(Untitled)

[leaderly]

Who: leaderly and outbursting
When: Late afternoon May 30th
Where: Souji's starter apartment
Summary: Souji is having Yosuke over for dinner to talk about a few things since he's come to Siren's Port.
Warnings: None!

Comments

[outbursting]

Rubbing his hands together, he could not help but feel just a little grateful at being able to have such a delicious meal for once. Sure, he could buy some great food from the restaurant, but from what his memories had told him, nothing compared to Souji's cooking. It was weird to have that memory, but not really "remember" what it was to actually be in that situation.

Yosuke had decided that he should just not be upset about it, anymore. Things were just a little messed up, and he had to accept it. No reason to drive himself completely crazy, right? Been there, done that. His shoulders gave a little shrug before he knocked on the door and waited to be let in.

[leaderly]

Souji heard the door knock and looked up, snapping out of his thoughts. He put down the knife and carrot he had been peeling, and walked to the door, opening it and smiling.

"I'm a bit behind. I'm just about to finish cutting things up...I still have to cook yet," he said in greeting, opening the door wider to let the other in.

[outbursting]

"That's fine, man." His hand raised to wave lightly in the air. "I seriously don't mind just watching you work. Maybe, I'll actually pick something up."

Yosuke came in then, as he was reminded that Kanji -- the Kanji was was present before, ugh, keeping it all straight in his head was really annoying -- had said that he would teach him how to cook. It didn't that far, but still... he shook his head a little as he thought that wasn't going to help much of anything.

"So, what are we having?"

[leaderly]

He laughed a bit.

"You didn't learn anything from watching the girls cook?"

Souji went back to the counter to finish peeling the carrot he had been working on when Yosuke arrived. The spices and onions, potatoes, chicken, and peas were laid out in separate dishes, already chopped if needed.

"Curry. Hope that's okay with you," he replied, smiling back at the other.

[outbursting]

"Like they let us watch."

If they did, he might have spared his taste buds just a little. While he still was not the most amazing of cooks, he at least liked to think that he had enough sense to know what to do and not to do with food.

"Curry." Yosuke felt his expression drop just a little. That was what the girls made for them, but he cheered up immediately. "I remember when they made us curry. Ugh, I think that is a taste that I will never be able to get out of my memories."

A beat. "But I think that eating yours will probably remove all memory of that Mystery X from my mind. Hopefully."

[leaderly]

Souji was laughing as he began chopping the carrot, throwing the pieces into a little bowl.

"I feel like we should give them cookbooks as Christmas presents..." He wasn't sure he really wanted to see how the girls had made Mystery Food X. They really had to do something wrong to get such a slimy texture like that.

As he started up a pan on the stove, he turned to Yosuke, still chuckling and said, "I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not." When the pan was hot, he threw in the onions, grabbing a wooden spoon he had found and cleaned, moving them around the pan.

[outbursting]

"They'd probably throw them at our heads." Yosuke held up his index finger. "Correction. They would throw it if it came from me."

He paused as he thought more about this idea of getting them cookbooks as Christmas presents. His fingers drummed lightly on the surface of the table as he would like to know that they were all right, and everything was well. Eyebrows furrowing, he contemplated asking -- telling -- Souji about what the other Souji had told him. About the end of the world. It wasn't just murders, but he wasn't sure how to drop that sort of thing in his leader's lap. Didn't even know if it applied to the world that this Souji came from or not.

"Oh, it's a compliment." Yosuke finally said after he pushed those thoughts aside. "Definitely is a compliment."

[leaderly]

Souji had stopped laughing and just had a smile on his face. He was glad that of all the other Investigation Team members, Yosuke was there with him. While he was also happy about Kanji being there too, he didn't have the relationship with him that he had with Yosuke.

"Good," he replied. Then, as an afterthought, he added, "I hope they're alright," smile fading slightly. He fiddled with a knob on the stove and added the chicken next.

