(Untitled)

[not_a_shadow]

  There's nothing out of the ordinary about the teenager stumbling about the remains of a rotting temple - unless you're close enough to notice that his eyes are blue, a bit unusual for a Japanese kid, or care that his style of clothing looks quite similar to a certain someone.

Everything in this section of the Nexus seems to be in some sort of

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[cache_of_spark]

The face and voice were definitely familiar. The hair colour and height... not so much. The first could be faked but the second is what convinced Alec to stop shooting furtive, surly glances in Enzan's direction.

"As far as I can tell, I don't think I've been affected. I remember everything that I should and I haven't seen anything out of place. Yet. Who knows if that really means anything."

He looks about at the crumbling, decaying ruins.

"So this isn't the typical Nexus strangeness?"

[not_a_shadow]

"So can I, and apparently I could be." Enzan grimaced and poked at a statue with one finger. It crumbled immediately, much to his horror.

"Not usually. It doesn't happen on this scale very often, at least."

[cache_of_spark]

Alec took a step back to avoid the scattering debris of the statue.

"Hn, I thought things seemed rather manic but... it really is hard to tell around here."

He almost perched on a nearby wall, but thought better of it when it started to shed little pebbles before he even touched it.

"Do you think it's another one of those temporary things that could pass? Or the sort of thing that needs a nudge to right itself?"

[not_a_shadow]

"I really, really hope so. It would suck to actually be thirteen - again - but it would suck even more to be stuck being eighteen when I was supposed to be thirteen."

He rubbed his head with a frown. "It almost hurts thinking about it."

[cache_of_spark]

"Thirteen? Is that an arbitrary hypothetical number or do you have reason to think you should, or shouldn't, be thirteen?"

Alec can't help but be mildly amused at Enzan's confusion. Just because. "I imagine."

[not_a_shadow]

Somebody said I should be thirteen. But she can't tell if she's the one who's the wrong age, or me."

He sighed. "If you're not affected, you're damn lucky."

[cache_of_spark]

"Mm, no wonder it hurts to think about. Do you know of anyone else you could ask who isn't likely to be affected?"

"If I am affected, I'm probably still lucky. I haven't seen any ill effects. ...Yet." Though, now he's going over everything in his memory with a metaphorical fine toothed comb to see if anything doesn't add up. The seeds of paranoia have been sewn.

[not_a_shadow]

"I could go home... but now I can't tell if that would bring it with me, or not." Paranoia was fun for all!

"I think I'll see if anyone o my other friends here can tell me first. That seems like the safe bet."

[cache_of_spark]

"Mm, not a bad plan. No need to track in the temporal mess where it doesn't need to be, after all."

[not_a_shadow]

"I just hope it works." Enzan smiled ruefully. "New, huh? Sucky time to be new to the Nexus."

[cache_of_spark]

"Mm."

He chuckles.

"No, not exactly new. I've just been keeping under the radar. Trying to get a feel for things, and whatnot. Probably a sucky time to decide to become more present, though."

[not_a_shadow]

"Yeah." Enzan offered a hand. "Name's Enzan. I'm probably not going to be much help, but if you need any because of this time thing, I'll be around."

[cache_of_spark]

"Enzan," he repeated, the edges of mouth twitching in what might be a smile. "Last name wouldn't happen to be Ijuuin, would it?"

He took the offered hand, shaking it. "I'm Alec. I appreciate the offer. I might take you up on it, who knows."

[not_a_shadow]

"It would, yeah." A maybe smile was better than some of the reactions he could have gotten, plus, the handshake was a good sign. "I take it that means something to you."

[cache_of_spark]

"Bit of a household name where I came from, yeah. Not much other than that," he says with a pleasant smile and a shrug. Oh, how he lies.

[not_a_shadow]

"Well, I can promise you that I'm not much like the Ijuuin Enzan you've heard about." That was going to be true regardless the alt.