[Caesar won't be at the battle dome or the grocery store today, but when Leonhardt's leaving the store, he might catch sight of Caesar leaving the library just across the plaza. He's carrying a couple of books, planning to take a short cut back to the house.]
[Ah, good, just the person he wanted to find. That will save a bit of trouble. Leonhardt will go ahead and head over to the library in hopes to catch Caesar before he goes elsewhere.
And if Caesar notices him, the first very obvious thing is that Leonhardt for once isn't linefacing like crazy. He actually looks pleasant and cheerful.]
[Caesar doesn't really notice him at first. Knowing that Leonhardt had been kidnapped, he just isn't someone he expects to see around. When it becomes obvious that the man is approaching him, though, he immediately realizes who it is, and he pauses.
...yes, he definitely seems more pleasant than usual. Huh.]
Good morning.
[Is it still morning? It might be afternoon now... Oops.]
[We'll be nice to Caesar and it is still morning, barely.]
Good morning, Caesar. I was hoping I'd find you so I could let you see for yourself that I was returned and doing all right. Have you been practicing while I was gone?
[And Caesar would have been given some stuff he can run through on his own, just some simple drills and a short list of monsters he may be able to handle even now, like Holly Boys and the like.]
I am now. [He sighs a little to himself. It was tiresome to think about all the things that had happened last week.] It was a bit difficult to do before. Things got somewhat messy while you were gone.
[At least Leonhardt can understand that during an experiment it will be harder to keep up with practice, like he couldn't during the last one because he was made to be defenseless. But he did recall a small part of that since he was kidnapped two days into it.]
Did something happen besides the strangeness with the masks then?
You could say that. [That was putting it lightly...] I assure you, however, that you didn't miss anything important. Things have been normal for a few days now.
[Unfortunately for Caesar, Leonhardt has always been perceptive, so even de-aging him isn't going to mean he's going to fail at catching that no one seems to want to talk about it, so it can't be unimportant.]
But they weren't before then. And somehow I doubt it was unimportant.
I wouldn't say that it was important, exactly. Maybe just a little hard to miss, and more than a little troublesome for a good part of the population.
[It wasn't really something that bothered him, so talking about it isn't a problem. He just figures that someone who didn't know about it probably doesn't want to know.]
[Actually, all this avoidance is making him more curious because Joshua avoided the subject too, but that could be explained away by other factors too.]
I'd like to know. Otherwise I won't know if I even should be excusing you from training on your own while I was gone.
[His tone is more amused than serious, he would have let it go anyhow, he's more wanting to know what happened.]
Ah. Then I suppose I have no choice. [...not that he really feels threatened by the thought of getting in trouble or anything when the other man seems to pleasant.] Aside from what was happening with the masks, the moon was beginning to look strange as well. It seemed to give the appearance that it was going to fall, and a lot of people really seemed to believe it.
[Yeah, who would have ever thought someone who was kidnapped would come back more pleasant and not all depressed.] Was it an illusion or something that made people believe it?
It's hard to say. The effects it had on the village seemed real enough, but we can be certain that it never actually touched the ground. It was either an illusion or the use of some very powerful Shift technology to return things to their usual state in such a short period of time.
It does make one wonder what the point would be. But I guess I'll excuse you from practice this time since experiments can make it difficult.
By the way, did someone inform you I had gone missing?
[Caesar's reaction gave an impression that he knew, and he's more curious as to who found out because he's prefer others not know who was kidnapped with him.]
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And if Caesar notices him, the first very obvious thing is that Leonhardt for once isn't linefacing like crazy. He actually looks pleasant and cheerful.]
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...yes, he definitely seems more pleasant than usual. Huh.]
Good morning.
[Is it still morning? It might be afternoon now... Oops.]
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Good morning, Caesar. I was hoping I'd find you so I could let you see for yourself that I was returned and doing all right. Have you been practicing while I was gone?
[And Caesar would have been given some stuff he can run through on his own, just some simple drills and a short list of monsters he may be able to handle even now, like Holly Boys and the like.]
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Did something happen besides the strangeness with the masks then?
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But they weren't before then. And somehow I doubt it was unimportant.
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[It wasn't really something that bothered him, so talking about it isn't a problem. He just figures that someone who didn't know about it probably doesn't want to know.]
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I'd like to know. Otherwise I won't know if I even should be excusing you from training on your own while I was gone.
[His tone is more amused than serious, he would have let it go anyhow, he's more wanting to know what happened.]
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By the way, did someone inform you I had gone missing?
[Caesar's reaction gave an impression that he knew, and he's more curious as to who found out because he's prefer others not know who was kidnapped with him.]
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Someone named Joshua approached me after you went missing. He mentioned that the two of you were from the same world.
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He's correct about that. He's known me his whole life, in fact.
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