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[badtouchking]

Characters: badtouchking and fatechange
Setting/Location: Riviere; under the cherry tree
Date & Time: Morning, day 52
Warnings: Swearing, limp rag Allens, and derp
Summary: Tyki finds someone he knows in this place at last.

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[fatechange]

It had gotten bright suddenly, like the walls and ceiling had suddenly been broken through. Enough to make Allen stir, eyes that had been half openned and glazed in sleep squeezing shut completely to avoid the light, it made his head ache, the area around his eye tighten, suddenly straining against a bright…sky. That wasn’t possible.

It didn’t seem possible that he was dreaming again either, not something so open and peaceful, colourful. He blinked back the tension as much as he could, glancing up to follow fluttering pink petals. He’d never seen anything like that before much less in his dreams. There was no dark sky or twisted moon, no dark water and broken buildings, no smirking reflection to mouth words he couldn’t understand. So he was no longer in the Order and he was not dreaming.

Another heavy breath, his eyes skimming over everything around without focusing on anything for a long moment. Maybe if not for the smell of smoke it would have taken Allen even longer to even see Tyki. He was shocked but it didn’t show very much on his face. He was too exhausted to do much but widen his eyes, take necessary breaths and just sort of mumble his name. “…Tyki?”

[badtouchking]

He hadn't pictured an exchange going like this. It unsettled Tyki as he took another few slow drags on his cigarette. "What happened to you?" He murmured and frowned. There was no burning light of defiance. No strength in the boy before him. It made him lose interest in the idea of killing him. He frowned harder and reached out to flick him in the forehead. So weak and fragile. Coupled with the feeling that he was standing close to family made him feel annoyed.

"Answer me."

[fatechange]

So it was Tyki and not just that man with the eerily similar face. It was strangely comforting, strange as that thought was. And he definitely wasn’t dreaming then. Allen breathed in sharply, feeling some kind of twinge in the back of his mind, he couldn’t tell if it was just his nerves or if someone was really there always knocking and pushing against what he defined as his self.

He wondered if he should be worried that he wasn’t concerned at all with Tyki’s presence but with the way things were maybe he had less to fear in Tyki than in those within the Order. Besides, this wasn’t the Earl’s style at all. Allen tilted his head back to squint up at the canopy of fluffy petals. “Where am I?” he asked instead, not keen on talking to Tyki about what had happened if he didn’t already know. And Allen could recognise (distantly at least) that this Tyki did not look like Tyki as he remembered. Shorter hair, slightly less unhinged. Better to keep that information to himself.

[badtouchking]

The boy was more comfortable about his presence than he was used to. If he knew what the slang 'sup' was, he'd have had reason to slap that onto this encounter. Odd. He took his time, getting his cigarette down to the filter as he watched the town with a bored look. They had time or the leader of the caravan would have said they didn't. Though the bastard sometimes didn't warn them about things. All he had to think about was his stinging rear to scowl at the sky and promise to get the bastard back for it.

No answer to what happened to the kid. Not that he was expecting one with the boy's state. "You're in the small town of Riviere. Everything else they'll explain to you. You're in the long trip just like the rest of us." He finally said as he rolled a second cigarette and lit it. "You missed some interesting times, boy." Not much of a shame as fun as it would have been to fight with him while he was a beastial force of nature. "Only way home is going along with this caravan just off the edge of town. Something should happen because we got a bunch of new brats in."

[fatechange]

“That doesn’t make sense,” Allen didn’t sound entirely upset about it though, not much was making sense information coming to him in gruff fragments from Cross’ last messages and riddle over riddles from the Fourteenth. Maybe it was even funny, at Allen’s expense anyways.

He would have preferred to stay in that small, dim cell waiting out whatever it was that the Order would decide while he puzzled through all those hopeless questions and what-ifs. That would have been fine, it was still forward. “Only way home. So there’s only one road,” it was less than ideal but he could deal with it, Allen was used to less than ideal. As long as he could go back to that miserable place with his home and his friends, the war and the Akuma, that was the only thing that mattered.

He shifted to pull himself up, his body felt heavy, the drag of the chains still attached to his ankle didn’t help but he wasn’t so far gone that he couldn’t stand. He’d stood up after much worse, maybe it was still his Innocence, pushing his body on even when there was nothing else to support him. It was comforting in a way. “What are you doing here?”

This place was so strange, the air cold and light, sky clear and lovely. Tyki was all that there was around that was familiar.

[badtouchking]

"Nothing here will." Tyki responded as he eyed the chains on Allen's ankle shackles. He reached out to grip then chain and used his ability with the other hand to break it in half. He draw back after that to stand up. "The better question would be why any of us are here." Why indeed. He stuffed his hands into his pockets without another word as he fixed his gaze in the direction of the caravan. "I got here a while ago, different town." Had so much really happened since then? Yes. Yes it had.

"Oi, you forgot this." He kneels down and grabs the Junogam. "You'll need that later." The Noah offers it to the Exorcist and sighs. "Come on, you should at least know where the Caravan is. It's where everyone sleeps." Why the hell was he being so helpful? He could guess it had to do with how worn out and strangely solem the boy was. It wasn't like the kid he'd seen who even when facing death managed to smile.

[fatechange]

It made Allen stare at his feet for a moment and then back up at Tyki, accepting the device that he handed him. “Thank you,” Allen would have asked why Tyki was helping him but it wasn’t as if that made such a big difference, at the moment he had to accept it. He just took it calmly as he had everything else so far; probably everything would come crashing down on him when he thought about it enough. It was as if he wasn’t quite here but he wasn’t at Headquarters anymore either, he was just suspended somewhere unable to identify with the things around him.

[badtouchking]

It unnerved Tyki how quiet Allen was being. It wasn't...he frowned and took a drag on his cigarette as he trudged through the town. "The kitchen's always open." He finally said. The trek through the little village wasn't going to be long but it felt like ages to the Noah. He didn't feel like talking anymore, unless Allen felt like asking questions. For some reason he doubted he would. Just like he seemed to ignore any directed at him.

[fatechange]

It grew a little more real as they made their way towards the town, people that looked foreign (though it was probably just that Allen was completely foreign to this world) but people, not just the fluttery shade of a flowering tree. Maybe with a full stomach he won’t feel quite like he’s walking around in someone else’s skin, besides it’s been days since he’s had anything to eat. “The kitchen?”

[badtouchking]

Finally, something from the kid. Tyki grinned at that as he pointed to the caravan getting closer and closer with each step they took. "What did you think we ate only at stops?" That would be a bit boring. He stuffed his hands into his coat pockets with a lazy whistle. "Always open at all hours, and well stocked." He hit it quite a bit from time to time.

To him the caravan was a boring sight he'd gotten used to over time. Even the giant on guard, whom he offered a wave on his way over to the nearest entrance.

[fatechange]

Food was something that was pretty much guaranteed to get a reaction from him, especially after not eating for days. And here he didn’t have to worry about the food being tampered with.

Allen stumbled as they approached the caravan, pausing for a moment to just stare in awe at the giant. It was like a fairytale, truly. “This…this is the caravan we’re traveling with?” He’d pictured something less fantastical, something more like what he’d travelled with when he’d been with circuses. Barely functioning, falling apart a bit, painted in bright colours that tried to distract from the fact, that sort of thing.