to look around. In their rush to escape the angered bees, they'd crashed through what seemed like a mile of forest; now, from where they're standing in this clearing, trees stretch in every direction, and there's no sign of civilization in sight. 

     "... Do you know how to get back to Benu from here?" he asks, and when he gets no reply, he sighs and pulls the boy along by the arm. "Come on, let's get moving. I don't want to spend the night out here."

[nightsveiled]

"How'd we get in this mess?"

6. got stuck in quick-sand

     A simple excursion outside of town had quickly turned disastrous, as a few steps into a mysteriously sandy area had landed Roberto in a pit of quicksand that swallowed him up to his knees. Mary, who trailed a few feet behind him, is all right, for the time being; seeing Roberto’s plight, she’s managed to pull her feet out of the quicksand, and although she’s missing a shoe, she’s out of the sand and safe and sound.

     Panicked, she snatches the nearest thing she can find—a large stick—and holds it out so he can grab on. She’s not all that strong, so it takes a while, but eventually, he finally makes it out of the quicksand and collapses on the ground a few feet from the edge of the sand pit.

     ”Thanks, Mary,” he chokes out, once he’s managed to get his breath back. “Guess I owe you one.” A quick look at himself reveals that he’s completely caked in sand from the waist down, and he looks like he’s part Dust Minion. Ruefully, he observes that cleaning all this sand out of his armor is going to be absolute hell. 

[nightsveiled]

"How'd we get into this mess...!"

11. got locked out

     They've never met before, but here they are, standing on the doorstep of the same house, making uncomfortable eye contact as Roberto twists the doorknob. It's locked. He turns away from this boy and glares viciously at the door, as if it'll open if only he glares hard enough. Unsurprisingly, his silent wrath does nothing to the door, and it remains resolutely shut.

     "Do you know if there's a spare key around here anywhere?" he asks, and is rewarded with a shrug.

     "I'm Seto," the taller boy introduces himself, because it's awkward to keep standing like this without at least knowing who the other guy is, right? 

     "I'm Roberto," Roberto says, and instead of following this statement up with pleasantries like "it's nice to meet you", he asks, "Can you use your hairclips to pick locks?"

     The answer, as it turns out, is no. Having introduced themselves and run out of ideas, the two boys slide down and sit side-by-side on the doorstep, waiting pathetically for someone else to come home.

     (Half an hour later, Kido finds the two of them dozed off on the doorstep; she rolls her eyes, fishes a key out of her pocket, and shakes them awake before she goes inside.)

[nightsveiled]

“How’d we get in this mess?”

3. are trapped in an elevator lift 

     Roberto is not used to lifts getting stuck.

     Really, this delay is completely ridiculous. Back in the castle, Balsam's lift had always worked; sometimes, it'd be a bit slow if a lot of people decided to ride at the same time, but in the end, it had always gotten you to your destination within five minutes.

     This lift was obviously of shoddier workmanship, as it had been caught between the third and fourth floor of this building for what was bordering on five minutes. Normally, he wouldn't complain too much, but he's stuck in here with that blond boy whose name he still hasn't learned, and the boy doesn't stop talking.

     "I'm never letting you drag me anywhere again," he grumbles half-heartedly. Sliding down the wall to sit on the floor, he cranes his head back, stares at the ceiling of the lift, and wonders how long he can be in here before he goes mad.

     "Isn't there an emergency alarm in this stupid thing?"

[nightsveiled]

"Happy Valentines day mister knight!"

The doorbell rings, and Roberto reluctantly gets up to answer it.

Opening the door just a crack, he pokes his head out cautiously-- the women in town have gotten fiercer than ever due to some sort of bug that's been pervading the village, and people have already tried to foist chocolates upon him more times than he can count today. He's completely prepared to turn another ardent admirer away, so the tiny white-haired girl on his doorstep takes him by surprise.

