agora | CROSS-CANON DOUBLE DATE OF THE MULTIVERSE

[ ... ]

I may have misunderstood. You're saying he talked about me while you were in the Reapers' Game?

[ he was giving kaveh the benefit of the doubt and thought he just meant today ]

Edited 2023-08-15 06:16 (UTC)

[ Uh oh. He blinks once. ]

If you live together, it's kind of hard to not come up in mention even once...

[ Will... maybe save this for Kaveh's sake? ]

You said that I was brought up repeatedly, not just one time.

[ sorry kaveh. tbf characters point out that kaveh brings up alhaitham a lot when no one asked, so maybe he's less surprised than he should be. ]

Wouldn't that attention have been better spent on other, more important matters?

[ like being alive? ]

There were usually stretches of time where we couldn't really do anythin' else.

[ Such is life when you're in a murder game where you must turbo CR and also there just isn't anything interesting discoverable nor occurring until the nearest Wednesday afternoon.

And also, to Kaveh's credit, he was indeed alive 'til the end. ]

[ your three days of being cursed and getting your nails done until your cyoas happen.... ]

It's strange to me that you were offered rest periods when your lives were supposedly at stake.

[ it worked out i guess? and no one was really dead? what was even the point ]

Were there no opportunities to strategize or seek out answers regarding the game?

Guess they decided it had to be seven weeks long instead of lettin' someone clean up the whole place within three days.

[ He doesn't make the murdergame, he doesn't make the rules. He does also think it's stupid. ]

We did plenty of that, where we could. The reapers themselves weren't any real good for askin' for answers though, so it was mostly up to us. There's only so much you can talk about before you're startin' to draw shapes in air, y'know?

And talkin' about that shit nonstop for two months without throwin' in some nice things in-between would drive most people a little crazy.

[ shakes hands in thinking it's stupid ]

In my view, the arbiters of this game had every intention of driving participants insane. Depriving them of any comforts seems like it would be a drop in the bucket.

[ he's being such a hater.... ]

What "nice things" were there, exactly? Vash mentioned that you were able to have drinks.

The "comforts" weren't that bad, but apparently we have low standards.

[ The amount of times people were like why aren't you sleeping in a bed' and they were like we're used to traveling across long stretches of desert for days at a time and stopping in dirt-cheap motels you see. ]

We had to buy drinks. But all the food was free, which does balance it out nicely. The buildings were spick and span, whole gym with a pool inside... which, I don't know about you, but that much water just to swim in is insane for us.

A pool?

[ alhaitham is just imagining like. a place build on top of a waterhole. kaveh would have a conniption about the foundations of that kind of building. how did they live in there? was it magic or something? ]

Nevermind. Kaveh did explain to me some bare essentials about your living situations, but I'm interested in hearing your perspective. I suggest we wait until we get to our table. I imagine the topic may take a while to explain.

[ He will allow Alhaitham to believe whatever he wants to believe in that little coconut head of his. ]

"Get to our table"? Are we goin' somewhere?

[ there's a big genius brain in that little coconut head ok!!! ]

Lambad's Tavern. Kaveh might have insisted that I'd be cooking this evening. I can assure you that was without my consent.

You not into cookin' for a full house of four fully-grown men?

[ Lmao. ]

Heard pretty good things about this tavern.

[ LOOKING FORWARD TO IT I GUESS ]

Not if I don't have to.

[ wolfwood actually gets him to smile. wow!! ]

Glad to hear that credit was given where it's due. You'll have to let me know if either of you are vegetarians.

[ Wolfwood's special talent, as I learned in mg, really is that he just gets Debbie Downers to smile, which is not a talent I went in knowing he'd have, but I'll take it. ]

I'm not.

[ He's pretty sure Vash isn't either but he can tell Alhaitham himself. ]

Not picky at all either.

[ his rizz is just that crazy.... no wonder he breaks so many hearts ]

Then I'm sure you'll find it to your liking.

[gay behavior over here]

[ like he doesn't smile at kaveh all the time...... this is why they aren't dating ]

[yeah that's because he usually smiles when Kaveh is RANTING]

(no subject)

diffract - 2023-08-23 05:27 (UTC) - Expand

A lot of us got homesick, I think... So talking about home even if it was through complaints helped us get through the weeks.

[ VASH IS GOING TO TRY TO PROTECT AND OBSCURE KAVEH'S FAVORITE HOBBY, complaining about Alhaitham. ]

[ it's super effective... alhaitham actually softens up a little bit. ]

Was that the case with you two as well?

For us it's kind of hard not to compare things to No Man's Land! Kaveh has mentioned it before, right? It's barren desert... And if humans didn't land there, it would only be desert. No bodies of water anywhere and very little vegetation. I've seen more than Wolfwood and our other friend, Livio, but it was still a wonder for me to see so many trees and ponds in one place in the Underground.

[ Vash describes it and it sounds like a hellhole. Despite complaints, it doesn't sound like he speaks ill of it. It is what it is, their dusty planet. ]

No Man Land's still our home, though... So, yeah, it's the same for us—or at least me.

[ alhaitham listens intently. he can see why kaveh might have tried to pursuade them to come to sumeru. the desert sands stretch for what seems like infinity, almost a world in itself. aaru village or caravan ribat might welcome them readily, if they're as good as kaveh makes them out to be.

alas. also, "no man's land" is an interesting name, but he doesn't comment on it. sumeru has plenty of weird titles for their landscapes. he nods. ]

You sound quite attached despite its seemingly barren landscape. Even the lands of Upper and Lower Setekh have patches of water. Humans must have greatly adapted or evolved to survive in such circumstances.

Edited 2023-08-16 19:46 (UTC)

[ They could probably make a home anywhere, being the survivalists that they are, but as Alhaitham can hear... Home is home! There are things that tether them to that planet, more like Wolfwood. Vash just has fondness. ]

Most of my happy memories were spent there! Can't blame me for being attached. [ A laugh. ] It's thanks to Plants that humans have survived this long! But earth fleets are boarding people in waves for those who want to go to a better planet.

[ Wait. ]

"Plants" in this context are manmade resource providers with the purpose of making inhabitable planets... Habitable. I don't know if Kaveh mentioned that.

[ checks the handy plurk paste pixi made me about what kaveh would have said.

alhaitham just lifts his brows. plants.... are not plants? hello? he sets that aside for now. ]

He mentioned that your world is vastly different from ours, and that you both have endured many hardships. He didn't provide specifics on why. What you said certainly provided more context.

[ he also said that vash isn't human. they can get into that later. ]

Perhaps you can provide more once we arrive at the tavern.

Sure! Go ahead and ask me whatever you're curious about when we get there.

[ Vash will leave the empty glass on the little table, whatever surface there is where the bottle of wine sits. ]