We just want to dance here

[sparklingscarlet]

Who: Blaise and Luke
Where: Musville
When: Early June, Afternoon
What: A little travel does the soul good. ...Or does it?



Blaise had been planning a trip for a while, now. He was finally feeling like his old self at least somewhat. And, now he was off to find something to enjoy, a little mini-summer vacation in the midst of summer itself. He had informed his parents that he planned to be gone for a few days, maybe up to a week. He was going to travel a little and see if he could recover the rest of his old self from the rubble Ryuzaki had left behind. He promised to keep his cell phone on him in case he should need anything at all. With a large backpack filled to the brim with necessities, he gave his parents a hug and had headed out of Gateway City on foot.

He wonders what kind of places he'll find. He hopes something with alot of secrets, maybe. Something to replace the ones he made at home. A new sanctuary would be a good thing. Or he could find something unique, cute, or even something new to love. He was hoping to gain alot of happiness.

After a bit of trekking, he happens upon a small town. He doesn't know much about architecture, but he's pretty sure these buildings aren't entirely new. Still, it looks peaceful enough. In fact, it seemed kind of quiet. Was anybody home? As Blaise explores some, he does see some people, even waving happily at some of them. Admiring the little town, Blaise got the feeling like he was in one of his adventure games and started imagining what kind of history would be behind a place like this. Would it be like an old Western? Or maybe this would be the kind of village where a Sage hides!

As he's walking, he's twirling himself all directions, walking backwards, sideways, all trying to take in anything and everything he can see. And he may not be entirely paying attention to where he's going. He might crash into someone at this rate, provoking a quick fluster of behaviour and a sincere series of apologies from the young adult.

Comments

[rescribare]

"Hey, whoa!" comes a voice from behind him -- the voice of the person Blaise had just hit. "Careful there," says Luke, putting out a hand to steady the other man, taking Blaise's shoulder just long enough to make sure no one's in danger of falling before letting go and stepping back.

"I know the streets aren't exactly crowded, but you should still watch where you're going," the man says, with no real malice and only the barest hint of impatience. His brows furrow as he takes in the stranger's face.

Another newcomer...could he be connected to Nathan? Luke wonders. Then, he scolds himself. Ugh, listen to me. I sound insane. Not every stranger in a backpack who shows up in Musville is connected to my past life. That's paranoid thinking. Still...for a few seconds, Luke is half-braced for an Echo, and is very, very relieved when one doesn't come.

[sparklingscarlet]

Whoops! Blaise is snapped quickly out of his reverie and flusters in embarrassment as Luke keeps him steady and then lets go. He gives a nervous smile as the man mentions to him to be more careful.

"R-Right. I'm sorry!" Stuttering again? He thought he'd finally stopped that. Luke's faint impatience goes unnoticed. But still, Luke seems pretty serious. He looks up at Luke and notices the brow furrowing. Oh, no, did he do something else wrong?

"A-Ah! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Please don't be mad! I promise I'll watch where I'm going!" Shoot, he had traveled all this way to some place where probably no one knows him, and he's already messing up. His mind is frantic with finding ways to fix this. It's not like he knows the nearest soda shop to drag him to.

[rescribare]

Luke is a little taken aback by the frantic triple apology. The frown turns to surprise tinged with concern. He's a jittery one, isn't he? Jittery and spacey. "I'm not mad," Luke says mildly. "Just surprised. You're new around here, right?" It's obvious, both from the staring around like he'd never seen a town before and because Luke knows everyone in his town by now.

Ever since Nathan, Luke is leery of visitors. He's fully expecting Nathan -- or someone like him-- to come back sooner or later and dredge up memories from his past self, whether he means to or not. However, Luke can't just turn strangers away; that would look suspicious, like he had something to hide. Whether this person is connected to his past life or not, Luke figures his best bet is to be friendly.

He holds out a hand.

"Welcome to Musville. I'm Luke Oswald. Are you here to visit someone, or are you just passing through?"

