Day 97, Noon

[mazokubelle]

It took Yuuri a moment to realize anything was different. He’d been walking down an unfamiliar corridor in the local noble’s castle, balanced carefully on his special high-heeled shoes. His mother had gone all-out in dressing him up for the ball, even though he (or she, as the invitation read) had only been invited as a formality, so that the lord

Comments

[theheatinside]

Wolfram had been laying low, but it seemed the coast was clear after a few days, and nothing going awry. He began to make gradual appearances through the castle - meals and baths and steadily taking up his usual duties. He had been out drilling his men all morning, in fact, and was now on his way in for a mid-day meal when he spotted a strange site : a strange young woman.

He stopped to observe her from a distance. With the near-constant arrival of doubles, one could never be too careful. She looked somewhat familiar, but from where he was he couldn’t quite place her. It was clear, after a moment, that she didn’t belong. She looked anxious, and he took pity on her.

He started across the space between at a brisk pace, and called, “Excuse me.” As he drew near, he realized what it was that was so familiar about her. He stopped dead in his tracks. “…Yuuri?”

[mazokubelle]

He inhaled sharply when he heard someone call out to him, and looked at the approaching boy with dread. Those features were definitely those of a pure Mazoku, but he was dressed in formal attire. It was an unusual sight. Just what kind of backwards place had he stumbled into?

Hearing his name left him absolutely dumbfounded. He stiffened up, his mouth hanging open. Shifting awkwardly, he nodded with a brief jerk of his head. "Do I... know you?" he practically whispered, in his softest tone.

[theheatinside]

Wolfram wanted to snap that of course he knew him! But he clamped down on that reaction before the words could fly out. Warning bells were going off all over the place. (And he was feeling red in the face for various reasons. Why on earth was Yuuri dressed up like this? Had his mother or Yozak put him up to it? And had anyone else seen him like this? He wanted to snatch his arm and drag him out of sight.)

But more to the point: "You don't know me?" he asked.

[mazokubelle]

This boy was making him very uncomfortable. He cursed his luck that he had to have been all dressed up for the stupid event before this happened. If he was a noble, the stranger might not be particularly fit, but with these heels Yuuri probably still couldn't outrun him. Regardless, he started taking a few cautious steps backwards to put some extra distance between them, just in case he had to try.

His mouth clamped shut, his shook his head slowly as an answer while he backed away.

[theheatinside]

Once the fire was dispelled and Wolf was aware of them, Wolfram felt it was safe to approach, so he did just that. He smiled at Yuuri, hoping to put her at ease. The last thing he wanted was for Yuuri - any Yuuri - to be afraid or uncomfortable around him. “Yuuri is newly arrived here,” he explained. “I thought she might like to meet another double like herself.

“I explained what I could.” And he felt he did an adequate job. “But I saw you, and I thought it might help.” He wasn’t a double himself, so he didn’t have any personal experience with living in on a world that was not his own. Perhaps speaking to someone who had already been through the process would smooth things over.

[wolf_kkm]

Wolf couldn’t explain it, but he’d known somehow there was something different. There was a specific feeling he got when he was near the King. At least Wolfram seemed a lot calmer than he when they were dealing with the situation in Bielfeld. He reached over to a bench and picked up his button down shirt to shrug into it without a word of apology on his state. “I see.” His eyes still danced with fire but the magic was slowly dissipating. He’d been here a long time now, a month and a half? He’d lost count. He remembered how confusing it was at first.

“A lot of people come from different places. My world is ravaged by war. This one is at peace. You’ll find everything similar... but very different.”

He glanced between Wolfram and /her/ with a slight smirk. He indicated himself then Wolfram. “We have similar histories and personality, but our paths went two different ways at a certain point due to world events.”

[mazokubelle]

Yuuri followed shyly after Wolfram. He wasn't really used to someone with the beautiful features of a Mazoku walking around smiling at people, and it made him feel kind of funny and embarrassed. Nevermind that the other one had been shirtless. He kept his eyes down, not looking much at either of them, listening.

"I see..." It was still weird to think about. He was really worried about the idea of this world's Yuuri. Oh no, was there a Yuuri in every world? His head was spinning a little. Hopefully at least one of them was female. Maybe that could happen. "I don't think this world's Yuuri and I have too much in common, if he's the King..." Even though he was curious about that, he didn't want the conversation to be about him at all. Either him. So he continued, "Mazoku are... free, in your world, too?" he looked from one Wolfram to the other fleetingly before settling on staring at his hands, which were folded nervously in front of him.

[theheatinside]

Wolfram nodded along with Wolf, agreeing with his explanation. Though he wondered at the smirk, and gave his double a questioning look. He chose not to comment on it, however.

He shook head his with a fond kind of expression. “You wouldn’t know he’s a king by the way he behaves.” But so far, he didn’t see much in common between this Yuuri and the king aside from the striking similarity in looks.

“Of course we’re free.” He looked over at Wolf, wondering if the question was directed at him instead.