[open]

[thegoofball]

Who: Lance & OPEN
When: Late April
What: Settling in, being a nuisance, et cetera.
Where: All over - he’s On The Move.

a; in the far shore

[One of the first thing Lance does, after settling in at Minerva’s temple, is explore the place. He’s sure he’s allowed to - Hifumi won’t mind! And what’s a better way to learn the ropes than to be out there? He wanders through every district, often wearing the distinct armor he woke up with. Sure, he doesn’t know the significance of it, but...it might be a good idea to be protected?

(He has the assumption monsters are common. He might be disappointed, eventually.)

It comes in handy, though, when it comes to exploring the abandoned temples. He clambers up the ruins like a particularly spritely goat, and doesn’t seem to be bothered by all the vines and debris. In fact, if someone runs across him when he’s exploring an old, abandoned temple, they might even hear him laughing like a kid in a candy store.

Otherwise, he’ll just grin and wink at anyone he passes by. Maybe he’ll even throw in a finger gun, if you’re lucky.]

b; in the near shore
Oh, come on.

[Guess who’s in Die Jagd? It’s this guy, and he doesn’t look anywhere near impressed with the surroundings.]

That’s definitely fake. You see this, right? [He says to you, fellow patron.] That looks so cheap - there’s no way that’s real!

[Do you agree with him or not?]

c; wildcard
[Feel free to run into Lance wherever your heart desires! If you want to hash out plans, feel free to poke me at daintily or on discord at nickknack#8156!]

Comments

a!

[yousaytron]

[Setting different routes for a daily jog always keeps things exciting! It's gotten pretty hard to avoid running across abandoned temples by this point, but there's really no point in avoiding most of them in the first place, they tend to make for nice, quiet scenery.

Nice. Quiet. That's the goal.

There's someone playing around here today. Normally he wouldn't think twice about ignoring it and continuing on his way, but whoever it is has a laugh that sounds so familiar that he can't stop himself from saying something.]

I hope you're not messing around too much in there.

[Whoever 'you' may be.]

[thegoofball]

[The voice gets Lance to pause, and he looks over from where he's crouched on a crumbling wall.

Geez. A mullet, in this day and age?

Lance purses his lips, before raising eyebrow.]

What are you, the fun police?

[yousaytron]

[Yes.]


[But that aside, Keith practically bristles when Lance appears, suddenly at a loss for how to respond. Lance? Really? Again?

He told himself, if he ever got the chance to talk to him again, he'd try and get off on a better foot, but it looks like there's already a stumble in that plan. Past that, he has absolutely no idea if this is a Lance that remembers him or not. That reaction, it's hardly enough to go on.

Can he salvage this? Let's... let's at least try.]

Some of these abandoned temples can be dangerous. [Nice, even, measured.] You wouldn't want to upset your partner by getting yourself in trouble, would you?

[thegoofball]

[Figures.]

I'm fine!

[He has not suffered any injury at all! He's not incompetent, geez.]

Besides, I think Hifumi would understand wanting a little adventure.

[Is exploring a bunch of abandoned buildings really an adventure? It's not not an adventure, but it's kind of...low on the rating.]

[yousaytron]

[Sometimes you can't predict this place! There have been volcanic eruptions! Kidnappings! He's pretty sure there's an enormous bees nest somewhere??

But harping on it too much would be hypocritical - he too is out here on his own, why should he be chiding someone else over it? Someone who, he's fairly sure, thinks he's a total stranger. That sure isn't the way to build a solid relationship!]

Just as long as you keep an eye out for anything weird. If you don't know your way around, it'd be pretty easy to get lost.

[thegoofball]

[Psshhh. That's all small stuff. Lance can handle small stuff.

(He really can't, but he likes to think he can.)

And fortunately - unfortunately? who can say - he doesn't know what's on Keith's mind, so he doesn't know he's trying to get along with him.]

I think I can handle a bit of wandering around. What's the worst that could happen? I run into you?

[yousaytron]

[Wow.

He'll just. Bite his tongue on that for now, but his patience is already running thin.]

Just a piece of advice from someone who's been here for a while. Take it or leave it, I don't really care.

