[red and roses]

[bloodand]

 His plans for the afternoon were simple; stop in, see a few friends, go back in time to hitch a ride in the Albiore to Malkuth to testify in Dist's inevitable trial. It's not the beginning or end of the trial, by any means; the court probably won't come to a full decision until after the New Year, still a month away. And even as the trial progresses, Malkuth's court system is getting an overhaul, as the Score can no longer be used as evidence. 

And since he's the only other God-General left alive, in addition to his own involvement in fomicry, that means Asch's testimony will form the bulk of the official record of the last seven years. Spending most of a week answering questions in front of a room full of Malkuth officials is not the ideal use of his time.

With all those thoughts bouncing around, it's no surprise that Asch manages to misdirect his door into an unfamiliar place; a round living room, seemingly built underground, from the smell and the tree roots poking out of the ceiling. There's a comfortable, floral scent as well, with a buried hint of mechanical oil that reminds Asch, faintly, of getting off the Tower's elevator to step onto the floor made in the image of a mountain meadow. Now that he's had true open air to breathe again, his mind has filled in little mechanical gaps in his memories of the Tower; at least this reminder isn't one of the ones that puts him on edge, like so many of the lifts between Baticul's upper levels.

The room itself helps, too, plush chairs and couch that are incredibly tempting to take a seat in, but Asch ignores them. There's a certain protocol to worldhopping, and that usually involves finding whoever's world you stepped into, first, before you go making yourself comfortable in their things. That goes especially for when you're not sure who's world you've stepped into, and even more when you appear inside their house.

That thought in mind, he tries to make his way discreetly to the door. Just pretend you appeared outside in the first place, Asch, yes, that's the way to go.

Comments

[bloodand]

The close watch is returned in kind; it's obvious that there's some kind of answer Dist is looking for, but Asch has no idea what it's supposed to be, so. Honesty.

"Ten minutes ago, about." Now that he knows who the house belongs to, Asch is giving everything else in the room just as much of an inspection as he is Dist. It's all so... Casual, compared to what he'd expect of his former "comrade." He's pretty sure the place is less decorated than the corresponding jail cell his own world's counterpart of the scientist is in.

[spare_parts]

"Ten-- and you found me already?" Dist shuts the door behind Asch, finishing cleaning his hands up, folding the rag, and setting it on the kitchen table. "Did somebody point you here? Jay is the only one who comes over." Well, less so now that they live together, but still. Zephyr and their guardians are the only ones who come from Outside, typically, so the idea that somebody would know to look for him and be able to do so quickly is... confusing.

While the water heats up, Dist puts a few supplies on the table - a tin of tea leaves, a sugar bowl, a large round cork, a pair of mugs - but only measures out ingredients for one. "Where were you before this?"

[bloodand]

"I wasn't looking for you," Asch answers immediately, "You're just who I happened to find." It's the truth, though probably not in the way that Dist is thinking.

The small snub of the tea is almost comfortingly true to form, something of the way he expects Dist to behave. He doesn't respond to it with any kind of irritation, though, instead just helping himself to the tea. "Any honey?" Eight years away from home does not a tea snob unmake.

The last question, though, makes him stop - something in the tone says that there's some context he's missing again, that Dist knows, somehow, that Auldrant isn't quite the right answer. And Asch is used enough to hiding the little tower that he doesn't intend to answer, but the response pops out of his mouth before he can corral it. "What?"

[spare_parts]

"Your last world," Dist elaborates, bringing the hissing teapot and a jar of honey back over to the table. The former he sets on the cork, the latter he places in front of Asch. "We all came from a second place, after being taken from our homes. It's why Zephyr brought us here."

[bloodand]

Well, that's... interesting. Hopefully, Dist isn't expecting Asch to do the polite thing and let him take the kettle first as host - he picks up the thing by the handle and pours a cup full of steaming water with a bit more elegance than Dist might have seen the last time they happened to both exist in the same room as a teapot. It gives him some cover to consider how to answer.

"No one brought me here," he says after a moment, setting the teapot down. "It was an accidental mistake I made myself."

[spare_parts]

It's honestly refreshing that Asch doesn't seem to expect any kind of special decorum or affect, and Dist pours his own water once the kettle is relinquished.

"Oh, none of us knew Zephyr when we were first brought. They're a little god, using this town as a kind of practice run. It's all very benign and sweet, and I'd wager a fair sight better than wherever you came from."

[bloodand]

Talking to Asch like he doesn't know what he's saying is one of the few ways to really get his hackles up these days, and Dist has always been a master at it. The fact that this time it's apparently unintentional doesn't cool Asch's temper very much.

