driftfleet | (no subject)

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Who: Zelos Wilder (good end)
Broadcast: Video
Action: Marsiva. From the hospitality deck, but he'll be moving around after!
When: 10/7 Morning!

[Again. Again. Zelos takes a good few minutes looking around before he decides that he's definitely been left behind in some way. Another handful of minutes pass, and he's tapping at the device meant to broadcast. If he's nearly alone up here, then he's just got to find out if there's anyone else out and about somewhere else, right?

Despite the stress he's feeling right now, the image that appears on screen to everyone is pretty upbeat. And pretty cocky, too.]

Yo! Looks like I missed out on the party. There's gotta be someone out there, right?

[He leans in a little closer for effect before sighing and pulling back, both arms raising in a shrug.] This is just my luck. Come on, give me a sign or something!

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[It could have been anyone who was transferred with him. Baroona considers himself lucky that it's Zelos. The one person he felt closest to, the only one that felt steadily reliable-and here he was. Funny, Baroona muses as he draws closer, how relieved he feels knowing that.

When Zelos waves, Baroona waves back with an easy smile that's more genuine than most.] Hey.

[He sighs softly, the tension that he hadn't even realized had been knotting suddenly releasing with their close proximity. Without thinking, Baroona grabs Zelos' hand with his own, pulling him close and patting him hard on the back before pushing away.] I'm glad you're here. You seen anyone else around?

[For a place so large, the emptiness was unsettling. It made him uneasy.]

[The grin doesn't fade as he responds to that hand with a firm grip and a easy lean into the pull. His other free hand pats him, and he lingers before he drops it, finally raising his left hand to remove the glove of his right.]

No one that I recognize yet. There's this chick hanging out over there, but I'd be careful. She doesn't seem too cheery.

[With the glove off, he places the back of his palm to Baroona's forehead, leaning in a little bit to peer at him.]

What about you? See anyone? You're feeling good, right? Not sick again?

[The lean gets an odd look. Shrinking back, Baroona slaps the hand away.]

I'm fine. [Fixes Zelos with a look of complete exasperation.] You're not still freaking about about that, are you? It wasn't a big deal in the first place.

"Not a big deal"?!

[He sighs, but drops his hand and steps back to slide the glove back on. He seemed fine, so he'll let it slide for now.]

Sheesh, you're going to end up giving me an early heart attack or something. You better stay fine.

It was a fever, Zelos. I've had worse.

[He blinks at the gloves, though. As if just noticing. Blinking, he leans forward, hands slipping into his pockets.] You got new gloves. Did they give them to you when you arrived?

[Just a fever? Hardly. He remembers the look on Baroona's face when he told him he was going to die. The defeat and talks of how he felt useless, and how healing wasn't an option. They had gotten through it, but...

He snaps out of it at the question, blinking to his own hands with a curious frown.]

Hm? These aren't new. I just haven't been wearing them for a while since I stopped having to deal with the snow.

Yeah? [Brow knitting in confusion, an uncertain grin pulls at his mouth and doesn't quite go away.] When was that? Last I knew we were still surrounded by it.

[It's not like they ever left Ajna. Except for that one time but he's pretty sure Zelos never came with him.]

Oh... haha, right, right.

[Those distracted words come out by habit rather than any feeling that Baroona won't see right through him. He's learned enough by now, but he's confused. Misaligned memories clash with what he's hearing now. Was he just remembering wrong?

Or was something off here? Baroona seemed surprised that he had his gloves, as well.

It's not the same as the confusion when he'd met Lloyd from ahead of his time, where nothing lined up but it made sense, or even Lloyd from the same time but without those previous memories, where old thoughts lined up exactly. So what...?]

[Baroona's expression falls into something dry and unimpressed. Kicking back, he crosses his arms leans against a convenient wall.]

You're not even trying to convince me. [Frowning, if only briefly, his grip tightens on his own arms.] What's going on, Zelos?

[He frowns a little more seriously, looking at Baroona directly.]

What's the last thing you remember before this place?

[Baroona shrugs.]

An orange team mission. Why? [Could it be a time difference? Could Zelos be from the future, brought home after their mission?] What about you?

[His stomach sinks but things start making a little more sense. This isn't the same-universe Baroona he had known back then, is it? But he still knew him? Was close enough to be friendly with him?

He frowns further, looking far too revealing for himself (as far as Baroona must remember) and upset.]

...Everything with COMPASS was going out of control. I was trying to find you and the others, but I couldn't. That's the last I remember. ...But our last conversation, we were talking about all of it. The Project Head, yourself, my guilt...

You don't know what I'm talking about, do you?

[He listens intently for anything that's remotely familiar but it's no use. His confusion is clear and only growing, subtle signs making way for a clear expression. Eventually, all he can do is shake his head, slow and stiff, shocked in his own way.

His throat feels thick and tight.] ... No.

[Baroona had assumed the time discrepancies were the worst of it but this-knowing each other without knowing at all was somehow so much worse. As if they were both seeing ghosts of a person they used to know.] I'm sorry. [His voice is too soft, too weak. He clears his throat trying to get rid of it and only partially succeeds.]