"Happy Valentine's day, mister knight!" she beams, offering him a piece of paper. Here, he's faced with a question: how does he actually accept valentines? He actually knows this girl, even if he doesn't know her name; he can't just turn away and slam the door.

"... Thanks," he finally replies, for lack of a better response. His fingers clasp on the tiny paper heart, and he reads it over quickly.

(Somewhere in the back of his mind, he thinks that maybe he should introduce himself to people. It seems like no one knows his name.)

[nightsveiled]

"Why did you do that?"

     It's a little bit on the cold side, but the markets are crowded today, full to bursting with vendors hawking their goods, shoppers bustling about with overflowing baskets, street performers striking up a lively tune, and parents struggling to corral their excited children. One young knight strolls through the controlled chaos known as the Saturday farmers' market, cradling a hot mug of apple cider in his hands.

     His boot snags on an uneven patch in the cobblestone street, and he lurches forward ungracefully; the drink slips out of his hands, and Roberto can only watch in abject horror as it travels through the air in a slow arc, hitting the person walking a few paces in front of him.

     "Why did you do that?" the young man asks, turning around. He's a little strange-looking, but nothing to write home about; a patch of corrupted skin, maybe a scar, sits below his eye, and his hair is white as snow. Roberto guesses that the young man is maybe a year or two younger than him.

     Now, Roberto's got two choices here. He can either take the high road, be the mature adult in this situation, and apologize, or--

     "Well, if you hadn't been in my way, this wouldn't have happened," he grumbles, crossing his arms.

     --Yeah, Roberto may consider himself an adult, but he's obviously not the most mature seventeen-year-old on the block. Sorry, stranger.

     Rethinking his choice of words after a second, he shrugs and gestures to the gap in the cobblestones a few paces back. "Okay, I tripped." A few more moments of silence pass before he reluctantly utters an apology. "Sorry about that."

[nightsveiled]

"Just look at it!"

     Roberto doesn't even know what's happening anymore.

     This kid he met on the street has been dragging him all over town, narrowly pulling the two of them out of the strangest situations, and he's simply resigned himself to following along. The two of them have picked up another boy along the way, a tall, white-haired kid who introduces himself as "Konoha". It's night-time; the sun set an hour ago, and the three of them are currently creeping through an almost-empty field.

     "Just look at it!" the boy says excitedly, and Roberto turns to find... a cow. Unimpressed by what it sees, it chews a mouthful of grass and looks around, observing their tiny group.

     "What," Roberto replies flatly. It's not like seeing a cow is an amazing, new experience. He knows what this is. Even back in his world, they'd had cows. The cows Autar kept on the castle grounds weren't nearly as placid and stupid-looking as this particular beast, though. 

     "No, watch this!" the blond crows, and maybe Roberto is imagining it, but his eyes flicker red for a brief second. The cow looks away from them, as if it's looking at something else--but that's ridiculous, there's nothing there--and all of a sudden the blond taps Konoha's shoulder, and Konoha lunges and pushes the cow, and the cow falls onto the ground, letting out a loud, distressed moo.

     "No way," Roberto says, stunned, and in the distance, a lantern flickers to life and an irritated man's voice cries, "Damn kids, stop tipping my cows!"

     Roberto decides that now is a good time to run.

[nightsveiled]

"How did you get in here?"

     The house is empty, or so he thinks. The weird blond kid from the street, who hasn't even introduced himself properly yet, has left Roberto here alone in the living room of a small brick house, saying he's going to "grab something from the kitchen" and "be back in a minute! Don't burn the house down!". Without anything better to do, Roberto flops down on an overstuffed armchair and closes his eyes for a brief second; it's been a long morning, and he needs a minute to process everything that's just happened.

     "How did you get in here?"

     Stifling a yelp of surprise, Roberto leaps to his feet and comes face-to-face with someone he's never seen before in his life, and okay, he could swear that no one was in that corner a second ago. Great. On top of everything else that's happened today, he's ended up in a stranger's house. He'd bet a thousand potch that that strange boy from the street doesn't even know whose house this is. He grimaces. Time to explain himself.