[Well.]

[thegoofball]

[He's very, very good at trying people's patience. It's one of his best skills!]

Oh, yeah? Kinda seems like you care! [Gee, I wonder why?

But Lance slides down to more level ground, wiping himself clean.]

How long have you been here?

[yousaytron]

[Should... should he be acting like he cares a little less? Treading this kind of territory with someone that you know you've known, but who doesn't know you know them or remember you at all is complicated.

He has to pause for a second at the question, how long has it been now?] Over a year. [Dang.]

[thegoofball]

[It's a mystery, but Lance is quick to drop the subject of concern immediately. He's not really bothered if this guy cares or not, and he's more concerned with the answer to his question.

He lets out a low whistle.]

That's a pretty long time, dude.

[yousaytron]

[In the grand scheme of things, perhaps not so long, but he knows that he'd be hard pressed to find many other shinki who have been around longer.]

Well, with any luck, that number's only going to go up. [But, back to Lance,] You must still be pretty new, right?

[thegoofball]

[It's definitely much longer than Lance's scant few days of being here, so it's not like he can really say much about it.]

Oh yeah? [Why wouldn't it go up?] And you could say that.

[Just answer the question, Lance.]

[yousaytron]

[He knows he's right, or at least sincerely hopes someone would have told him earlier if Lance had shown back up before now, so pressing him for a more, uh, precise answer isn't really a priority.]

Yeah. I don't intend on disappearing any time soon. [Here, he gives a pointed look at the abandoned temples Lance had just been exploring. You know. How folks just disappear from here sometimes. Leaving behind cool and mysterious ruins. It's fine.]

[thegoofball]

[You never know! Maybe people are hiding things from you!!

Except Lance would tell him the truth, if pressed, or admit to his newness himself, so it's kind of a moot point.]

What, it's not like this happened recently. [Right? This stuff looks ancient, though...

Hmm. This is a conundrum.]

[yousaytron]

[Well...]

Some of it's always been like this, as far as I remember. [So, yeah, probably ancient, but on the other hand,] This kind of thing can happen when a god disappears, too. Overnight, just... [And here, he gestures out toward the scenery. Ruins.]

[thegoofball]

[What!!!]

How does stuff like this just happen? Magic? Is it magic? I bet it's magic.

[Duh. Of course it's magic.]

[yousaytron]

[It's your lucky day, because he doesn't have any better explanation than that guess!]

Something like that, I think. [Not that he's going to just give him the win that easily!!] No one's really figured it out for sure, as far as I know.

[thegoofball]

[He knew it. He's a genius.]

Well, if nobody's figured it out, guess it doesn't matter that much. [Lance...] Or they're not trying hard enough.

[yousaytron]

[Lance.]

I mean, with how chaotic it can make things, I wouldn't say it 'doesn't matter much'. [But you do you, he guesses?] The point is, that not all of these abandoned temples are nearly as old as they look.

[thegoofball]

[Keith.]

Yeah, yeah, but isn't showing up here chaotic enough on it's own? It's a whole different way of life we're expected to deal with! [He waves his arms.]

[yousaytron]

[Lance.]

Well, yeah. [Was he implying it isn't?] That's a completely different kind of chaotic, though. This place can at least predict and try and accommodate us showing up.

[thegoofball]

I guess so. [He sounds unconvinced.] But doesn't that mean it'd know when we're leaving this place?

[yousaytron]

[You'd think that, but...]

If they do, then they're playing dumb about it. [And given how volatile some of the reactions to various people disappearing have been, sitting on a secret like that would be downright foolish.] No one's been able to shake any answers out of anyone so far, and Amaterasu herself said she has nothing to do with the disappearances either.

[thegoofball]

[Lance sighs - exaggerated and over the top.]

Well, I guess that's that. Bet you're not going to be leaving any time soon, though.

[Who just says things like this...]

[yousaytron]

Not planning on it.

[It feels kind of bad that he has to spin it like that instead of just a straight 'nope', but with how unreliable heaven can be, those kinds of absolutes can feel... dishonest.]

I've got plenty of people here I don't want to abandon.