First Letter ♥ on the crossroads of twilight, which way do we go?

[imabeeimabee]

[Mac Anu might be finding itself a new Letter Bee this evening.

He's wandering around, and, very politely, asking people where he was.

After all, one second he'd been crying and yelling after Gauche Noir. The next, he'd been here, feeling pleasantly warm and dressed in unfamiliar clothing

Comments

[alwaysdelivers]

[ And he was just returning from a field, absently poking around on his Relic as he walked across the long bridge. ]

wow this tag :'|

[imabeeimabee]

[He almost runs up to Gauche. Almost. Something, an instinct, stops him before he does, and he guesses it's survival, especially at what he'd seen before he arrived. Gauche -- no, Noir. Noir had left with Roda in the middle of the night.

"My feelings towards you and Sylvette... were my true heart."

The tears nearly start again, and his voice is soft, with a foreign, underlying anger.]

What are you doing here?

1/2 B-BAWWWWWWW

[alwaysdelivers]

[ He almost didn't notice the boy that approached, and certainly barely heard him. He looks up from the device and is still-- for a moment, a few moments, and finally-- ]

...Lag Seeing?

2/2 edit for city fail

[alwaysdelivers]

[ That couldn't be right, could it? And yet, there he stood.

...He had grown from the small boy he'd delivered. Certainly he hadn't been gone for that long, now, had he? It'd been almost a year that he's been in The World, but he had just been leaving Cambel Litus before he showed up here. ]

You aren't in Cambel Litus.

[ Obviously. ]

i am ashamed of you. have more baw

[imabeeimabee]

[He clenches his fist at his side and feels for the Nocturne with his other hand. It isn't there - he knows it isn't, having searched his person and remembering he hadn't had it with him when he'd gone to confront Noir (Gauche) outside.

Why was he acting like he didn't--]

First... [He voice lets him down, and he murmurs the rest of the sentence -- Gauche (Noir?) won't hear him, he realizes, if he murmurs, and so he speaks up, and maybe he's a little (majorly) more loud than need be.]

First you act like Gauche, and now you act like you don't remember! Stop-- Stop trying... to be someone else... Noir!

[He isn't crying. he isn't. He isn't, dammit, he isn't!]

ALL THE BAWWWWING, I HAVE IT

[alwaysdelivers]

[ His eyes widen slightly, confused. Who was Noir...? And why was he so upset? He kneels down before Lag and holds his hands out in a pacifying gesture. ]

I'm not sure who Noir is. But I am Gauche Suede, 19 years old. I'm a Letter Bee for the Amberground Government. And I've been here in The World for almost a year.

You've grown quite big, haven't you Lag Seeing?

[ And a smile. He isn't sure what else he could say to convince him, but surely he himself had changed from his time in The World. He just didn't think it'd been that drastic. His hair was a bit longer, and he had some extra things strapped around his hips, but that was about it. ]

god dammit jamie i'm quitting this manga /abuses hypens

[imabeeimabee]

[Nineteen?

Confusion flits across his face and he takes a half-step back, frowning slightly. That couldn't be right - if he was thirteen now, then Gauche would be... Twenty-three? Or something like that-- he doesn't quite count on his fingers the differences in their age as he did when he was a kid, but he almost feels like it.]

You haven't been Gauche Suede for... [Okay, now he counts on his fingers.] Five or four years. You've been-- [How's he supposed to explain it? Gauche should know-- Noir should know-- Names, names. What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.

Giving up Playing along for now -- this isn't the place for it, really.]

I'm thirteen now.

ERGLJNERGKJEGR NO DON'T LEAVE

[alwaysdelivers]

[ Thirteen. He was only, what... eight when he'd delivered him to Cambel Litus? That sounded right; it seemed so far away now. He wonders, briefly, what that could mean. Surely Sylvette's grown as well. If he spent another year there, would they be almost his age when-- if-- he returned? That was difficult to believe. Surely time couldn't be fiddled with so easily.

But what did he mean by not being Gauche Suede? That was his name; it's who he was. He couldn't be anyone else. The baffled expression is clear, just as confused as Lag. ]Thirteen... And yet you were just eight years old last year, when I'd delivered you. I believe it's fair to say time may move differently here-- and here is... well, the town is Mac Anu. But we're in The World. If I'm to understand correctly, it's some sort of world contained elsewhere, although I'm not sure how. I've found no way home despite constant searching, and the people here are just as lost as we are. They can tell you quite interesting stories about the countries they come from. And there's a

I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DEAL WITH THIS HEARTACHE!! 1/2, this tag is getting long this is awful

[imabeeimabee]

[He can -- it's a little blinding, to be honest, especially when he'd first arrived and had to get adjusted. Is this how it looks in the capital, Gauche? He wants to ask, he really does, but he has a feeling he wouldn't get an answer. Noir had said the man-made sun struck fear in him (that he should've felt it, but he didn't, there was nothing, there was nothing) but, even for a little while, if it felt like this...]