     "This is going to sound strange," he sighs, "but, uh. Do you know a blond boy, about this tall, has kind of catty eyes? He dragged me in here. I'm not trying to rob you or anything." He can't speak for the other boy, though. Who knows what he could be up to?

     In the back of his mind, he hopes the other boy will come back soon. This person, whoever they are, has a pretty intimidating glare. He'd never admit it, but he feels a tiny bit threatened.

[nightsveiled]

"Don’t leave me."

     Roberto has heard rumors about the “resets” that occasionally hit Benu, but this is the first time he’s ever seen one in action. A raging inferno had begun a short time ago in the forests to the north; with no shortage of trees to use as fuel, it had spread rapidly until it hit the village. Almost immediately, the people had been thrown into chaos, running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

     Caught up in the tide of people fleeing for their lives, Roberto is swept along until he trips over a tiny white-haired girl curled up on the ground. Drawing himself up to a crouch, he takes a quick look at the girl. She’s clutching at her leg, like she’s broken it, and if he leaves her here, she’ll be engulfed by flames in a matter of minutes.

     ”Don’t leave me,” she whispers, almost inaudible amid the crackles and pops of the approaching fire. People stream around them, screaming and yelling; the fire draws closer and closer as the seconds tick by.

     It wouldn’t be logical or smart to take on an additional burden when he’s running for his life here, but Roberto’s never been the most logical anyway. Grimly, the young knight sets his jaw and hoists the stranger up onto his back. 

     ”Don’t worry. I wasn’t planning to.” And with that, he breaks into a run. 

[nightsveiled]

oo1 ♞ new town, same old problems

[dissimulative]

Obliviousness to the enviable amount of female attention was thought to be the cause for the stranger’s bemusement, but it proved to be much more than that. The male seemed completely unfamiliar with the phrase that’d been vocalized, one that nearly all the youth of this generation used almost daily. Between the out-dated apparel and unawareness of modern day speech, continually prodding at the man’s inexperience at assimilating straight away was a temptation much too difficult to resist.

Hands were held up defensively as a means to placate the aggravated individual, a certain kind of chastising undertone present when he spoke. “Easy now, no need to be so impatient. Bread is worth it’s weight in gold. You can’t expect it to be a walk in the park when it comes to getting some.” Far from truthful, it was but an exaggeration used to pay tribute to the other’s warrior garb that brought to mind RPGs. After all, nobody believed such inexpensive nourishment was valuable in this time. “Luckily for you, I know a guy. ~ You’ll soon you’ll be up to your waist in pastries of all sorts. That is, if the waters can be calmed.”

Without there having been any telling signs of what was to come other than that almost cryptic sentence, surprise played a helping hand in allowing a firm slap to the warrior’s back to send him stumbling in the general direction of the crooning masses. An exclamation of, “Go get ‘em, tiger!” was the send off and it was akin to tossing meat to a pack of ravenous canines. The male was soon engulfed by a sea of feminine wiles, pawing hands dragging the unfortunate man deeper in until he was no longer visible sans arms frantically waving about above the heads of the delighted women.

There was no better way to satisfy women than by giving them exactly what they want.

[nightsveiled]

     "Huhwha--"  Roberto manages to choke out before a slap on the back sends him staggering forward a few paces. One last stumbling step leads him into the crowd of girls from across the street, and he's engulfed before he can even stare accusingly at the boy who pushed him in.

     "Aaaaah!!!!!" A screech of displeasure echoes from within the crowd, a single yelp of fright engulfed in the pleased cries of a gaggle of giggling girls. He hasn't felt like he needed an adult to help him for years, not since he took up a blade for the first time, but right now, he'd give anything to have Princess Chrodechild or Meruvis around to extricate him from this stupid situation. He feels a sudden pang of longing for Astrasia, where the people were calm and rational and didn't ambush random newcomers and wait a second, someone definitely just touched his butt.

