halflived | second | voice + action

[The day starts like any other since he started working at Seventh Heaven a month back: go in, open up and prepare what he has to, make the food for the morning customers. Aleos has learned to take it all in stride, and once the number of people starts to dwindle down he takes time to rest against the counter, fiddling with his journal. There was something that had been bothering him since before he arrived, and now... It's a good time as any to ask, isn't it? So he takes a few deep breaths and starts to speak, hoping he doesn't sound too much look a fool.]

voice.

What does a name mean to you? Almost everyone has them, but it's not exactly uncommon to go by a nickname, or another name altogether. The latter part of the group interests me a little more—why did you not keep your original name?

... Why didn't you change your name? [He must sound so stupid with this, and he shakes his head a little in frustration. Public speaking wasn't his strongest suit.]

And if you've had enough hearing about that, I guess I'll take the time to ask about a fighting instructor, or partner. Self-defense, firearms and a little swordsmanship, that's what I know. But I'm not calling myself an experienced fighter.

[That should be good enough. Once he's received some answers and dealt with anyone lingering in the restaurant as his shift ends, he'll be heading out to go mill about the battle dome, observing anyone using the rooms but not in a hurry to go in himself, if at all.]

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Most of what I want to know, no one's really answered yet. Like where this is.

[She pauses.] And I don't mean the name. [She means more that she still doesn't know whether to believe all this talk about twilight zone alternate dimensions, so what does that leave?]

Celebrations would vary though, wouldn't they? The calender system used here is not like my world in many ways, too. Too many days in a week. [Freyjadour knew that the holidays and weekdays here seemed to coincide with a calender used in one of the worlds represented here though. He pauses for a moment, thinking back. It was a bit hard to remember such a small detail so far back, but that day had been memorable enough--]

You were introduced to me as Aleos Sadres. But your brother was the one who introduced you.

I've been told it was, but it's pretty new knowledge to me. [He shifts around a bit uncomfortably, though it doesn't have anything to do with Prim fortunately.]

[At first he's confused when she seems to move out of the picture, then blushes only just slightly at not only being shown her flank with no preamble, but that she was showing him something that sounded inherently significant and personal. Such marks did exist to a degree in his world.]

That sounds... I'm not sure what to say. Meaningful. How long ago was that?

There is no such thing as thinking too much. Unless it comes to riddles or puzzles, that is. It only shows you are a cautious, careful individual and one cannot put fault or blame into such traits. Most of the time at least.

{ But Addie can get behind presenting oneself in a whole new way when no one knows you. It's kind of what she does as a job in her gang. } New beginnings, new chapters into our book of adventures and tales. They certainly are appealing to those who wish to change their ways or forge a new path for their own sake.

[Somehow that part made a bit more sense than the rest had.]

So you're saying to just ho out and do everything?

[He's polite by default, though he wouldn't mind calling her by that title if he knew she preferred it.]

Not exactly, unless you really want to. People just call me by my first name or surname.

So it would seem, but then you get celebrations like Christmas that are big enough to warrant the Malnosso to have everyone celebrate it. The calendar from my world is a bit different, but it sort of seems like the dates more or less match. [From what he had studied so far anyway, though for having been inside and away from people so much of the time he didn't think he was learning as much as he should have.

The mention of his name, however, makes him fall quiet again.] ... What did my brother say?

Alright, Aleos it is, then.

[If nothing else, her attitude was in sharp contrast to his own at the moment. Magdalen had done what he could to teach her manners, but getting it all to stick was another matter entirely.]

By the way...why did you bring up nicknames in the first place? Did you get stuck with one you don't like?

Just a few years ago. [ She turns back around so her face is on the screen again. ] It's one of the most important moments of a pony's life! It's too bad humans don't have one.

It's okay. You wouldn't want to ask for that, trust me. It's pretty hard to offend me. [ Unless you're sexist. Then you wouldn't even get a warning, tbh. You'd just get two matching shiny spears in your wings. ]

What is your name, for that matter?

From what I am able to guess, the Malnosso prefer holidays that seem to be similarly celebrated in many worlds.

[He pauses once more, trying to remember...] He introduced you as such, and told me your age. That you were fourteen at the time.

That is what I have been described as before, though I suppose I'll take your take on it to heart. [Because there had been more than enough things in his past warranting the cautious nature he had developed over the years.]

And they certainly are, but the chapters before would still affect this current one whether we want it to or not. Each one builds upon the other, after all. We can only rely on our ability to hide and keep secrets if we choose to start so fresh.

[If he were sexist he would have been speared by some of his friends long ago. Very painfully.]

To be honest, you do seem... very capable, to me. In a way that reminds me of a friend back home.

Maybe it's a way of getting us to be more compliant. [Always questioning, always doubting. It's what he does.]

... So almost a year ago for me, before getting here. I wonder, if that's the name he introduced me with, is it the one I should keep with others?

I hear it's because we haven't been allowed to know any of that yet. Either that or there are people within this enclosure who aren't speaking up.

[There's a brief pause before he speaks again.] Is it so strange to believe we are in a different world?

... Do you want the shortened version I've been called all my life, or the real thing I didn't even know was a thing? [That came out more confusing than he meant it to, so he smiles a bit apologetically.]

Well in a way they do? There are some cultures that when a person reaches a certain age or performs a rite, receives a mark that would commemorate that occasion. Though not a lot of people proclaim those things openly where I am from.

[He had a brief stage in his childhood where he was like that, and would actually be able to relate if she said anything about it.]

It's not so much that I don't like it...

Oh, it's strange alright. I'm just trying to decide whether it's the sort of strange you find on Sick Sad World, or the sort of strange where I start hoping this is all in my head.

[It was a surprise! Kind of. For Pearl it definitely was.]

Her bodyguards told us before they were sucked into the Distortion World.

Capable is my middle name, kinda. Out of my team I'm on at home, I'm kinda known as the person that keeps the rest of the team on track since they're a little odd. [ Tenten is asking the great gods of Luceti to make sure he's never heard of Might Guy or Rock Lee. ]

[Fortunately he has not! ... Yet.]

I'd like to say that I'm that person in my own group, but... [Guess who loses his head a bit too easily?]

... Come again? [That sounded very strange, to put it lightly.

He said it so casually, too...]

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