in the past

[rowan_narrators]

[[Let's assume that everyone made it from the gate into the village. If for some reason you think your character would have put up a fight or not wanted to be given a place to stay, throw something up in the OOC comm. By this point, they're in a couple of buildings in the village, which is nothing compared to Jhelbor, but still manages to house

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[weedyshyguy]

Bret was doing his best to count his blessings. Because, really, this wasn't so bad. He and Jemaine were together. They were in the wrong time, yeah, but at least it seemed consistent. And they were generally where they were supposed to be, geographically.

There was a party going on.

Some of his friends were there.

He was optimistic enough. Taking Jemaine's hand (sure, the time seemed stable, but it didn't hurt to be careful, right?) he led the way towards the party, smiling hesitantly. "Just long enough for food?" He didn't want to drag Jemaine to the party if he wasn't up for it, but his stomach was starting to growl.

[posinglikeaswan]

Sending a nervous glance over his shoulder, Jemaine allowed Bret to lead him away from the dwindling congregation, his fingers curling subconsciously. "Yeah," he tapped his forefinger to Bret's knuckle. "My stomach's been growling for hours."

And he figured Cedric was probably sick of him now anyway.

"We're in a different time now, right? Does anyone know what time yet?" He paused. "Did you come through okay?" Jemaine shifted to give Bret a once over, checking for injury.

[weedyshyguy]

Bret shrugged. "Not that I've heard. A long time ago, though. The buildings are all gone." Pause. "I mean. They haven't been built yet."

Man, this was confusing. He just wanted time to go back to normal already. All this changing around was just going to drive them crazy eventually.

Not to mention the fact that a lot of their friends were back home and there was no guarantee that he'd stay with Jemaine even if he clung to him constantly like he was planning to.

This wasn't very optimistic thinking.

But Jemaine was on the right track. "Yup, I'm fine. Got a little dizzy and stuff when I got here, but nothing's broken." That was a good thing. And there was no reason for Jemaine to hear about how he'd freaked out when he hadn't know where he was. It was a little embarrassing.

Bret realized something. "Hey! We can dance at the party!" It would probably be an improvement over the last time they'd tried to. It'd be nice to have a happier memory to replace it.

[posinglikeaswan]

Jemaine looked visibly relieved when Bret revealed that he was, for all intents and purposes, fine.

And then his expression tensed.

"Yeah, dance," he deadpanned quickly, beaming a tight smile before turning to stare straight ahead. "Can't wait." He could, as a matter of fact, wait. He'd never been particularly fond of dancing, nor was he particularly good at it. It was clumsy and awkward and more often than not he stood on his own or his partner's foot.

Jemaine slumped a little and loosened his grip of Bret's hand.

[weedyshyguy]

Bret turned back to Jemaine, thrown by his reaction. "You okay?" Was he less excited about dancing than he claimed to be? Sometimes it was impossible to tell with the guy. "We don't have to, if you don't want to..."

He squeezed Jemaine's hand and, figuring it was better to change the subject, wondered aloud, "How often does food change? I mean, will it still be normal stuff, you think? I hope we don't have to use chopsticks or anything." He'd only really liked chopsticks for their applications as makeshift drumsticks. For eating, they were usually too much trouble.

[posinglikeaswan]

"Fruit, vegetables and animals have been around for thousands of years, Bret," Jemaine replied, rubbing his thumb into the bridge of his nose. "And I'm pretty certain chopsticks are a part of Asian culture." Though, admittedly, he wasn't entirely sure what culture Rowan would be considered under.

Nor was he entirely sure what Rowan culture was in the current era.

His focus was mainly on Bret forgetting about dancing, really.

[weedyshyguy]

"Oh. Good point." Though it was difficult to say whether Asian or not really factored in Rowan. Bret led them over to the first booth that seemed to be providing food for the partygoers. Sure enough, they were ladling out bowls of stew. Bret took a bowl and, upon taking his first bite, realized just how hungry he was. He ate ravenously, barely stepping out of the way of the other people in line.

Apparently traveling through time had taken a lot out of him.

He paused, feeling a little rude, and mumbled, "'sgood."

[posinglikeaswan]

Following suit, Jemaine eagerly took a bowl and contentedly ate alongside Bret. He consumed the stew without reservation, stomach unclenching and immensely grateful for sustenance, and after a few minutes of silently gorging himself he turned to Bret, scooping another mouthful.

"Yeah," he agreed around his spoon, moving out of the line after being shot a particularly foul look. "Didn't realise how hungry I was."

[weedyshyguy]

Bret finished his bowl and, stopping short of licking it out like a dog, put it on the stack of dishes to be washed. Sighing happily, he patted his now warm and satisfied belly absently. Bret waited for Jemaine to finish, and when he had took his hand again, giving it a little squeeze.

He smiled a bit self-deprecatingly and said, "Guess we should wait a while to dance now. Might get sick after eating that fast." It was probably like swimming. And he couldn't say it had never happened to him before.

He was a live fast, die young kind of guy.

Not that he planned on dying anytime soon. He just hoped the same went for everyone back home. "Jemaine, do you think everyone's okay?" He paused, and then clarified, "I mean, the people who didn't come with us. Cho and Cordy and Gob and everyone. Did you see anything happen to them as we, uh, went?"

[posinglikeaswan]

Jemaine, while wiping a hand over his mouth, shook his head. "I was behind you and Min when everything went kind of weird. Like the world was tipping." He made a tipping gesture with his free hand and flicked his tongue over his bottom lip and, because he couldn't answer Bret honestly, didn't. Instead he leaned into his arm and shrugged noncommittally, looking ahead.

He hoped -- really, really hoped that everyone was okay.

Though it didn't really make sense that they hadn't been transported, the split seemingly random, and with this knowledge came a lot of grim possibilities to consider. Not wanting to think on the possibilities, however, Jemaine shifted his focus to his satisfied stomach (a much happier thought than their missing friends and acquaintances), mulling over the delicious stew, and squeezed Bret's hand reassuringly.

[weedyshyguy]

Bret shook his head unconsciously, sighing. He hated how often he was completely unaware of what was going on around him. It happened often enough in social situations, he kind of wished it would stop happening on the practical level too. Just knowing where or when people were should not have been this hard.

A thought occurred to him. "Have you checked your journal since we got here? Maybe we can talk to people through that?" He thought silently for a moment before shaking his head. "Wait, no...It'd take a long time to get to them, wouldn't it?" He bit his lip, uncertain. "Maybe the magic doesn't last that long or something."

He sighed. "Man, I hope Jack or Ianto or someone is looking into this." He avoided saying 'someone sciencey' because he figured Jemaine wouldn't understand what he meant by that. "I'm no good at it."