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Who: Souji

rubyinferno
When: 12/6 (OOC: 3/17)
Where: Business district.
What: Cute Amarcians meeting Deadly Samurai as a result of event aftermath.
Rating/Warning: None

[the dream had definitely been a strange, out-of-body experience for souji—at least, once he'd woken up and could distinctly get the sense that what he'd dreamed wasn't really much of that at all. the emotions felt too raw and very much so unlike himself, and it was jarring. still, he hadn't really planned to pursue it much, because he didn't see much reason to. not knowing pascal also means not knowing much of the context, which makes it harder for him to feel any sort of connection. it's easy enough to put out of his mind.

...until he realizes that it's not that simple (it's never that simple, after all). others were swapping dreams, or memories, which likely meant that this pascal person witnessed something of his. that's bad. or it could be bad, depending on what it is she's seen. that makes finding her a bit more of a priority in his books. but rather than do things the easy way—sending a message via that confangled cerevice, he just keeps an eye out for her on his daily rounds and patrols. which proves fairly difficult when he mostly does so at night.

so today? today, souji is heading out earlier in the day, mid-afternoon. which leaves him a little extra irritable and tired, fatigued from the daylight and it shows. he's a bit pale and more sluggish than usual, but it's not stopping him from poking his head into every business he comes across under the guise of "making sure there are no problems." that comes to a screeching halt when he gets to repair shop and sees pascal. he may not have recognized her by face, but seeing the hair color that matched fourier's to a t? well, that and their faces definitely bear a striking resemblance. it actually kind of makes sense to see her hear, given all the technological mumbo-jumbo she'd been saying that upon his waking, made no sense.

sure, he kind of gets the fundamentals of how cryas and eleth work, but that doesn't do good when neither exists here or where he's from.]

Ahh, so this is where you where. [with no formality, no introduction, no anything. just souji idly musing that he's found her. a smirk crosses his lips as he arches a brow curiously at her.] I was wondering if there was really any truth to it, but I guess there is, after all.

[that what they saw was connected to others within the city, that is. he keeps it at just that for now, but he's itching to ask more and find out just how much she knows about him now. how else can he decide what to do with her next, after all?]

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[Pascal is tolling away at her work as per usual. It's just another day, really. She's been working as much as she can on Yata's hoverboard in between other personal projects and repair orders for her job. She's living the dream, really. Without terrain to wander she was more or less back to doing what she had been before she had decided to travel the world. Definitely before she had run into Asbel and the others.

She's absorbed in her work but a sudden blinking light in front of her alerts her that someone has wandered into her workshop area. She installed the motion sensors here, you see, because she often didn't notice otherwise. The boss got annoyed at her for that so... Anyway she glances up immediately but pauses. She isn't able to even greet the man before he talks and what he says strikes her as very odd.

But even odder is how his voice sounds really familiar. She swears she heard it before... in that dream she had last night! Yeah, that was totally it! She'd heard that voice... and the voices of others she hadn't know but... definitely his. So... that was his memory, right? That's what it had meant? Honestly she hadn't thought about trying to find him. It had been somewhat of a rough memory so she hadn't been sure bringing it up would've been wise but... well, here he is. What a weird coincidence! Or... was it?

Pacal pulls herself to her feet and approaches him curiously, finger against her chin.] Who, me? [She's the only one here, why would you ask that...] Heeeey... do you know me from somewhere? Because I think I totally know you from my dreams! Or, well... from your memory? That I saw?

[She pauses and scratches the back of her neck.] Or whatever.

[if this were another time and place, souji sure as hell would be cracking a joke (or, what's a joke to him, at least) about her having dreams about him. sure, they'd probably fly right over her head—so maybe that's for the better. it's really not a good time or place for that anyway, given the fact that they did swap memories, it would seem.

though he's a bit tense from not knowing just what it is she witnessed, he finds himself leaning against the doorframe, folding his arms over his chest casually. his brow quirks almost curiously when pascal takes that moment to look him over.

she definitely seems like a unique one, and without too much care, given how casually pascal seems to approach the situation. of course, what he gleaned from her memories doesn't exactly add up to that totally carefree nature, so he'll remain a bit wary, even if he seems to conceal it well enough.]

