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[armati]

arthur crowe

......

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3/6

[scythegun]

[Arthur and Jaeger planned to talk more, and now's a good time, before things get crazy again. Jaeger's texted Arthur the address of the small cafe; it's a nice place, but the important part is that it's quiet and empty at this time of day. Anything they have to say won't be overheard, and it's in a nice location that's public enough not to be a problem.

Not that Jaeger thinks Arthur will have any issues with anything like that. It's more that he's doing it just to be cautious. From the sound of it, Arthur's memories haven't been great, and Jaeger's not sure he wants to know just what they are. He's here anyway though, because he needs to know whether Arthur's actually Alexei or not.

(He's definitely Alexei, and it's only optimism that keeps Jaeger thinking that maybe he isn't.)

He's already got a drink (something sweet and caffeinated, of course) and he's messing around on his phone while he waits. He's not in any rush to get back to the store, and it's not like it's even the exact time yet, he's just here early.]

[armati]

[Arthur will show up slightly before the appointed time, if only so he can order something for himself and settle a bit; he's not surprised that Jaeger is here already, however - he spots the guy easily, tipping his head a bit in acknowledgement before putting his order in and waiting for it to come up.

Granted, he's looking a bit different now; the dark auburn of his hair has gone rather strikingly silver, though it remains long and pulled back, as usual.

The drink he gets is approximately as dark and bitter as Satan's soul and likely has way too many shots of pure goddamn caffeine in it, because such is his life, really; when he joins Jaeger he settles easily across from him. He's still dressed simply in plain dark clothes; apparently he's still one for weird jewelry, however, seeing as he's got what looks like a hand-carved wooden pendant on a leather cord around his neck.]

I didn't mean to keep you waiting.

[scythegun]

[Ah. Good to know he got the hair color back before the hairstyle... Anyway, the pendant is a little strange, but he doesn't think too much of it and instead waves a hand when Arthur joins him.]

No, no, you didn't! I got here a little earlier than I planned, that's all!

How have you been doing? I see you've received a change in hair color from Retrospec.

[It doesn't look bad or anything, and it's not like you have to deal with a ridiculous hairstyle like his. (He kind of likes it now, shhh.)]

[armati]

It's been a bit strange to get used to, but it isn't terrible; it's no worse than dyeing it. Give me a week or so; this only happened two days ago.

[So it's still kind of jarring in the mirror, but he'll be over it in time.]

Otherwise I've been well enough. And yourself...?

[scythegun]

It took me a little while to get used to mine as well, but I'm sure you'll be fine in time!

[He nods a bit at the question.]

I've been fine! It's been surprisingly peaceful lately, so we'll see how things go up north.

[Some part of him is looking forward to it, but that's not really something he's going to dwell on.]

[armati]

I'm likely going to stay near the town itself, assisting with evacuations and the like. I'm not well-suited to exploration.

[scythegun]

That's fair. It'll be very useful to have people assisting with that. With any luck, I'll be able to help with it as well, once I'm done exploring.

[armati]

Good luck to you, regarding that.

[scythegun]

Thank you!

[...Well, anyway...]

Did you still want to talk about whatever it was my past life thought he was doing?

[armati]

Yes, if you wouldn't mind.

[It's better to know, isn't it?]

[scythegun]

Of course. I don't mind it any, though I suspect part of that is just because what I've remembered is so baffling.

I told you that my past life came up with a complicated plan all to kill someone. The man I wanted dead was the leader of the guilds. I was running a guild at the time, and I believe I saw him as standing in the way of my goals - which ultimately were to make a profit on the high tensions between the Empire and the guilds. I tried quite a few times to push them closer to war, though ultimately I never succeeded at that.

I did succeed at getting that man killed. I'm not sure how I felt about it after, but I did respect the man.

[You can probably see how it was kind of weird to remember all of that.]

[armati]

[...wow.]

I'm sorry. That sounds...well, "unpleasant" is something of an understatement.

[scythegun]

Oh, it certainly is. The memories themselves are mostly lacking in any sort of emotion, which is something of a good thing, I suppose. Whatever I was doing in my past life, I didn't really feel much about it.

3/19

[scythegun]

[Jaeger has been a little reluctant to leave his husband's side since the incident in the factory up north, but he's been worried about Arthur. It took a little bit for him to finally decide to see Arthur in person, but he doubts the meeting will be too long and his husband does seem to be doing better now. He'll probably spend most of the day working on the puzzle anyway...

So he's arranged to meet Arthur in the same cafe. Even though there's far less of a reason to do so now, it's at least familiar. He's already there, having arrived a bit early once again, and like last time, he's got something entirely too sweet and caffeinated. He doesn't mind waiting, and he'll be messing around on his phone until Arthur's here.]

[armati]

[It's nice to be back in civilization again - not that the town at Magatus isn't, but it's kind of been in a state of all hell breaking loose since he got there, and he's here for a while before...well, going back and trying again, because this is just what his life looks like at the moment.

The invitation from Jaeger is surprising, but not unwelcome; he'll arrive at the appointed time, the coffee he gets is dark and bitter and again probably has entirely too much caffeine, but that's fine. He's wearing that pendant again; otherwise, everything seems rather normal.]

Were you waiting long...?

[scythegun]

No, not at all! I just ended up here a bit earlier than expected, that's all!

[He waves it off with a laugh.]

How have you been doing?

[armati]

Well enough - I've been busy out at Magatus for some time, and I plan on going back soon. And yourself...? You said you were going to be doing some exploration out there, did it go well?

[scythegun]

Ah, not exactly. My husband and I stumbled on some things that were quite upsetting; they were a bit too close to his past life and I insisted we come home immediately.

[He almost leaves it at that, but...]

If you do get the urge to go exploring, stay far away from the factory. It's not exactly easy to get to in the first place, but something in there does strange things to your head. It was... incredibly upsetting.

[He shakes his head a bit once that's out there.]

But we're both doing much better now that we're home! We're most likely headed back up to Magatus at some point, but for now we're just taking a breather.

How were things up there for you?

[armati]

The people there aren't very happy with us for trying to convince them to leave, but some of them come with us more easily than others. The efforts are going well, at least; it's just difficult.

I remembered a few things up there, and a few other things since. My past actions - the ones that concerned me so much last time we spoke - make much more sense to me now.

[scythegun]

Ah, do they? That's good, I hope you'll continue to remember things that help. Hopefully that isn't too difficult...?

[armati]

It's like I said then - I've remembered many terrible things. But the person I was then wouldn't have wanted anyone to suffer, and I can't really find much fault with him for that.

I'll be all right, I think.

[scythegun]

I'm glad to hear it. I'm pleased you're doing well! It certainly can be difficult at the start, but you seem to be doing very well with everything!

[armati]

It's difficult, of course. But not impossible.

[Mm.]

I remembered a bit more about my wife; we had a child together, apparently.

[scythegun]

Ah, really? I can imagine it must be a bit odd to remember something like that. How do you feel about it?

[armati]

...It was a good memory. I remembered her telling me that she was pregnant; I was extremely happy about it at the time.

I loved her very much; I wanted to give her the world. I don't feel odd about it at all.