We were on different teams. Orange and Red. We were... supposed to destroy this planet but... it kept feeling like they were trying to break us. [He tries to swallow and finds it hard to do. Frowning, he continues on anyway.] You had saved me. More than once. They punished you for it. Shut off your life support. [His eyes raise to Zelos', hoping to find some semblance of recognition.] I held you to calm you down-you don't... you don't remember that?

...No. Sorry.

[Reaching over, he rests a hand on Baroona's shoulder and squeezes lightly in an attempt to comfort.]

But it sounds like things weren't too far off. The setting seems completely different, but if we were helping each other out like that... It's the same.

[He hopes that can offer some sort of comfort, but he knows it still won't feel right. It's strange. And while he thinks this is still Baroona, it's still... worrying. Concerning. It's sad that he can't remember the same things.

It's lonelier.]

I can tell you a bit about it if you want to hear, but things got pretty bad for a while.

[Words come slow as the news finally settles and he finds himself teetering on how to feel about it. While it's true, things largely feel the same he can't help but feel that everything's shifted as well. Neither of them are looking at the right person, just who they hope for them to be. It feels wrong and it unsettles him but he can't deny that the hand on his shoulder feels just the same as the ones that healed him. Just as he can't stop his own hand from moving up to clasp it.

Finally, he sighs.] It's not the same... [He speaks with finality, moving up to hold Zelos' gaze firmly.] ... but it's not too different, either.

[His gaze falls down again as his hand slides Zelos' from his shoulder. Calmly, he holds it palm-up in his own hands, running fingers along the veins.] You're just the same as the one I knew. [There just weren't any memories of him.]

... I'd like to know. About the me you knew.

[Watching him trace fingers over his hand like that is a little mesmerizing, but he manages a small smile at the words. He wants to know? That just made it easier to ask, himself. Maybe they were the type of friends that could stay this way no matter the circumstances. That was a little encouraging. That someone like him could have that? It was nice.

He leaves his hand there for Baroona to do what he wants with it.]

Then why don't we trade stories? If these guys think they're going to screw us up by mixing up universes and timelines, they've got another thing coming. [He's still watching their hands for now.]

When we first met, you were trying to attack a speaker at the train station since a voice came from it. I had to get you to stop. [He even snickers a little at the memory, looking up and away finally as he gestures with a free hand.]

Would you rather sit, or take a walk?

[That's not exactly what he wants to hear. To be caught doing something so stupid... Baroona glances away, trying to hide his embarrassment and failing. It's a relief that Zelos looks away before noticing.

He thinks.

Shrinking into his shoulders, he keeps his gaze on the hand until the heat in his cheeks dies down.] Walking's fine.

[Mumbled out, though his decision does leave him in a predicament. He has no idea what to do with this hand. After a moment's hesitation he sucks it up and takes it in his own, tugging Zelos with him down the hall. He's gentle, at least and once his embarrassment fades he slows down. Still can't really meet Zelos' eyes, though.

Attacking a speaker?] When we first met, you groped me.

[He says finally and it's like saying it gives him confidence.] You grabbed my dick after we went running together.

[He goes along with the tug easily, finding it a little endearing, if embarrassing-- but that return story? It slows his steps and he stumbles a bit in his surprise.]

What?! No way! Haha... Why would I do something like that... [He frowns at his own train of thought, looking up to the ceiling as they continue. A free hand scrubs at the back of his head.] ...Seriously, how the hell did that happen?

[Baroona shrugs and the movement only reminds him that they're still holding hands. A bit self-conscious, he lets go, hiding his own in his pockets.]

We were playing chicken. I almost had you beat but then you grabbed me. [He shrugs, digging into his own pocket and pulling out his own pair of Zelos' gloves, tattered and well-worn.] You gave me these too.

Oh. [A long pause in which he finds his hand is free and moves to rest it behind his head with the other.] So basically, I won.

Not really.

[He waves the gloves, giving a small but impish smile.] I got the prize.

[At that, he laughs, breaking his position as they walk once more with a shove.]

Oh, shut up.

[Teasing.] So where were you, anyway? The middle of the snow? Sounds like my crappy luck doesn't end with just my timeline.

[The shove makes his stumble and the stumble makes him laugh, light and brief, before trailing back to Zelos' side. The gloves get tucked back into his pocket.]

It was a planet called Ajna. Completely covered in snow. Days were three days long. It was a pain.

The whole planet was snowy?!

[It sounds like hell. He doesn't know how much Baroona knows about his past, yet again, but he's comfortable. It's hard to separate this one from the last. Much different than himself and the other Zelos here...]

We were in a city called Zelien, for the most part. Uh, population: ghost people. For some reason. On top of that, time and space kept screwing around, and we'd get pulled to other places left and right.

That sounds confusing. Did the ghosts ever do anything?

[Usually he'd dismiss the idea as stupid. But... he was surrounded by actual aliens. He talked to a fucking dragon. All stupid things can exist now.]

NOT ME

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