( oh this suddenly actually has a little bit of his interest. also his name field on here says 'lalli' so he doesn't bother repeating it, skipping right to: )
Yeah most Japanese eat at the Colonel during Christmas.
[He means Kentucky Fried Chicken Yakuza equivalent in Yakuza World.]
Yeah that one. I don't think it usually involves cheesecake...it is still kinda weird when you think about the lyrics since it mentions Santa watching if you've been bad or good, but nothing about your sins either....maybe it's been tailored to this world?
❰ the surprise of it all has initially subsided. information has been exchanged. questions have been asked. emil isn't sure where he stands in all of this, both emotionally and literally, but in both cases...nothing can be done about it now. maybe in hindsight, it was foolish to assume that being ripped from one world and put into another was bound to happen sooner or later; it happened once, so why not again?
a supernatural occurrence happening twice in both his lifetimes (having technically two is fleeting thought that he avoids with ease) isn't even what he cares about. his current stubbornness is that there is absolutely no way he could possibly go through emotionally detaching from one home and finding peace in another -- not again.
which explains his disconnected expression and very task-oriented attitude as he and his companion explore this strange, oddly whimsical place. to say there's nothing to be happy about would be incorrect: lalli is here, after all, and he could have easily been kept in some other corner of the universe instead...which is where everyone else he knows must be; one of the thorns in his side. he'd like to feel unhappy about it, but emil has long since learned that whatever world you're in, there's no higher up to speak to about the hand of fairness that you're dealt. ❱
They could at least give us lodging. Drop us off there, anyway. ❰ even if it was a similar situation to having multiple god houses that had to be returned to at night, that would be preferable to hoofing it along a path that's barely trodden, forestry sparse but growing dense as they move forward. there was some whispering about houses in the woods, and that's the first order of operations he basically commanded they work on: replacing their living quarters.
that's about as much as he'd like to talk about that for the time being.
with a slow but heavy sigh, his hands go from his side to being shoved deep into his pockets. after a moment he pulls another piece of stomped candy floss out of one and flicks it to the ground, disgusted. ❱ If these things exist, they better be livable.
❰ which really just means he's going to be really sad if wherever they end up doesn't include a washing machine. ❱
( lalli would actually argue that there are plenty of higher-ups, even if the gods of asgard don't count (which lalli is still on the fence about). just because emil is a godless swede doesn't mean that tapio and mielikki didn't guide his path when he scouted the woods of keuruu, or that he couldn't ask kuu for the moon's protection even as far off as the silent world.
here, though, they're on their own.
not that it seems like a very dangerous place. if anything, lalli's more annoyed by it than anything - pulling them away from their house, the people they know. from familiarity, too. lalli wouldn't say that he's gotten soft in asgard, but he has gotten accustomed to it. found a peace with the place, in some ways even more than the one he had back in their own world. however harmless this place seems, there's still a wariness that comes with not quite knowing what to expect from it.
here in the moment, though, he shares emil's sense of focus, his raised hood the only outward sign of his disquiet. though later when he's properly scouting, he'll cover ground more quickly, for now he keeps pace beside the swede, gaze scanning the trees - for somewhere to stay, but also for anything else worth noting.
'if these things exist, they better be livable.' the initial complaint went unacknowledged, but this one earns a quiet, dry huff of breath. ) We lived in a tank. ( 'livable' is pretty relative. )
❰ the response earns an aggravated, short huff of breath. it's not technically incorrect — well, actually it's just a simple fact. but it's not the point. ❱
And then I lived in a house that I don't have anymore. ❰ is this another moment where he's being petulant and that he'll need to eventually get over himself? after some time, he's gotten better at self-assessment, but it's much harder to step back when things feel fresh and raw. when he went to sleep, he was in a house. now he's functionally homeless, living in a world with sugar creatures and all of that attachment has been cut clean off, emotional nerves left dangling.
but he doesn't want to feel sarcastic and snippy. more than anything, he just wants to be sad — and he is, but too much so that it's a feeling to try to briskly out-walk for the time being, instead of stew on it. ❱ The point being, I don't want to downgrade — that seems only fair.