     An anguished sigh escapes his lips. What cruel deity could have engineered this torture? Roberto will probably never know. He'll die here, smothered under the embraces of a thousand women, and he isn't even really all that interested in women. Damn this cruel existence.

     "These country hayseeds really need to get their hormones under control," the young knight mumbles as his battle training belatedly starts to kick in. He doesn't hit any of them-- that would be against his code of honor-- but he avoids them as best as he can. Warrior's reflexes trigger swift movements as each new threat is perceived; dodging under one woman's outstretched arm, skirting around an attempted ardent embrace, and sidestepping a rushing group of girls, he works his way to the edge of the crowd, where he bursts into the open air and sprints toward the boy from before. 

     Grabbing him by the shoulders, Roberto hisses, "If I had to undergo all this to get these pastries you're talking about, they had better be fantastic." To his credit, the younger boy looks completely unfazed by Roberto's ire.

[hikineetism]

♛ !*CRIMSON CAPES

Events of crimson fires left tales of heroic bravery among many of the towns people, stories sure to fill entire newspapers front to back with the details of their sacrifices and deeds of goodwill in the last moments of the world. Certain people would be praised, hailed as the all-important heroes and saviors of the nation. Not that much was saved, as everything inevitably reset in the end whether everyone died or didn’t die.

But what about those deaths? What about the flip-side of the events where tragedy struck and tore apart happiness in a great wave of life-stealing flames, leaving anyone without a hero to suffer a terrifying, painful death all alone? Or maybe they weren’t alone. Maybe they died along side someone they couldn’t protect, someone who couldn’t protect them; the village was sure to be filled with unspoken, dying heroes.

The failures of the crop. It was hard to count yourself heroic when the final goal wasn’t reached, even if she would protest otherwise.

“…” He scoffed. ”Heroes.”

In front of him stood a glass window attached to the wall of a very small comic book store. In the very center, a comic on display, cover shown off in a way that stole more attention than half the population would appreciate. On the glossy front page stood a hero, one with an unmistakable heroic stature, standing atop a burning building with a gorgeous lady in his obviously heroic arms and a crimson cape fluttering heroically behind him. It had to be the most stereotypical Western-styled comic he’d ever seen complete with all the terrible implications, but that wasn’t what he held as important.

The fact that everywhere he looked held reminders of his failed heroism was what stung him the most, like a bitter enemy ready to remind you of your imperfections any time you tried to reject them. It made him grumpy, admittedly, a little high strung and more on edge than usual. He slumped forward, brows furrowing towards the disappointment of himself reflected in the shop window and off the comic book’s sheen.

“A lot of us only play pretend. Regular heroes do, too.” Feigned beliefs were pushed out of his mouth in his attempt at making the situation a little more bearable than it really wasn’t.

[nightsveiled]

     Hoping against hope to find someone familiar, Roberto ventures into the central square. It's been a few weeks since his arrival in Benu, and although the odds are heavily stacked against him meeting anyone else from his world, he'll never know if he doesn't try, right?

     His quest is interrupted by a flash of crimson in his peripheral vision; turning, he stands stunned for a moment by a small window filled with brightly colored pictures. It's like nothing Roberto has ever seen before.

     He hesitantly approaches, stares at the pictures in the window. True, in both Astrasia and Janam, there had been books, and picture-books for the youngest children, but he doesn't remember there being anything like this-- here, the illustrations tell the story, showing heroes valiantly fighting the odds in order to save pretty women (who, honestly, doesn't look like they really need saving, but whatever. Roberto isn't going to pretend to understand the culture of this village.)

     The hero on the cover of the central comic on display is tall, handsome, and muscled, almost unrealistically so; dressed as he is in armor and a flowing red cape, his outfit vaguely reminds Roberto of Sieg. The young knight mentally compares this hero to the gangly, oblivious fifteen-year-old who led their company and laughs quietly to himself. The two of them couldn't be any more different if they tried.