[sparklingscarlet]

Way to hit the nail on the head, Luke. Jittery and spacey describes Blaise almost perfectly in this moment.

"Y-yea, I'm new here." Blaise nods his head quickly. Good, he's not mad. Blaise unconsciously sighs a little, relieving some of the frantic stress he built up. He doesn't want to offend anyone on this trip... or ever, if he can help that.

Blaise gently shakes Luke's hand. Not limply, but certainly not firm, either.

"A-ah... I'm Blaise... erm... Pyre." He hadn't introduced himself to someone in so long, it almost felt foreign. Maybe he can make a new friend. He gives a small, genuine smile this time.

"I'm passing through. Err... sort of?" He chuckles a little. Is that the proper term for someone on vacation? "I'm just getting away from home for a few days. So, this place is called Musville?"

[rescribare]

Luke nods. "That's right. It's not very big, but it's a good place." There's a note of pride in his voice that he doesn't care to suppress: this is his home, and it is a good place, despite the earth-shattering cataclysm of a year ago. It's remained a good place under Luke's hand, and it'll stay that way as long as he is here to guide it.

"Unfortunately, we don't get many visitors, so if you were hoping to stay the night, you'll have to find someone willing to take you in." They'd only had one cheap motel anyway, and when the earthquakes hit, they'd decided to funnel their resources into rebuilding more essential structures in their town. It's abandoned and in disrepair these days.

[sparklingscarlet]

"It looks like a great place! I bet there are alot of stories behind it! Did it start out like the Old West? With the sheriff always defending the town from bandits? Or maybe it was a mining town! Are there awesome ghost stories to go with it? No, wait, mysterious creatures visited here and caused a tourist attraction! And now it's scary but intriguing which is why the town never got bigger! But you still get supernaturalists who are curious and come to see if they can find the phenomenon! I bet it's a great place to shoot movies!"

Blaise is just prattling on, a mile a minute, full of assumptions and starts glancing around a little again, awing at all the cool history that he's spouting from God-knows-where. Tell him more, Luke. Go ahead.

Blaise blanches a little at Luke's mention of finding a place to stay. Come to think of it, he hadn't exactly thought about how he would set up camp. Oops. His jaw drops slightly as he tries to think of what he should do.

[rescribare]

"What? No, it's not like that at all. I suppose bandits aren't impossible, but if there are any ghosts or mysterious creatures here, I've never heard of them." His mouth quirks in a brief smile. "We lived quiet lives until the cataclysm came, and that's what we've been trying to get back to ever since."

What an imagination.

"Sorry to disappoint you," he adds with a touch of sheepishness.

[sparklingscarlet]

Blaise blinks up at Luke. Come to think of it, it is pretty quiet here. Seems like they're doing a pretty good job of it.

"The Cataclysm?" Blaise repeats, looking slightly clueless for a moment. Oh... "Oh! Right, yea!" He scratches the back of his head, laughing a little nervously. He knew that!

As he lowered his hand back down, he looks at his Loveracelet, wondering if...

"Hey, have any weird things happened here? Y'know, like the dinosaurs we had where I'm from?" Because why not check?

[rescribare]

Luke's surprised that it took Blaise a second to realize what he was talking about. What other catastrophe could he be referring to? Aliens invaded, for crying out loud, and laid waste to the west coast. You couldn't top that if you tried.

"N-no, no dinosaurs. We weren't close to any of the places where the Numbered appeared, so we were able to avoid a lot of the weirdness. It's like I said: Musville is a peaceful place."

Nothing unusual here at all.

[sparklingscarlet]

Blaise's ability to live under a rock is impressive and maybe admirable. He'd rather live in his video games and adventure fantasies any day. Dinosaurs were... kind of cool. Running from them, not so much.

"Really? Nothing at all?!" Blaise is kind of astounded, and he raises his voice to match it. Some passerby might hear him. Good thing he's not worried about funny stares.

"I thought things like the dinosaurs happened everywhere!" Not that he'd really checked. Nope, he's not calming down, either.