( it would be misleading to say that lalli, at any point, forgets how fundamentally different their lives have been. maybe it doesn't have them at odds anymore like it used to when they understood each other less, but a big part of that understanding has always been the inherent expectation for emil to make no sense based on lalli's understanding of the world.
and so, in a display of great personal growth, he fails to point out how naive it is to expect to keep anything good, no matter how hard they worked to get it. he also fails to point out how naive it is to think that 'fair' decides anything. he's pretty sure emil knows that one, anyway.
so instead, he simply says: ) Can build another one. ( maybe the world doesn't care if it's fair to emil, but lalli might care a little. )
❰ truthfully, he's not so naïve that fairness factors into anything. he's had enough experience in life at this point to know that to be the harsh truth. it doesn't make him any less sore about it all.
he'd like to respond that it wouldn't be the same, and that it's an added insult to injury that the whole project had basically just been finished, and starting again would be the most frustrating thing in the world. more than anything, though, the worst part is that as of right now, he doesn't want to have to start all over again here. if their asgard house was destroyed, at least he could feel better about rebuilding there. right now, the pointlessness of it all will drag him down if he doesn't keep the current task at hand in mind. ❱
Hopefully there's something of similar size that we can just take over — and there isn't a big to-do about who gets to claim what. ❰ because then a fit will be thrown. and the more he talks, the more he feels like maybe he can distance himself from being upset. ❱ I don't know how I feel about living in a tree, but that's the least of my complaints. I can't imagine the whole thing not falling apart in the slightest storm, though.
( there won't be a big to-do. lalli is pretty sure that he's still able to set up his knife runes here, even if he needs to gather more knives to fill them with. he'd probably start with rocks in this case, anyway - and how many people are really going to fight for a house that throws rocks at them just for coming too close?
which reminds him of something he hasn't yet told emil: ) I think I'm a mage again. ( a flicker of his brow, almost but not quite a scowl - and he rephrases. )Noita. Like I was before Asgard. ( he glances to emil, maybe to gauge his reaction, before his eyes turn back to the path ahead. ) Don't know if my gods can hear me, but... they feel closer, here.
❰ the information makes emil blink, sinking back into rules of living and being he hadn't considered for quite some time. alternatively, it also reminds him of this oddly-shaped cavity that leaves a hole inside that he feels odd about circling. this absence of self, while also still feeling...there? not so concentrated, but instead more so against all of his skin. emil brushed it away as the heebie-jeebies, maybe some mild irritation after being ground into the dirt.
having to address the absence of magic is one of the ways he hasn't ever had to describe or think about it. ❱
Is that why I feel different? My Tyr magic is gone? ❰ perhaps things have totally reversed. his cuff still dangles against his wrist, though the sheen and sense of power it once provided him is gone. ❱ They mentioned magic, but...is this what other magic feels like?
❰ something about the distinction between 'being given specific magic from a god' and 'having the potential for magic ingratiated with your core as a person' has a much wider margin than he imagined it would. ❱
( meanwhile, having to address the absence of magic is something lalli has absolutely had to think about before. it's the reality he had to face when they arrived in asgard in the first place.
a reality which mostly just taught him that whatever magic he loses, he can find some way to regain it. lalli's own cuff dangles uselessly from his wrist, heavier now than it ever felt in asgard but somehow not quite the irritant he'd expect it to be. it can stay, for now. 'is this what the other magic feels like?' lalli hums an affirmative, but after a couple of steps he adds, ) Can build that again, too. ( just like the first time, training together. practicing making bigger and bigger fireballs with more and more control. it'll be fine. )
❰ in the meantime, the forest has thickened around them enough for the sky to be darkened, light coming through only in the spaces between branches and leaves. emil hopes that things clear out a bit more, showcasing some real estate on the horizon.
