17; video/action

[asea]

[There's a dissipating shower of purple flecks behind Walter, this time with more black and belts, when the feed comes on. More than that, half the trademark severity from his features has gone—he's clearly not in the mood to punch someone's lungs out. Which is new.]

Vatheon—[he grasps the cloth wrapped around his hair and pulls it off, suddenly seeing no point in it. His tone is softer from its usual guttural gruffness.]

. . . What's a soul?

action;

[After a moment of waiting, Walter cranes his neck to the side. He hasn't come to the abandoned village in months; the area's about the same as the images his memories convey him. And now, he's a little more keen about disregarding appearances to dig around.

He slides in and out of the broken buildings, taking a moment to wander each interior before moving onto the next. His hands are smeared with grime in minutes, and he rubs the flat of his fingertips against his thumb at a juncture. It's all so familiar in a way, yet he feels nothing more than . . . apathy.

People lived here, once. Probably.

Outside, he leans against what remains of a wall and looks up, his arms crossed.]

Comments

[asea]

Is that a problem?

[He doesn't really get it.]

Vatheon is an abnormal world. None of us were ever meant to meet.

[tsundyne]

maybe not... bt the fact is that we did and it just seems unfair to undo that

[They won't even remember. Maybe he likes it that way, but . . .]

[asea]

[He would argue that it's better off that way. But he thinks so and doesn't air it aloud, because that opinion would prompt questions.]

The world is an unfair place. [No, that's too small.] All of them.

[tsundyne]

i know|

[If things were fair, her dad would still be alive. So would Mitsuru's dad, Shinjiro-senpai . . . and Minato, too. But she quietly sighs.

It doesn't really matter anyway.]

...oh well.

[asea]

[Oh well, indeed.

That's enough from the both of them on the topic (obviously neither of them likes talking about home this way – at all for Walter, if he were honest), he thinks, so Walter focuses on the beaten village surrounding them, his gaze wandering.]

Do you know anything about these buildings?

[tsundyne]

[When his gaze wanders, so does hers, grateful for something else to think about. She'd been meaning to ask what he was even doing here, and clearly she's gotten distracted . . .

She shakes her head.

Not replying with the SFC this time, but she does start erasing her previous answers to make things less cluttered.

Should I know . . . ?]

[asea]

You wonder who lived here. What they did. Why it became this way.

[His mind, so conditioned to the horrors of racism, has the tendency to cook up morbid possibilities. Death is about the most prominent thing on his mind.

Walter turns his gaze back to Yukari.]

But if we don't know now, we probably never will.

[tsundyne]

[She does wonder. When he says that, she looks around, and also thinks about it. What is a place like this even doing here, and had anyone bothered to explore it?

She pulls up her SFC again.]

Probably is a strong word y'know?

[Yukari's not always a pleasant girl, but she's not a total negative Nancy either.]

we might still be able to learn something. i dunno...

Does it bother you?

[asea]

[It's okay, Yukari. Walter will be a negative Nancy in your stead.

He stares long and hard at the message she's typed (at least, longer and harder than the usual look bordering on boredom). He's said stronger words than probably, and –

He folds his arms.]

. . . I'm used to knowing things.

[About things that matter to him, anyway. And the way that last word dies out, he's not interested in elaborating. He may talk more, but he's never been one to blather.]

[tsundyne]

me too, i guess

[With Yukari, it's more that she doesn't want to appear stupid. It may not matter to her in the long run, but if it matters to someone else, and it affects their perception of her? She tends to take an interest.

In the case of this village, she can't really tell if it's important to Walter or not. But she knows there's some reason behind him asking about it, and being here in the first place.

Maybe she'll never find out what it is. Even if he is chattier than usual, he doesn't seem to like to open up -- but she can understand that.]

how did you find this place?

[asea]

I happened upon this place a year ago. [A year and two months, to be precise, on a rainy day.] Hardly anything has changed. Maybe nothing.

[That's as much detail he'll give her on the hows.

Thinking about where he was a year ago does something to his mood, however, and he peels away from the side of the broken building. The tips of his feet point straight ahead, but he doesn't know where to go after this. Probably back to the city.

Probably.

He looks at Yukari in the event she has anything more to say.]

[tsundyne]

[When Yukari turns around to face him again, it looks like he's ready to leave. She's both surprised and not at the same time -- and while she certainly won't stop him, she does follow for a couple of steps, as if asking him to wait.

She starts typing again once she's sure he won't be gone when she looks up.]

there was one more thing...

that wrd you called me back then, i still dont know what it means

[. . . and heck if she ever figured out how to spell it.]

[asea]

[Stopping for her is simple, though it might have been too much had it been any other time for his lack of patience. He scrutinizes the screen and the "wrd," his memory reaching for a moment. It pulls numerous moments, and he's not entirely sure what she means.]

What word?

[tsundyne]

[Damn it.

She thinks about it for a moment -- scratching at the back of her neck before she decides to try to sound it out, with the screen tilted so Walter can see it.]

Or...|
Orerins?|

[No . . . that's not quite right. It might be close enough, but she starts tapping the backspace button.]

[asea]

[He realizes what she means the moment he sees the first attempt. She spelled it wrong, but it was close. He won't bother to correct it since it's not what she asked.]

It means "people of the land."

[And it's a term he's washed his hands of for the week.]

[tsundyne]

[Oh.

Not insulting in and of itself, but they way he used it back then certainly was, and that's something that she hasn't forgotten. It's a bit hard to be mad about it now, though. Especially when she doesn't even have a voice to argue with, even if she wanted to.]

thanks|

[For telling her. Really, she doesn't know what else to say.]

i'll remember.

[asea]

[There isn't any point to remembering it, he thinks, as terminology is but one other method of separating people into dispute. But if that's what she's chosen, it's her decision.

Walter stands there for a notable while; as if he wants to say something but can't make up his mind as to what. And in the end he decides himself that it isn't worth it, so he turns away with a final glance of acknowledgment toward Yukari.

Go ahead.

Remember.]