     A cynical observation to his left snaps him out of his reverie. "A lot of us only play pretend. Regular heroes do, too," a boy in a bright red jacket declares glumly, staring thoughtfully at the hero. Something inside Roberto prickles at this statement. "Regular heroes"... those would be people like Sieg, wouldn't they? Granted, the guy had been an idiot, but in the end he hadn't just pretended; he'd really come through and saved the world.

     "Some heroes are the real deal," Roberto protests, still not really sure why he feels the need to defend Sieg. He's not even here, after all. Then again, not all heroes are what they seem to be; people had believed that Valfred and the Order of the One True Way were heroes, and look at how that had turned out. "Maybe the heroes you dealt with weren't the best, but there are some out there who can really get things done."

[nightsveiled]

oo1 ♞ new town, same old problems

[coriacea]

Her thoughts were constantly away from reality, often hung to whatever perked her interest.

— Bird.

A small, fragile creature whose colorful feathers are part of its attractive seem to be her sole focus. Nothing else occupied her field of vision, she followed it aimlessly to wherever it attempted to escape. Her hands were extended upwards, attempting to reach out for it, purpose unknown even to the pursuer.

The scent of the sea was long gone for a while but slow as ever, she cannot process how far she strayed nor comprehend this is another realm.

— Where Casca is?

It’s already a miracle by itself how she has survived thus far, supervision is a must but in this strange land it remains absent. No matter where she wandered, no one ‘familiar’ appeared but it is one of her last concerns, maybe it didn’t form part of her thoughts at all. They were scrambled, never following a similar pattern and often dragged her into a variety of catastrophes where a rational explanation always lacked.

She tried to keep chasing the poor bird that constantly flew away from her grasp but always stayed still, as if it was attracting the former warrior to move into inhabited grounds. Sadly, a figure crossed in her path, stopping Casca from moving further and scaring her feathery friend.

Onyx irises peered up to meet with a masculine face, eyelashes batting as a sign of confusion. A tilt of head follows only for lips to purse together before uttering a quite puzzled, ❝Auuuuu?❞

— Gone.

— ¿¿¿???

Explaining herself through mere gestures and a different range of noises is the minimal she can amount, she has forgotten how to talk and has not made an effort to change that for a few years. However, she awaits to be understood, disappointed conformed by a long whimper.

❝Uuuu—-!❞

[nightsveiled]

     An unintelligible series of noises is the only response he gets to his question, combined with some gesticulation that he wishes he could understand. He huffs in quiet frustration. He might not get an answer out of this woman anytime soon.

     It’s not that he’s unused to talking with people like this; horrible communication is almost a key feature of the Company’s castle. For example, Maybelle won’t speak at all without gushing about Sieg, Nomno speaks exclusively in snores and stomach rumbles, and Sphiel would sooner bring an avalanche down on someone’s head than have a proper conversation. The situation could honestly be a lot worse: she could be talking his ear off or completely ignoring him or drowning him in snow. He should consider himself lucky.

     Still. He’s hungry.

     And although his knight’s sense of chivalry tells him he shouldn’t be cross with the woman or snap at her, a smaller, more pragmatic part of himself tells him that he's really not getting much out of this conversation, so he should just leave now and find somewhere to eat already. Caught between honor and hunger, he pauses for a moment, takes a deep breath, and tries to calm himself down. Hey. He can be levelheaded when he needs to be. (Sometimes.)

     So he waits.

     The silence seems to drag on perpetually, although it probably only spans a minute or so. Eventually, he decides that honestly, this is getting a little ridiculous. He's the best knight of his age in all of Astrasia, he's fought the One King, ruiner of countless worlds, and he can't even find a stupid place to eat. Perhaps it's time to take a more direct approach.

     "All right. I guess you don't talk. Do you think you could just, I don’t know, point me toward food?"