Who:
leaderly and
outburstingWhen: 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!
(
Mystery Food X: Revamped to be edible! )
"Hey, man, there's like a lot I have to talk to you about, but I think it's best to do it in like parts." Yosuke decided to start off with saying that rather than just start in on what it was that he wanted to say. "I mean, this is all a lot to take in right now, so if you need more time before more is given ... just lemme know."
Scratching the side of his neck awkwardly, he just wasn't sure where to start, but knew that he had to do that first. His leader was someone that he idolized -- who didn't, though? -- but that didn't mean that he could just keep piling stuff on them and expecting them to always be able to take it. Right?
Reply
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?
Reply
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?"
Reply
"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?"
Reply
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."
Reply
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.
Reply
"How is it that you always know what to say, man?" He smiled weakly, before letting out a soft laugh. "And you best start checking what you're cooking or we really will have Mystery Food X."
Reply
"Will it bother you if there are differences though?" Obviously Yosuke had been stewing in this for a bit. One sentence of his wasn't going to clear away all that troubled the other about this subject.
At Yosuke's prompting, he laughed a little, despite the seriousness of the conversation and checked the pan; he was glad he did, because it was right about time to start making the roux, which he began to do in a separate pot. Once he had all the ingredients in the second pot, he began to stir, looking over at Yosuke, watching him carefully.
Reply
Yosuke looked up finally, happy that Souji was mostly focusing on cooking. Or at least, that was what he was telling himself so that he wasn't worrying their leader too much. His shoulders gave another shrug, then chastised himself about it. He really needed to stop shrugging.
"I mean, it's like, I dunno... the idea that there's a person that's me and isn't me. I'd feel like I was their Shadow or something." His lips pressed together for a moment, then. "Kanji -- the Kanji before -- said that he didn't see me that way ... that he would vouch for me when we got back, but the back that I'd be would there really be another Yosuke there?"
Reply
"Siren's Port really starts to make you think about the multiple universes and timelines theory," he mused as he continued to stir. When the roux/water mixture was smooth, he dumped that into the first pot with all of the meat and vegetables in it, stirring.
He sighed a little. "I understand what you're saying but...there's not really much you can do about it though. Has there ever been a case where two of the same people from different universes or timelines were together here at the same time?"
Souji lowered the heat, letting the curry simmer a little longer. The rice that had been cooking on the back burner seemed to be done, so he turned it off of the heat.
Reply
"I haven't hear of that, no." A beat. "Guess the world would just implode if that happened, or something. But I dunno, man, if I came back with you ... would that mean that Yosuke would be negated so I could live there?" Now, that was a rather depressing thought. He really also needed to stop thinking of himself as that one and this one. Hadn't Souji just said that he was himself.
"Sorry, man. That's not helping much of anything." He sighed long, hard. "I am me. That's just how it is. I'm me. There isn't any other one but me. So that's it. That's all that I have to accept, right?"
Reply
Looking up from the stove, his plate full in hand, he said, "If it's never happened before, maybe the Core is incapable of bringing two of the same person here at once." He stood in front of his chair, forgetting to sit down right away as he thought. Without looking at the other, he also said, "We also might not have control of where we go after this--together or separately." Souji finally remembered to sit down and got himself situated in his seat.
He looked up at Yosuke, shaking his head a bit. "You don't have to apologize, especially since it's been bothering you. I wish I knew more to help, but for now, just know that you're...just Yosuke." He nodded as he said this, almost affirming his thoughts to himself.
Reply
Yosuke had been watching him since that Souji mentioned it, but nothing really came out of it. Adachi didn't do anything other than be that same bumbling detective, until the day that he disappeared from the City. Unless, he was hiding out somewhere, but that seemed just weird. "Anyway, I just have to keep reminding myself of that ... it's about as hard as it is to keep thinking of that Shadow as me. I know I accepted it, but it did take me awhile to completely accept it."
It was a bit of a fishing expedition to see if Souji had that memory of all the talks that the two of them had riverside and throughout Inaba.
Reply
Souji understood what the other was talking about and yet he couldn't be bothered with it. There had been another him before now and while he didn't know much about what he was like, he knew that that Souji was him and that if he was different because of something different that happened in his timeline, that meant he was capable of acting that way too. No matter how he looked at the situation, he knew that other Souji was a part of him and would accept that fact.
Souji stopped playing around with his curry for a second, eyes going back up to Yosuke (his eyes had unfocused while he was thinking), now with a bit of realization in them.
"Does this have to do with when I was here last time?" It was his other self that had said what was bothering Yosuke, and though he had said that Yosuke had never let him down and that he accepted his other selves (wherever they may be in time or space), he wasn't quite sure how to rationalize what his other self had said.
Reply
His gaze focused on the surface of the table. There were a lot of things that were still unclear in his head, but he still felt like that fog was clearing. Everything that's happened and finally feeling like maybe he's found himself a stable place to be. Looking up, he did jerk back just a little to see that Souji was looking at him -- definitely was not expecting that.
"Yeah, it does." Little awkward to be talking about Souji about himself, or not really himself. "I don't know why he didn't trust me like you do. It seemed like I just wasn't able to be really be there for him." A beat. He wondered if it had anything to do with how long that the other Souji was in Port before he came or not.
Reply
"Didn't...trust you?" he asked incredulously. "You told me he had said you had let him down but--" he trailed off.
Reply
Leave a comment