Maybe I'll ask others later, [That's all he says on that topic, because he's trying to figure out the words to explain. If Gauche didn't know-- He had to have been able to know. This had to be Noir playing some trick.

He gets the feeling it isn't, though. That small, little part of him that's allowed to hope and realize hopes says it isn't. In the end, he finds the blue sky and puffy white clouds more interesting than Gauche. So pretty...]You left for Akatsuki, and while you were there, you lost your heart. There was a letter of dismissal, since you hadn't been turning up to deliver letters. I-- I thought it'd sounded

2/2 this is gross, jamie!!

[imabeeimabee]

You said your name was Noir, that you didn't know about this "Gauche Suede" person! You said you were a marauder from Reverse, the anti-government organization! [Keening would be an accurate description of how he sounds - angrt and sadness and tears and god, his heart's on his sleeve and it's a little torn, a little tussled, with a few new cuts from recent betrayal and now this...]

You helped Reverse unleash an ancient Gaichuu called the Cabernet! I-It stole Sunny's heart, and now Connor's really sad! I-I had a letter bullet, s-so that... you'd come back, that your heart would be restored, but it... [He wonders if he still has it. He doesn't.]

It didn't work, the first time, and the second time it did and you were asleep for a while, and Dr. Thunderland took care of you until you woke up, and then you were my dingo and it was great, it was really great, a-and then yo u were just lying! All of it! You were Noir - you are Noir, aren't you!? - and you were just lying, and y-you said t-that--

[He can't talk now. He's given up on

I AGREE THIS IS DISGUSTING god they're so precious

[alwaysdelivers]

[ Had he asked, Gauche wouldn't be able to answer at this point in time. But yes, he suspected it was much the same. If Yuusari was dusk, the capital would certainly have the same sunset feel unless you were directly under the sun itself-- in fact, it had been Gauche's initial suspicion upon arriving. He stares, unable to do much else as he listens to the boy recount a future that hasn't yet happened. ]

Lag Seeing... I don't know what's happened since I've been gone, but I cannot travel to Akatsuki. Something is very wrong-- my pass only allows me to travel between Yodaka and Yuusari, as I stand now. I have no doubt I've been decommissioned, after going missing for a year... But the rest, I can't say. However...

[ There's a gentle smile, and he takes a moment to gather his words before proceeding. ]

It isn't as though I don't believe you. You're a very honest person, Lag Seeing, so even though it sounds strange, I do believe you.

[ And Lag's crying, so with a tentative touch, he rests his hands on the boy's shoulders and they feel

sobbing oh my god jamie

[imabeeimabee]

[He shouldn't believe him.

He shouldn't, he really shouldn't, but it's almost instinctive how he hugs him back, curling his fingers into fists against the old Letter Bee uniform (he misses his, now) and burrowing his face into Gauche's shoulder, into that familiar leather smell. It isn't easy, but it really didn't seem that Gauche remembered any of it.

(Noir was good at playing that, too, and you see what happened?)

It isn't easy, but he nods and wipes his nose against the uniform (oh my lady, sacrilegious!) and leans back a little, tears still insistingly running down his face. He really is a bigger crybaby than Sylvette, isn't he?]

Ga-Gauuuuuuuuuuuche!

[No, that's all he has to wail. Burrowing his face back into his shoulder, he doesn't need anything else.]

MAN UP BELLA YOU'RE PLAYING A CRYBABY :'|

[alwaysdelivers]

[ The boy is warm in his arms, seeping right through the leather. There's so many familiar and unfamiliar things coursing through his senses, he isn't entirely sure what else to do-- not that he was good with children in the first place. It was too much all at once, so he simply sits there on his knees, hugging Lag and unsure what to say to help calm his tears. ]

Lag...

[ There's a lengthy pause, as a gloved hand settles between Lag's shoulderblades. He leans away from the boy and smiles, slightly, before continuing. ]

Why don't you tell me about everything that's happened? And how you did on your entrance exam for the Beehive.

I DON'T HAVE TO :'| /BITCH TEARS FOREVER

[imabeeimabee]

[He wipes furiously at his face - from the beginning, then, and without too much emphasis on the things he'd already said - and nods. There's still tears in his eyes, but hey. He's smiling.]

I completed it in less than a day, thanks to Niche and Steak. Niche is my dingo, and she's a Child of Maka, and Steak's a... What did Dr. Thunderland call him? A, um... Kappermeister, I think he said, maybe even the prince! It was the second-fastest time, right behind yours, Gauche... [Even though I want to tl;dr the whole canon of TB Lag quietly explains, from beginning to end, his adventures. Well, not end - just the most recent experience of watching Gauche sprint off with Roda. He's calmed down more now, and-- oh!]

Right! Um, Aunt Sabrina wanted me to thank you, Gauche. For giving her something to live for. She asked me to tell you that before I left Cambel Litus. They're a lot more happy to see Bees now, too, and it's really thanks to you.