That star is the tear of a warrior...

[jupiterjazzman]

The first thing Gren notices is the warmth. It's not just warm, it's hot, though he couldn't swear to whether or not it really was or if it was just by comparison to his memories of snow, and space. He puts a hand to his ribs but the pain is gone, though the iron taste of blood still clings to the back of his tongue. He turns his head to the

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[silvereyedphage]

He might hear footsteps coming around the corner of the porch, approaching, then pausing a few paces away. If he looks in the direction of those footsteps, he'll catch sight of a tall, slim, pale figure, silvery grey hair framing a narrow face. But the hair is shorter, the fringe covering one grey, reptilian eye peering through rimless eyeglasses. And he's dressed in a white, summer-weight business suit, rather than a long grey jacket.

A flicker of confused recognition and doubt shows in the stranger's one visible eye.

The summer warmth has troubled Muraki's sleep, bringing dreams of the world he left behind, the few trusted people there. The long-suffering Oriya in particular. And he wonders if those dreams have become a reality, and somehow, his protector and confidant has found his way to this place...

[jupiterjazzman]

Gren turns at the footsteps and for a moment the illusion is powerful, his arm twitching at the urge to reach for a gun that isn't there. His shoulders tense and his hand tightens almost painfully on the music box in his pocket before he makes himself breathe deeply and take a second, longer look at the man ahead of him.

It's not Vicious. Just someone who looks enough like him that they could be brothers. It doesn't do much for his racing heart, especially with the man looking at him like he knows him.

"...Hello," he says when he finds his voice. "Is this your house?"

[silvereyedphage]

The stranger blinks, shaking his head as if to clear it and the confusion passes, replaced with a calm, thoughtful, but somewhat calculating look: his mane might part enough to reveal his right eye, the pupil a bit wider than it is in the left and the look in it fixed and expressionless.

"Alas, no, though I do live here, and I've served as one of the house physicians since I settled into it," the pale stranger replies. Bowing his head, he adds, "I'm Doctor Kazutaka Muraki."

[jupiterjazzman]

"My name is Gren," he says, returning the gesture. He also notices the eye...it reminds him of Spike. Spike whose eyes are two different colors. Maybe this is all some sort of dying dream, and this man is a result of seeing the two of them. He's strangely calm about that possibility. "Who does own the house, then?"

[silvereyedphage]

He looks up at the house thoughtfully. "The owners haven't shown themselves in all the time that I've been here, which has lead more than a few of the folk who...found their way here to assume that the owners might be some manner of higher power: angels, gods, spirits, or something we don't have a name for," he says.

[jupiterjazzman]

Gren just nods, running on dream logic for the moment and oddly at ease. "Of course," he murmurs instead of protesting. "Do you think they would mind another houseguest?" He has the feeling that he's never going to see his ratty little apartment again.

It's a shame. His saxophone and photographs are still there.

[silvereyedphage]

He smiles, and while there's a warmth in that smile, the warmth doesn't quite reach his good eye. "There's always an open room for everyone who comes upon this place: the powers that be provide well for their guests," he says. "If you like, I could give you the grand tour.

Growing serious, he adds, in a calm, professional tone, "I should break it to you now: you're going to be here for... quite a while; by all accounts, there's no known way out of this place, at least not until the powers here choose to let one be known."

[jupiterjazzman]

Gren's silent for a moment before he quietly nods, still a little dazed. "...Well, I expected to be dead by now so an unexpected detour won't hurt anything. It's a shame though that I won't make it back to Titan, I suppose that was never meant to be. Thank you, a tour would be helpful."

[silvereyedphage]

"Titan... is that your home country?" he asks, curious, lifting his chin and tilting his head, interested. "We've people from all over any number of countries and...worlds, for that matter. Even a few from times in the past and the future. It's rather like a hotel at the end of the world."

[jupiterjazzman]

"The end of the world?" Gren looks amused, the idea of an end of the world of the sort where there could be hotel sounds a little silly to him when space travel is taken into account. "No...and it's not a country, it's a moon. One of Saturn's moons? I've been living on Callisto." He figures that it's safe enough to tell him that much. "That sounds like Blue Crow. You'll never find anyone who's actually from Blue Crow, it's just a place where people end up." The mansion definitely looks nice, though. And cleaner. And warmer. "What do you meen though, people from the past and future?"

[silvereyedphage]

Which gets a genuine look of curiosity and surprise, along with a raised eyebrow from Muraki. "Saturn? The planet? Do I dare ask what year it was in the place from which you came?" he asks.

[jupiterjazzman]

Gren looks startled by the questions. "...2071, why? What year was it for you? And yes, Saturn the planet...it's the only Saturn I know of."

[silvereyedphage]

"It was the year 2001, when I left my world and fell into this place," he says. Then, he adds, "Where I come from, we're...still working toward colonizing any planets."

[jupiterjazzman]

"You're from Earth," Gren said, eyes going a bit wide. "That's before the gate disaster. I've never even set foot on Earth, no one goes there if they can help it. There just isn't much left."

[silvereyedphage]

"I'm not sure that I understand what you mean by a gate disaster, but it is a beautiful place, for the most part, aside from the ecological mess that man is making of it," he says, a little wistfully.

[jupiterjazzman]

"The hyperspace gate nearest earth collapsed, the explosion took out part of the moon," he explains. They learn about it in school when he's from. "Nobody worries about the ecology there anymore as far as I know, there isn't much left except slums and meteorites."