It does seem to be be that way, doesn't it? Assuming you're the one they called Pascal, that is. [he keeps it simple for now still, eyes following her motions to see how she reacts. they seem to be on the same page for now, so it's a matter of getting to the nitty gritty, next.]

[Pascal hops to her feet and wipes sweat from her brow with the back of her gloved hand. Her other hand is on her hip and she smiles in her usual friendly way at him.

So they swapped memories after all... well, she hopes he didn't see anything embarrassing! But in the end she isn't worried about it at all. Whatever he saw was probably not a big deal and even if it was she's sure it wouldn't change anything. She just isn't worried about it even if it's a little weird to think they both saw something private about each others' lives... especially because they're totally strangers.

Now she drops both hands to her hips and grins a little.] Yep, that's me! Pascal is my name, don't wear it out! And you're, uh... [She puts her finger to her chin and stares intently at him.

....

....

Nope.]

Who're you again?

Okita.

[he says it pretty plainly, brow remaining curiously arched. she gives one name, and so does he—souji doesn't feel that they're anywhere near close enough to warrant much else. especially not when he doesn't actually know what it is she knows.

and he's about to cut to the chase here, because it's really bothering him. it's bothering him a lot in a way that's really hard for him to deal with—there are just too many bad situations that are both deeply personal and incredibly dangerous for other people to know. he can't do much about her finding out the worst if that's what it is—in kyoto he may have silenced someone by ending their lives, but here, there's no use in it.

all he can really do is hope that it's nothing too bad, and that she'll keep her mouth shut if it's the worst.]

I don't think it's tough to guess that I'm here to find out just what it is you saw in your dream. [there's no use in sugarcoating it or acting like he wasn't with the intent of finding her. he made this so much more complicated than it ever actually needed to be. life with the technologically handicapped is tough.]

[Okita... Hm. A nice name! It's a bit weird too. She tries to recall if she actually heard it in the memory she witnessed or not but she can't.

She gives him a nod.] Sweet. Nice to meet you more formally, Okita. [She pronounces it a little strangely but more or less has it correct. He should be thankful no nickname was involved there but then again she only really does that to close friends. Okay well just one close friend but he was a special case...

Anyway she isn't surprised at all that's why he's here. She expected that. After all he would probably not be here otherwise, right? Unless he really wanted to ask questions about what he saw from hers but she can't think of anything that happened to her that would cause him to come find her personally. No, no, he was clearly concerned about what she peeked instead.

Pascal crosses her arms and hums thoughtfully, closing her eyes.] I get'cha. Well I promise I haven't told anyone about it or anything. Your secrets are safe with me, I promise. [They wouldn't really mean anything to anyone else if she spread them around anyway, right? Probably. Unless he had enemies and/or friends from home here...]

Okay well... I didn't really get it but there were these people with glowy eyes. They looked preeeeettty spooky and they were totally cheating in that fight. They were doing some really mean things too. Then you and some other people showed up to beat 'em up but they were way strong because of their cheating. There was this girl with glowy eyes that protected you when one of 'em knocked you down, I think. She was a good guy though I'm pretty sure.

[She blinks open her eyes to peer at him, tapping her foot.] Or something like that! It was a pretty crazy dream. Or, uh... memory. Whatever.

Edited 2015-03-28 03:48 (UTC)

[there's a statement about killing her if she revealed his secrets that remains on the edge of souji's tongue that goes unspoken for a couple of reasons. the first is that what she remembers isn't anything all that secret, and the second is that he knows it's a meaningless threat here. what's the point in making it unless he can actually follow through?