it's easier to move forward, though, with something to think about. he's trained his magic before, making it stronger and testing the physical limits of what he's capable of. it isn't far-fetched to think he could do it all over again...and unlike the house, it doesn't feel so frustrating on its face. once the actual effort is put in, surely he'll grow aggravated by starting at square one — but the idea of a limitless potential reminds him of self-serving, indulgent dreams where he's a child who could have every food and desire he'd ever considered handed to him with just some effort of thought. ❱
There's...potential. ❰ it's a compliment (?) that is hefted over after a brief pause. that's a heavy admittance when, if given a list of compliances to address, emil would take them in as much stride as he could muster if it meant going back home. not even for all of the conveniences, but also: the devil you know vs. the devil you don't.
that's far outweighed by just how much he'll miss, however. after all, the spirit of adventure still hasn't completely left him — the idea of getting used to a new terrain, and the trials that come with it, is one he'll get used to. but if he were to count off every thing he's upset about leaving behind, his fingers would quickly be taken up.
— namely, one of the largest ones hits him as they approach a larger tree that marks the beginning of the clearing forest, trunk obviously hollow as denoted by the simple paned window shown from the side they're on. it would be simple enough to house a person, maybe two...but, ❱
I guess we need something smaller, now. ❰ not that he's considering this particular domicile but...who would fill all the other rooms, otherwise? ❱
( lalli noted the window on the tree, but in truth, he was prepared to pass right by it under the assumption that emil would say it's too small. but then he's saying basically the opposite of that, and so lalli pauses in his steps, glancing first to emil for a moment and then to the hollow tree.
it's not too much extra work to cross over to said tree, rising up on tiptoe to peer through the window and take stock of the treehouse's interior - before returning to emil with a shake of his head. ) Huge bugs, ( is his report on that (a routine-sounding report which emil will no doubt declare incredibly insufficient once he actually sees said bugs), but at least now he knows to be on the lookout for something of that general size. )
❰ emil almost tells him to not bother, but the curiosity gets the better of him. no way does he want that particular hovel, but hey. whatever information can be reported back.
that just...isn't exactly what he was expecting. not by a long shot. ❱
Can you be more specific...? ❰ like...huge bugs??? he can think of so many follow up questions to that?? he asks one, non-verbally, by moving his hands apart at a length before gesturing them around in a myriad of shapes and motions. are they stomping on big roaches or are they fighting for their lives, here? ❱
❰ there was no expectation emil had that life in...wherever this is, remembering the name isn't in his prerogative — regardless, he didn't think it would be at all enjoyable. the atmosphere, the ridiculous wildlife, the living accommodations...but the true root of the problem initially was that none of it was asgard, the most egregious crime it could commit.
the only remnant of asgard that was left was lalli, which was the most important thing that could have been brought along with him. initially, that was enough to at least inspire some kind of hope in him. even if asgard was a thing of the past, maybe things would work out. they could have found some way to make things better, whether it was work out a way back, recreate some semblance of what they had...emil wasn't immediately thrilled, but he wasn't totally depressed.
past that initial week or so, though, lalli was around less and less. for a while it felt somewhat natural. after all, lalli had just gone through his own locational upheaval, and that matters on a different level to a scout — emil doesn't necessarily get it, but scouting is an integral part of who lalli is, so it made sense. what he didn't expect, however, for the long stretches of disappearance to go for months. attempts to talk were short and brittle. when he wrote him messages while he was gone, emil would receive a response hours later, more blunt than usual (which is a feat).
if they were simply newer friends, if this was back in their original world, maybe it wouldn't sting this much. but — and it feels like maybe lalli has forgotten — they're in a relationship now. another matter in which emil had only vague expectations concerning; he knew that it wouldn't be a typical relationship, but maybe it's his own fault he didn't specify he would be put off by long, unspoken absences. emil has swung from sad, confused, frustrated, angry. now he's simply reached a point of having had enough.