"I was home," he practically growls, "and I didn't fight for it just to be snapped up by somebody else. None of us did. I came through that door by my own decision and no one is going to keep me anywhere I don't want to be."

And with that, he pours some of the honey into his tea.

[spare_parts]

Under normal circumstances Dist would continue to be flippant and dismissive, but nobody else in the Meadous shares Asch's story, which is enough to give him pause. "If you were home... how did you end up here?"

gotta add more irritated icons

[bloodand]

"We were left a way to visit each other, afterwards." He's still not exactly sharing after what, but by this point it's pretty clear he's not going to talk about it unless pressed. "Though the navigation is a bit imperfect."

The art of understatement comes naturally, sometimes.

always

[spare_parts]

Dist masks his momentary speechlessness by taking a long drink from his mug. He's never heard of that kind of thing; even when he was 'freed' from Mayfield, they were just given a new prison town.

"Well, if you can come and go you should know I'm not real." His tone is still flippant, still kind of disconnected from the discussion, to the point that it may be difficult to place whether or not he's joking.

[amourtician]

Jay had been listening to the rumble of voices in the living room without much interest - he'd been letting the words slip away without taking in the meaning - but this catches his attention. He pokes his head into the living room.

"Darling, if you're having another identity crisis--" he begins and then sees Asch. "Er. Wait. Who is this?"

[bloodand]

"What?" The confusion is apparent in his expression - for a moment, Asch looks strikingly like his replica in a typical bout of confusion, even more so than usual. His question is cut off by another voice, this one completely unfamiliar.

He gives Jay an obvious look over; weird cheek spots aside, those clothes were never an Auldrant fashion. Well, it's not like he's in any place to judge Dist for shacking up with an otherworlder. "Asch," he says finally. "We're... old acquaintances."

[spare_parts]

"From Auldrant. We used to work together. Do you want tea?" Dist sets about putting together a cup without waiting for Jay's answer, partially because Jay rarely says no and partially to busy his hands; he'd never really thought about how to introduce Jay to people from 'home.' "And it's not an identity crisis, it's true."

[amourtician]

Jay shrugs, a little helplessly.

"I suppose tea would be nice," he admits. "Darling, I ... I thought we'd settled this? You're quite real. You're just ... ah. In a difficult position."

He gives Asch a suspicious look. He knows what Dist had worked on and he doesn't particularly trust any former co-workers of his. It might be just a little hypocritical, given his own history.

[bloodand]

To be fair to Jay, Asch doesn't trust any of their former comrades much either. Or wouldn't, if there were any others that weren't dead.

"I didn't know you'd started counting experimental subjects as coworkers," he mutters testily, stirring his tea up again before taking a sip.

[spare_parts]

"I meant after that. We had a solid six years at least, didn't we?" Dist pours water into Jay's mug and brings it over to him with a shrug. "And anyway if we hadn't done that the score would still be upheld, and I don't recall you liking that any more than the rest of us."

[amourtician]

Jay takes a polite sip of the tea, watching Dist, sharply.

"Experimental subjects?" he says, blandly. "My." He looks at Dist again, with clear disapproval and, perhaps, a tinge of disappointment.

[bloodand]

"Depends, when did you decide to turn traitor?" There's no anger in that, and the reason why is obvious as Asch keeps talking. "Because I started considering it after Sync was born; I don't know where Van got the idea that I wouldn't put two and two together."

Arietta might have been too distraught to realize that Sync was a replica of the Fon Master, but Asch wasn't an idiot. After a moment, Asch sets the cup down, a little stiffly.

"Agreeing with the reasons doesn't mean I agreed with the methods."

[spare_parts]

Dist gives Jay an unimpressed look. "You knew what my original did. Did you just never expect to run into somebody I worked on, or was this stewing?" It's with a sigh that he addresses Asch again.

"I never really... turned. Van knew I was only as loyal as his resources could buy and it was a mutually beneficial relationship at the time. It's not as though I'd do it again."

[amourtician]

"What you did," Jay says, in a small and clipped voice. "Don't try to push this off on your original, darling. You carry the capacity for those actions in you." He sighs and takes a longer drink of tea. Mostly, he just dislikes being reminded that he and Dist both have less than pleasant histories. Sometimes it's nice to play house and forget you're a murderer and a heretic. "In any case, it's one thing to know and quite another to be ... so viscerally reminded of it." He shoots Asch a dirty look.

[bloodand]

Dist, did you forget that there's someone in the room with a lot of Baggage on the term you just used? Because that previous thread of discussion is now dropped so hard it's shattered on the floor and the pieces are going to stab someone in the foot later.

(Thankfully, Asch does not drop his teacup in the same way.)

