[Video: week 14, day 4]
[There is a dark skinned, dark haired man staring at a cow on the Hitomi's screen. He looks from the cow, to the Hitomi, and back again. There's a herd of cattle actually, and the man is standing among them wearing a rather revealing white tunic and black pants. His arms are crossed
( Read more... )
And lowing.
That voice. And lowing. Bovine lowing.
He's scrubbing the dirt off his face from the fall while fumbling wildly for his Hitomi.
What.
Just.
...There are zombies and Akuma and Kanda drinking blood water and tentacle things and nightmares and Lenalee looking at shadows like they might stab her and the Earl and people running and screaming and scared and-
... and then there is Tyki.
With his cows.]
... Tyki?
[Excuse him. Manners, forgotten. Oh, right. Noah. Also forgotten a bit. Private? What's that? Screw you, Link. ... Okay, not really.]
Reply
[He doesn't know he's been gone. Is unaware of the general chaos, violence and trauma about. So he simply gives the device a raised eyebrow at Allen's rather surprised--too surprised--reaction. Really, the kid is so high strung.]
Boy. [He smiles, friendly enough, amused.] No need to be so shocked. You do remember what a cow looks like, I should think.
[It'd only been a few days.]
Reply
[Mild sputtering.]
That's not the point. Weren't you... I thought you were gone.
[Let alone, you know, somehow idyllically frolicking with cattle while the rest of them were fighting for their lives. Really, it's almost too much for him. It's like the story of his life condensed down into one extra-potent form of insanity.]
Reply
[Though that begs the quest. Why would Allen be hallucinating about Tyki? And cows. Some questions are best left unthought of.]
[But Tyki's still giving the Hitomi that quizzical look.]
My my, tired of me already? I'm afraid all the wishful thinking in the world isn't enough, boy. Still very much here.
Reply
Um...
[He almost asks where because nothing is outside the realm of possibility anymore - Tyki might have been happily ignoring him and lost in some bubble with those cows after all, but Road wouldn't have acted the way she had then.
His brain is catching up, though, and he sits up a little straighter to ruffle a hand through the hair at the back of his neck in some mild... frustration. It's a little too unreal to even react properly. What... no, really, he was back? ... Like Rin...?
... During all of this?]
No. It's been weeks.
Reply
[But that gets a blink. He hasn't even been here for weeks, so he can't have been not!here for weeks. That just makes no sense.]
[Not that, he would have to confess, this place is prone to making sense.]
Getting a bit mixed up, aren't you boy?
[The cow has moved, and Tyki has moved out of it's way. It's bad form to argue with cows. Who might also be gods.]
Reply
I'm not! You've been gone for weeks.
[Things at least mostly follow some sort of rational process around here. Sort of. He does frown a little bit more closely at the Hitomi, though. Blankly, like he can feel a piece of his soul fracturing away and dying.]
Unless you've been there with the cows the whole time.
[Not really serious. He'd draw the line at that level of ridiculousness. But good lord, Tyki. It hurts his head just a little bit.]
Reply
[Tyki just blinks at the screen.] Boy--
[The little blips of other messages interrupt him, he ignores them for a moment.] What are you talking about? Of course I wasn't with them last night, that's the puzzle. And I think I'd remember if I wasn't here.
Reply
And Allen smiles just a bit. No, it's not very pleasant. Oh ho ho, Tyki Mikk, you've gotten scuttled by this place. What a lovely farce it all makes. Because he has to find some goddamn humor in this or with the way his week's gone he might just start snapping at people.]
Oh? It seems you were spirited away and just popped back. How unfortunate. But it happens, you know.
[Yes. Pleasant weather, isn't it? ... Although speaking of that-]
Reply
Although how you're still safe with... cattle...
[Well, that still makes him squint a bit in disbelief.]
It is a little hard to believe.
[Maybe the cows are... divine. Or something.]
Reply
[And why he does not remember several weeks passing by. Anywhere. Weeks clearly happened for other people, but not for him. It's enough to make one's eyes cross.]
My my, it's like no one has seen cows before. [Really what's with all the reactions.]
But really, since I'm back, do look a bit happier to see me.
Reply
If there's one constant he still finds a way to smile in some way some how through all of it.]
There sort of aren't any more cows around. That we know of. You'll have to excuse people.
[He'll look happier when...
...
Actually, Allen glances up for a moment in some very clear seriousness, realizing he's still sitting in a cave huddled up with Raikou and the others. And with all of this going on and (crap, really, maybe he should be resting like they all said, but he has to get out there now)-
...
You know he had been smiling. Not happily, but...
Somehow he'd forgotten the last time that happened. Not that he keeps track. It probably hadn't been long. It's just hard to remember what happened before this whole invasion ( ... )
Reply
[But what he does have is people sense and street smarts--a mix of cleverness and intuition that serves him well. And it doesn't take that much keen intuition to put together the idea that he's certainly missed some interesting developments.]
[Walker's unhappy expressions--more strained than the last time they talked. Back then it was just confused, determined, angry at times. Now there's certainly more to it. And Road and the Earl together, not a pair to be confined in a place like this lightly, or to be idle.]
[For the first time since greeting the cows he really looks around. Oh the pasture is fine, somehow. A little haven.]
[Beyond?]
[He can feel the Akuma. If he reached with his mind he could speak to them. Perhaps later he will. They can be ever so useful in catching one up to things. But more importantly, they ( ... )
Reply
[No, no more cows then. But his throat is a little dry.
And even in the lull he had with you before and Road... Road until so very recently...
It makes him uncomfortable. Allen sees you as human on so many levels, all of you, but especially you and Road
But those words - they do set his teeth a bit on edge and he's aware more of the situation, leaning forward a bit.
See, Tyki. He's aware as the seconds slip by and his initial boggling over your re-arrival slip in... this is...
Separate the sin from the sinner.
After all, Allen is also a sinner.
Allen desperately wanted with Road to see her able to mingle with normal humans. Well. And dragons. The term was loose. Shouldn't that help? Aren't they all human?
.. Shouldn't that help?
His jaw works tightly for a moment, emotions high but keeping them in line.
Shit, he feels like he missed you all of a sudden. The only person from his world for a brief time, and then another brief time after Lenalee came.
That's not the way it's supposed to be ( ... )
Reply
Reply
And wary. But he smiles a little; the pokerface, the smile that's everything not really a smile. If the Earl is here...
He supposes he might see you sooner rather than later. It's a little sad, a little sobering. And probably, if recent events are an indication... it won't be good for his health, either.
Allen truly would just rather be able to have another game of cards someday - in some world. Just probably not this one. ... Or theirs.]
I suppose so.
[You know it's... almost funny. Because if anything, finding out what Road was doing carte blanche now? ... It's disappointing. It's feeling like there was a lot done for naught, and Allen's not the sort to believe in anything being for naught. And he still has to believe... almost especially with seeing (gah, he really was, wasn't he?) Tyki here... he has to believe in it all still being redeemable.
Everyone is redeemable.
Everyone human, that is. The Earl's not, and that's where he draws a very firm, ( ... )
Reply
Leave a comment