typically he had a nighttime ritual for going to bed, but for some reason that night none of it felt right to do. he hadn't made some final determination to put a stop to this all that night for any specific reason. if anything, the buzzing in his head concerning it would have kept him up anyway. emil has previously been an expert in stewing in his feelings, but it only feels good when he has some way to eventually release it.
lalli eventually enters, somewhere to emil's right as he's sitting at their table, and the only small light sources are a few wall candles and a tiny ball of fire that is suspended in a glass to illuminate bored yet stressful doodles he's been making on loose sheets of paper. there are some half scribbled thoughts that he's various amounts of effort into, all scratched out — being scripted has never been his thing. ❱
Oh. There you are. ❰ it comes off more petty than he would truly like to be. his intention isn't to get into a fight, as frustrated as he is. emil's true desire is to fix this, as much as he feels like he has every right to feel left in the cold. he sighs long and hard, finally looking up from a large circle he's passed over and over again with a pen, long enough to create a few holes along its circumference. ❱
I think I've seen you maybe five or six times in about the same number of weeks.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Sometime after Anya's post
[Yes, he may be
spammingspamming people to get to know them more.]no subject
no
no subject
[There's a pause before a few minutes later other words appear.]
Hey that wasn't my book telling me I had messed up! You're definitely replying to me, right?
no subject
what is it
no subject
Names Ichiban Kasuga
I saw you talking to someone about the riddle.
no subject
did you get it too
no subject
no but part of it reminds me of a santa clause song. I only know it because the chicken place used to put it on blast during the holiday session.
[What.]
no subject
what
( no, that's just going to get the guy to talk more about it. he's going to send a follow up: )
santa clause song about cheesecake and
( give him a second, he's checking back, )
sins?
no subject
[He means Kentucky Fried Chicken Yakuza equivalent in Yakuza World.]
Yeah that one. I don't think it usually involves cheesecake...it is still kinda weird when you think about the lyrics since it mentions Santa watching if you've been bad or good, but nothing about your sins either....maybe it's been tailored to this world?
no subject
don't know much about santa clause. nuuttapukki doesn't watch. just decides once he shows up
( DAY ONE | action ) a stroll through reverein
a supernatural occurrence happening twice in both his lifetimes (having technically two is fleeting thought that he avoids with ease) isn't even what he cares about. his current stubbornness is that there is absolutely no way he could possibly go through emotionally detaching from one home and finding peace in another -- not again.
which explains his disconnected expression and very task-oriented attitude as he and his companion explore this strange, oddly whimsical place. to say there's nothing to be happy about would be incorrect: lalli is here, after all, and he could have easily been kept in some other corner of the universe instead...which is where everyone else he knows must be; one of the thorns in his side. he'd like to feel unhappy about it, but emil has long since learned that whatever world you're in, there's no higher up to speak to about the hand of fairness that you're dealt. ❱
They could at least give us lodging. Drop us off there, anyway. ❰ even if it was a similar situation to having multiple god houses that had to be returned to at night, that would be preferable to hoofing it along a path that's barely trodden, forestry sparse but growing dense as they move forward. there was some whispering about houses in the woods, and that's the first order of operations he basically commanded they work on: replacing their living quarters.
that's about as much as he'd like to talk about that for the time being.
with a slow but heavy sigh, his hands go from his side to being shoved deep into his pockets. after a moment he pulls another piece of stomped candy floss out of one and flicks it to the ground, disgusted. ❱ If these things exist, they better be livable.
❰ which really just means he's going to be really sad if wherever they end up doesn't include a washing machine. ❱
no subject
here, though, they're on their own.
not that it seems like a very dangerous place. if anything, lalli's more annoyed by it than anything - pulling them away from their house, the people they know. from familiarity, too. lalli wouldn't say that he's gotten soft in asgard, but he has gotten accustomed to it. found a peace with the place, in some ways even more than the one he had back in their own world. however harmless this place seems, there's still a wariness that comes with not quite knowing what to expect from it.
here in the moment, though, he shares emil's sense of focus, his raised hood the only outward sign of his disquiet. though later when he's properly scouting, he'll cover ground more quickly, for now he keeps pace beside the swede, gaze scanning the trees - for somewhere to stay, but also for anything else worth noting.