(never mind the fact that when he threatens cute girls with death, it is generally empty posturing.)

still he takes a moment to listen in full to what she remembers, and it takes him a moment longer to place the memory itself. her description... well, it's a bit different than how he would describe it himself, but it comes as a relief because it doesn't reveal any of his secrets. chizuru and kazama both are gone now, so any of their possibly suspicious behaviors wouldn't come up unless they return, and even then, their memories have deviated before. there are no guarantees, so souji can just not his head and be grateful that it wasn't something much, much worse. it may have been a pretty bad time for him, but not for reasons that would be immediately obvious to pascal.

which is good.]

I see, I see... [he muses for a moment longer before looking directly at her again.] It seems quite a bit different than what I experienced of yours. Maybe someone wanted us to expand our horizons and try some new things, hm? [he can relax a bit more now that he knows that. even if he's not crazy about a near-total strangers having experienced his memories, this could have gone a hell of a lot worse.]

[Oh good he doesn't seem as upset anymore. The way he had approaches this Pascal had been able to tell he was being stand-offish. Or at least it had seemed to her. Maybe showing discomfort too. It was mainly why she promised she wouldn't tell him. Not that she ever would because she's not like that but she wanted to try and put his mind at ease a little. She understands that memories belong only to you and so to have others experience them is definitely weird and uncomfortable.

Although speaking of... what was it he saw of hers? Now she's curious.

She nods at his words.] Something like that, probably. It was pretty weird for me maybe because of the whole "being from a whole different world" thing. [Yeah that'll do it, Pascal....

Anyway......]

But if that's true what did you see on your end about me? I wasn't gonna ask but now I'm super curious.

[it's fine with him that she asks, really. he didn't have any plans to tell her particularly, but it's not as if he had any plans to hide it, either. it means they can get off the topic of his past completely, which is likely for the better.

he prefer less people know a lot of the specifics of his life, especially when he's not the one willingly sharing them. even if this had been less egregious than possible, it's still uncomfortable to have to deal with excessively. so moving on, it is! though really, souji's not exactly sure himself how to work what he saw.]

It was a room with strange machinery. [which is almost anything to souji, since none of that stuff is possible in 1860s japan.] It seemed as if you were trying to explain to your sister the particulars about something called... fire cryas, I believe.

[there was a lot of confusing mumbo jumbo in there that he can't remember, but that phrase came up more than once, so he made sure to remember it in case it was necessary for this very situation. obviously, there's a lot more to it than that, since he can understand all of things she felt in those moments, but souji doubts she needs a full rundown to remember the situation.]

[The moment he mentions her sister she perks right up. Her attention becomes much more focused and her expression softens a bit, suddenly slightly less cheery. It's less because the memory he mentions springs to mind immediately. Her sister had been so mad at her... Pascal had been sure she had hated her in that moment and it had hurt so much...

But simply talking about her sister also reminded her how much she missed her. She knows she, like the rest of her friends and comrades, were just fine. The world may have been destroyed (or so they claim) but no one she knew would go down so easily.]

Oh that must've been Fourier... [She smiles, suddenly more cheerful again although it's significantly more subdued.] She must've seemed super mad at me in that memory, huh? She's my big sis and the most important person to me in the whole, big wide world. We fought a lot then but it was okay in the end.

[Fighting is just what siblings do and all.... it had just been kind of hard for her to hear that Fourier had been so jealous and mad at her like that. But all's well that ended well. In the end Fourier even saved her and her group of friends.]

[for a moment, souji simply nods in agreement. fourier was the name, wasn't it? he can only agree in silence, even hearing the name multiple times, he's not sure he'd be able to say it properly. souji's not one to subject himself to embarrassment needlessly, so he elects to let it go, instead listening to what it is pascal has to say.]

