[open] The Reception Bureau

[siglen_mods]

It's a nice day in the Commons, and it seems plenty of people are out and about. The sculpted front of the Reception Bureau is perhaps even more welcoming in the sunlight. Those lucky few who arrived in Siglen today will have been shuffled toward that pleasant facade by one helpful native or another. Inside, they will have found equally pleasant

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[knightnomore]

Yuri stood outside the Reception Bureau, staring out at the town of Siglen, just a little bit at a loss. The welcoming committee there had just thrown a lot of information at him all at once, not to mention the pile of manuals and pamphlets he had in his hand, yet to be opened. Really, they were nice enough people, but they could have cut down on the papers. It seemed like he had a kind of ridiculous stack of things to read. Too bad Estelle wasn’t there. She’d just zip through all of it and tell him if there was anything really important.

...but she wasn't there, was she? And she probably wasn't going to be.

For a moment, what was left of his smile faded from his face completely.

“Estelle...” He muttered softly. He didn’t think anybody heard that, but then he wasn’t paying too much attention to whether anyone might have been listening, either.

[wunderweapons]

Yeager was thinking, his eyes drifted from right to left and back and he bit the inside of his cheek. "Do you recall what happened the last time you saw me?"

This was interesting...

[knightnomore]

Somehow, Yeager didn't seem any less confused than he was.

"We were in Zaude. We fought. You died." The words were almost hesitant, though he didn't exactly sound unsure of them. That was what happened. But... something very weird was going on here. "What about you? What's the last thing you remember?"

[wunderweapons]

Yeager tilted his chin up, the only sign of slight confusion. Typically he was the mastermind of all plans. This, however, was out of his control and that made him distinctly uncomfortable. As a matter of fact, this was almost irritating. "I don't recall Zaude. As I said, I was jumping out a window last I knew. Hardly in Zaude and no where near my death."

Where were the girls? If he'd died... Yeager didn't want to know how they handled that.

[knightnomore]

Honestly, Yuri was having a similar feeling about the whole thing. How was that even possible?

"What window? Where? When?" If Yeager wasn't so clearly standing there in front of him and talking to him, he would say the man was just toying with him. And maybe he still was to some extent, but the fact that this Yeager hadn't died at Zaude was at least clear enough.

[wunderweapons]

"The Manor of the Wicked, my boy. Don't you remember?" Had something eaten Yuri's brain?

The stray thought hit Yeager that this wasn't Yuri at all. Perhaps this was all some sort of ploy. If he would have had a heart beat, Yeager's pulse would have risen. Instead he simply arched an eyebrow and remained calm on the outside.

"Hae you seen my girls?" He hoped that the worry didn't slip through his voice.

[knightnomore]

Why should Yuri remember Yeager jumping out of the--wait. "When Don Whitehorse was there?" That was... a while ago. But Yeager was alive then, he'd give him that. Of course, it didn't seem possible for him to have come here then and still have been around for everything else Yuri remembered.

As for that thought about this being a ploy, it had occurred to Yuri a while ago, in reverse. He just couldn't think of anyone who would be inclined to confuse him by disguising themselves as Yeager other than, well, Yeager.

"I haven't seen them here, if that's what you're asking. They're still back in our world." And alive, at least, by implication of him using the present tense. The worry hadn't been obvious in his voice, but the fact that he asked at all probably said something.

[wunderweapons]

"When else?" Yeager didn't like the idea that there wasn't a way to get home to his responsibilities. He didn't like that at all. Yuri looked entirely lost as well, so this wasn't a setup. He didn't think Yuri was capable of lying so well that Yeager wouldn't be able to see through it. That, sadly, meant that they were both stuck, away from home, and together.

"So you are telling me that you recall my death, an event I, myself do not recall. Thus meaning that you're from a time past mine. And that, of course, makes no sense at all."

[knightnomore]

"You're telling me." He sighed slightly. Yeager might have been underestimating Yuri's acting abilities there, but it was an accurate enough assessment of their current situation, at least. And Yuri knew Yeager could lie with the best of them, but he didn't think he was now. The man seemed on edge, a little disturbed by all this, and that wasn't anything Yuri had seen before. If it was true, though, why shouldn't he be?

Of course, there was still the possibility that this was someone doing an absolutely fantastic job of imitating Yeager, but seeing as they were both already in some alternate dimension, and that he thought of Yeager as a dead man, that actually managed to make even less sense. If someone wanted to lull him into a false sense of security by passing themselves off as someone he knew, Yeager certainly wasn't the best choice.

But if they came from different times, and Yuri remembered things Yeager didn't, how was that even possible? Really, "makes no sense at all" seemed like an understatement.