'if these things exist, they better be livable.' the initial complaint went unacknowledged, but this one earns a quiet, dry huff of breath. ) We lived in a tank. ( 'livable' is pretty relative. )
no subject
And then I lived in a house that I don't have anymore. ❰ is this another moment where he's being petulant and that he'll need to eventually get over himself? after some time, he's gotten better at self-assessment, but it's much harder to step back when things feel fresh and raw. when he went to sleep, he was in a house. now he's functionally homeless, living in a world with sugar creatures and all of that attachment has been cut clean off, emotional nerves left dangling.
but he doesn't want to feel sarcastic and snippy. more than anything, he just wants to be sad — and he is, but too much so that it's a feeling to try to briskly out-walk for the time being, instead of stew on it. ❱ The point being, I don't want to downgrade — that seems only fair.
no subject
and so, in a display of great personal growth, he fails to point out how naive it is to expect to keep anything good, no matter how hard they worked to get it. he also fails to point out how naive it is to think that 'fair' decides anything. he's pretty sure emil knows that one, anyway.
so instead, he simply says: ) Can build another one. ( maybe the world doesn't care if it's fair to emil, but lalli might care a little. )
no subject
he'd like to respond that it wouldn't be the same, and that it's an added insult to injury that the whole project had basically just been finished, and starting again would be the most frustrating thing in the world. more than anything, though, the worst part is that as of right now, he doesn't want to have to start all over again here. if their asgard house was destroyed, at least he could feel better about rebuilding there. right now, the pointlessness of it all will drag him down if he doesn't keep the current task at hand in mind. ❱
Hopefully there's something of similar size that we can just take over — and there isn't a big to-do about who gets to claim what. ❰ because then a fit will be thrown. and the more he talks, the more he feels like maybe he can distance himself from being upset. ❱ I don't know how I feel about living in a tree, but that's the least of my complaints. I can't imagine the whole thing not falling apart in the slightest storm, though.
no subject
which reminds him of something he hasn't yet told emil: ) I think I'm a mage again. ( a flicker of his brow, almost but not quite a scowl - and he rephrases. ) Noita. Like I was before Asgard. ( he glances to emil, maybe to gauge his reaction, before his eyes turn back to the path ahead. ) Don't know if my gods can hear me, but... they feel closer, here.
no subject
having to address the absence of magic is one of the ways he hasn't ever had to describe or think about it. ❱
Is that why I feel different? My Tyr magic is gone? ❰ perhaps things have totally reversed. his cuff still dangles against his wrist, though the sheen and sense of power it once provided him is gone. ❱ They mentioned magic, but...is this what other magic feels like?
❰ something about the distinction between 'being given specific magic from a god' and 'having the potential for magic ingratiated with your core as a person' has a much wider margin than he imagined it would. ❱
no subject
a reality which mostly just taught him that whatever magic he loses, he can find some way to regain it. lalli's own cuff dangles uselessly from his wrist, heavier now than it ever felt in asgard but somehow not quite the irritant he'd expect it to be. it can stay, for now. 'is this what the other magic feels like?' lalli hums an affirmative, but after a couple of steps he adds, ) Can build that again, too. ( just like the first time, training together. practicing making bigger and bigger fireballs with more and more control. it'll be fine. )
no subject
it's easier to move forward, though, with something to think about. he's trained his magic before, making it stronger and testing the physical limits of what he's capable of. it isn't far-fetched to think he could do it all over again...and unlike the house, it doesn't feel so frustrating on its face. once the actual effort is put in, surely he'll grow aggravated by starting at square one — but the idea of a limitless potential reminds him of self-serving, indulgent dreams where he's a child who could have every food and desire he'd ever considered handed to him with just some effort of thought. ❱
There's...potential. ❰ it's a compliment (?) that is hefted over after a brief pause. that's a heavy admittance when, if given a list of compliances to address, emil would take them in as much stride as he could muster if it meant going back home. not even for all of the conveniences, but also: the devil you know vs. the devil you don't.