I didn't have any intention of prying. [he responds with a shrug; that much is the truth. even if there is a bit of curiosity that's been piqued over the matter—fourier has sounded furious and pascal herself had been hurt in a way he could feel for himself—he doesn't pry when it doesn't concern him or his work, generally.

he knows what it's like to bicker and have all out fights with a sibling, after all. hijikata may not have been related to him by blood, but they were no less brothers anyway. souji always irritated him and pushed his buttons from day one, and they had tons of disagreements to this day. so in a way, he gets it, even if his own reaction to an angry sibling is usually satisfaction rather than hurt. at least, it's what he chooses to default to, rather than focus on the hurtful situation he'd been in with his own sister all those years ago. that ran a lot deeper, and it's something he chooses to forget most of the time.]

That's the way it is with brothers and sisters, isn't it? There's always something to fight about at the end of the day, even if you like them. [he's glad nobody else he knows is around, or they may take that as an admission to actually feeling like hijikata is a brother to him.]

[At his insistence he wasn't going to pry Pascal offers a small shrug.] Doesn't bother me. You can ask anything you want. [Although only if he wanted. She gets the sense maybe he wasn't actually that interested in the end and only mild curiosity (and worry about his own memory leaking) brought him here.

Either way she had nothing to hide. Sure that hadn't been a pleasant memory but it had resolved itself in the end... and it had also helped her understand Hubert a lot too since afterwards he had helped cheer her up. So in that way it had helped her understand her sister and her friend much better so she can't think of it as a solely negative experience; simply an unpleasant one.

At Souji's words though she perks up.] Yeah! Hey, hey! You have a sibling too, then? [She has a lot of affectionate towards others with siblings, even strangers.] They're great to have even if they yell at you or force you take baths. [Don't ask about that last part, Souji...]

Mm, it's something like that.

[it remains something he won't get into too deeply, if only because he just doesn't see it to be necessary. his two sisters weren't the ones he really grew up bickering with, after all—it was hijikata. they were very brotherly, and it really doesn't differ that much with quite a few of his other fellow shinsengumi captains. they were comrades, brothers-in-arms, and very much so like family. years of working together, living together, and sharing meals together can have that effect on people, after all.

especially when they went through the toughest times together and struggled until they were able to prosper a little. but that's neither here nor there, and souji finds himself raising an amused eyebrow at her statement. baths?] I can't say I've ever had anyone force me to take a bath.

[usually, it was forcing him to stay in bed, but he's not going to advertise that whole "i was dying of a deadly illness" thing.]

[Well Pascal won't pry even when his answer is a little unclear to her. It sounds like maybe he had siblings in a more non-traditional sense then but that counted in her book. Siblings were siblings, blood related or not. So Pascal just grins and gives an understanding nod.]

Right, right... I get'cha. [More or less... From what she remembered of the dream he certainly had a lot of people who cared about him. Maybe one of them had been the pseudo-sibling?

Oh... She grins more sheepishly this time and scratches the back of her neck.] Yeah... She gets really mad when I forget... but I just don't have time for things like baths! I'm always doing way more important stuff.

[But she "forgets" for literal days so....]

[good enough for him, they have an understanding with at least that much. it makes it plenty easy to continue the conversation as is—he may not have considered it before, but pascal is interesting in her own right, which makes him a little more inclined to stick around. ...as opposed to just waving it off and going on his merry(?) way.]

I can see why she'd get mad at that. [there may just be the briefest tinge of disgust on his features at the thought. how does one forget or not have time to bathe? that seems crazy to him.] Busy or not, most people are pretty quick to remember that sort of thing. It's hard to miss when there's such a strong smell, after all.

[not all people are attracted to that unique aroma like hubert is.]

[Aw man! Him too?! First her sister then Cheria... why does everyone love baths so much!? Weirdos...

Okay well... she doesn't hate them just... they take up so much time! Time that could be better spent building stuff! Jeez.

She hangs her head dramatically.] Aw... now you sound like Cheria. She gets all mad too when I forget. She made me do it too. [After she lots a one one on battle even! ~~Don't ask.~~

She straightens and puffs out her chest a little.] Nah, don't worry. Around here I always make sure I smell okay 'cause of the customers. [Well... sometimes........]

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