[outbursting]

"I'm sure that they are." Gesturing lightly with his hands, he began to explain what little that he understood about Port and the other worlds. "It seems like when you're here, time doesn't continue on without you. You just go back to where you were before without anything having changed."

Tapping the side of his face, he hummed just a little as he knew what was the confusing part. "But memories of Port will be gone. It'll be like you never left. Literally." That was what was bothering him a bit. If he decided to go back to Inaba, what would happen? He would not remember any of the friends that he had made? He wouldn't remember any of the things that he had gone through?

"Anyway, I think that they're going to be fine."

[leaderly]

Souji listened thoughtfully, the smile now gone from his face as he tossed in the carrots and water. He leaned back against the counter, now fully facing Yosuke. All of this? All of these memories just...gone?

"How do you know that though? If your memories are erased, how could anyone even tell you what happened if they were sent home?"

He looked down for a bit in thought, then nodded.

"Yeah." Souji trusted the Investigation Team unlike anyone else he's ever met before. They were strong, with or without him leading.

[outbursting]

"Well, when they come back, the memories return... then they know that they didn't know anything while there." His shoulders gave a little shrug. It made him wonder about the idea that Rin was onto something. The idea that the Core was doing something to memories or not. He let out a little sigh, but decided that it was best to let that go, too. If he kept second-guessing himself about what was real and what wasn't, he was just going to end up making himself constantly paranoid

[leaderly]

While Yosuke was talking, Souji added the potatoes and spices to the pan, and gave the curry a quick stir. At what Yosuke was saying, he stopped stirring to look at the other, blinked in confusion and put the wooden spoon off to the side. He again turned to fully face Yosuke, leaning against the counter.

He had a couple of questions about the Core, but what the other was saying sounded more important at the moment. His questions could wait. He nodded slowly, a slight frown on his face, noticing how serious and seemingly uncomfortable the other was.

"Tell me as much as you want to tell me," is what he said, but he wanted to know everything. What could he have to say that was making him act this way so suddenly?

[outbursting]

Where to start now?

He held his chin for a moment as he tried to think of what he should begin with. "You know, I really might be from another world from where you are." Yosuke had talked about this a bit before, but he just couldn't let it go. So, he was not really the same Yosuke that this Souji knew. He suddenly wasn't able to make eye-contact.

"I mean, I mean, you know..." Letting out a frustrated sound, he just decided that he wouldn't keep stumbling over his words. "...it's hard to stare a you, man, and think that we might not be from the same world. But we did have the same experiences with each other, right?"

[leaderly]

Souji let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.

"Well...I've thought about that before."

He placed a hand on his hip as he slowly said, "...You know that I can't guarantee that we've had the same experiences. We can sit around and compare them all day, trying to find differences."

He paused.

"Does it bother you a lot?"

[outbursting]

One of his feet rubbed against the other awkwardly, before he tucked them behind either end of the chair. He wasn't sure if he wanted to sit around all day to just talked about the differences in what they had experienced. It was just not something that he was ready to do -- didn't even want to do it with Kanji.

He shook his head at the offering. "I guess that it does. I mean--" Yosuke rubbed his nose, just needing to do something with his hands. "--you said I didn't let you down. That meant a lot to me, man. It still means a lot to me."

A beat. "But I can't help feeling like one day... I might let you down." There was an awkward smile tossed in, like he was trying to laugh about these concerns. "'Cause I might not be your Yosuke."

[leaderly]

Souji knew that Yosuke took what he said pretty seriously, but hearing him admit it like that made it seem more real. He felt an odd sort of clutching at his chest that he knew wasn't because of the Pull. It was...almost a sort of guilt that Yosuke put so much into his words.

He looked straight at the other, replying quietly, "You're still yourself." These words echoed somewhere in his memory. He had said them to Yosuke after facing his Shadow. His Shadow was just another part of Yosuke, and Souji had accepted that side of him without issue. He didn't understand why a few possible differences that may not even exist between their worlds would bother his best friend so much.