that's far outweighed by just how much he'll miss, however. after all, the spirit of adventure still hasn't completely left him — the idea of getting used to a new terrain, and the trials that come with it, is one he'll get used to. but if he were to count off every thing he's upset about leaving behind, his fingers would quickly be taken up.
— namely, one of the largest ones hits him as they approach a larger tree that marks the beginning of the clearing forest, trunk obviously hollow as denoted by the simple paned window shown from the side they're on. it would be simple enough to house a person, maybe two...but, ❱
I guess we need something smaller, now. ❰ not that he's considering this particular domicile but...who would fill all the other rooms, otherwise? ❱
no subject
it's not too much extra work to cross over to said tree, rising up on tiptoe to peer through the window and take stock of the treehouse's interior - before returning to emil with a shake of his head. ) Huge bugs, ( is his report on that (a routine-sounding report which emil will no doubt declare incredibly insufficient once he actually sees said bugs), but at least now he knows to be on the lookout for something of that general size. )
no subject
that just...isn't exactly what he was expecting. not by a long shot. ❱
Can you be more specific...? ❰ like...huge bugs??? he can think of so many follow up questions to that?? he asks one, non-verbally, by moving his hands apart at a length before gesturing them around in a myriad of shapes and motions. are they stomping on big roaches or are they fighting for their lives, here? ❱
( action — so early it might as well be night )
the only remnant of asgard that was left was lalli, which was the most important thing that could have been brought along with him. initially, that was enough to at least inspire some kind of hope in him. even if asgard was a thing of the past, maybe things would work out. they could have found some way to make things better, whether it was work out a way back, recreate some semblance of what they had...emil wasn't immediately thrilled, but he wasn't totally depressed.
past that initial week or so, though, lalli was around less and less. for a while it felt somewhat natural. after all, lalli had just gone through his own locational upheaval, and that matters on a different level to a scout — emil doesn't necessarily get it, but scouting is an integral part of who lalli is, so it made sense. what he didn't expect, however, for the long stretches of disappearance to go for months. attempts to talk were short and brittle. when he wrote him messages while he was gone, emil would receive a response hours later, more blunt than usual (which is a feat).
if they were simply newer friends, if this was back in their original world, maybe it wouldn't sting this much. but — and it feels like maybe lalli has forgotten — they're in a relationship now. another matter in which emil had only vague expectations concerning; he knew that it wouldn't be a typical relationship, but maybe it's his own fault he didn't specify he would be put off by long, unspoken absences. emil has swung from sad, confused, frustrated, angry. now he's simply reached a point of having had enough.
typically he had a nighttime ritual for going to bed, but for some reason that night none of it felt right to do. he hadn't made some final determination to put a stop to this all that night for any specific reason. if anything, the buzzing in his head concerning it would have kept him up anyway. emil has previously been an expert in stewing in his feelings, but it only feels good when he has some way to eventually release it.
lalli eventually enters, somewhere to emil's right as he's sitting at their table, and the only small light sources are a few wall candles and a tiny ball of fire that is suspended in a glass to illuminate bored yet stressful doodles he's been making on loose sheets of paper. there are some half scribbled thoughts that he's various amounts of effort into, all scratched out — being scripted has never been his thing. ❱
Oh. There you are. ❰ it comes off more petty than he would truly like to be. his intention isn't to get into a fight, as frustrated as he is. emil's true desire is to fix this, as much as he feels like he has every right to feel left in the cold. he sighs long and hard, finally looking up from a large circle he's passed over and over again with a pen, long enough to create a few holes along its circumference. ❱
I think I've seen you maybe five or six times in about the same number of weeks.