"Your what?" The question is kind of strangled out, Asch's voice going high-pitched and his normally faint Kimlascan accent coming out at maximum force. "What the hell are you talking about?"

[spare_parts]

At least Dist has the decency to look apologetic; it wasn't his worst outburst by far but it was harsher than he'd needed to be. His apology is cut off at Asch's outburst, though.

"...I told you I'm not real," he says, looking far less cavalier about that fact this time. "I suppose I am here, since I'm physical, but for a long time I was just... data. Who thought he was real."

[amourtician]

Jay rolls his eyes.

"He's ... ahhh, he's a copy, darling," he tells Asch. "Created by some sort of murderous analytical engine. It's a long story."

[bloodand]

Fortunately, Asch is used to Dist's drama-queening, though this is a new and interesting spin on it. He takes a sip of tea, clearly mulling over how to put his words, and it's another moment after that until he speaks.

"...I don't care. You seem as real to me as anyone else."

[spare_parts]

"None of you get it." For a Dist tantrum it's very subdued; he actually lowers his voice for it. "I'm real to you? Mayfield was real to me. And look how that turned out."

[amourtician]

Jay pats Dist on the shoulder, very lightly.

"It's all right, darling," he says, his tone long-suffering and almost pointedly patient. "Reality is ... ah. Rather subjective."

[bloodand]

"One of the very first friends I made at the Tower was a replica." Asch's tone remains even, though with a faint of stubbornness. Jay wouldn't understand the meaning of the comment, but Dist will; Dist knows that Asch doesn't do friends at all, much less replicas or anything of the sort. "I don't care anymore. You're not different enough for me to treat you any differently except that you picked up some idiot idea of what it means to be a real person. You're here and your memories are at least enough in order that you know our common history, so what, exactly, makes you any less real than any other version of you I could stumble across?"

This is, without a doubt, the first time that Asch has actually cared enough about Dist to give him a lecture.

[spare_parts]

Dist is actually struck speechless, at least for a few moments. There are several things to take in over the course of that lecture; Asch having friends, getting over his distaste for replicas, actually giving a damn about Dist himself... it's a lot to take in. When he finally does answer, it's a bit small, especially for him.

"...I'm over Jade?"

[bloodand]

It's Asch's turn to look boggled for a moment, his mouth going through the motions of a silent "oh." Then he goes back to looking grumpy and pointedly leans back a bit in his seat.

"Well, about time."

(Dist has gained +5 tolerability points.)

[spare_parts]

"Yeah, yeah," Dist grumps, crossing his arms defensively. "It wasn't easy, you know. But..." He looks back at Jay with a small smile. "Jay has helped tremendously."

[amourtician]

Jay smiles, like a cat that's gotten into the cream, and puts an arm around Dist's waist, a gesture of affection and, in a small way, possessiveness. He hates hearing Jade's name mentioned, hates even thinking that Dist had been hung up on someone else before him, no matter how long ago and far away.

[bloodand]

Asch makes a brief face - the romantic life of Dist was not something he planned on dealing with today - before starting on a second cup of tea for himself so that he has somewhere to look besides the gushy couple.

Not that he isn't glad that Dist found something to give him happiness. This incarnation seems so much more stable than the Dist he's used to, and it's actually a bit refreshing, to feel like they can actually talk on an equal basis.

(Some bitter part notes that to make such a change, whatever place Dist was in before can't have been a good one.)

"Was that before or after you came here?" is the gentlest way he can think of to prod at the issue. While Jay is obviously not of Auldrant, he's not from a world Asch recognizes, either.

[spare_parts]

"Part of it was before, part after. In a bizarre way, it helped to find out I'm not real; sort of the last nail in the coffin of that particular obsession." He winds his arm around Jay's shoulders, kissing him on the temple. "Here is where I stopped mourning it."

[amourtician]

Jay closes his eyes and leans his head against Dist's chest, still smiling. He's feeling a little self-satisfied, but genuinely happy to have helped Dist, too. And he's showing off in front of Asch, even if he doesn't know him at all. It's the principle of the thing.

"But, ah," he says, once Dist brings up the not real thing again. "As I keep saying, reality is relative, dearest. And Jade was never worth your time." He doesn't know the full story in the least, but he's hazarding a guess that anyone who rejected Dist isn't worth much.

[bloodand]

Show off in front of the Actual Most Awkward God-General, four for you, Jay. Asch is very definitely not watching. Eventually, someone should probably explain that this is an Asch thing and it's nothing personal.

"I can't imagine Jade involved in any kind of romance," is all he says on the matter, his gaze still mostly in his teacup. "I doubt he understands love in any way that's comprehensible to the rest of us."