asgardmeridiem | WELCOME TO ASGARD (part two) [OPEN]

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WELCOME TO ASGARD (part two) [OPEN]

Who: EVERYONE!
What: Getting introduced to the city
When: Day 1, around noon
Where: The castle plaza and the Welcome Halls
Rating: Worksafe -- If this changes, please inform the mods.

[Welcome to the city of Asgard. Now that you've woken up and been given your welcome instructions (as per the FAQ), what will you do? There are a good number of other new arrivals being shown to the gates, and for today the plaza that surrounds the castle is open for mingling. You could also head to your Welcome Hall (details here) and meet your Housemates if you'd like. Whatever you decide to do, have fun getting settled into your new home!]

(ooc note: there will be threads below for the plaza and each House. Mingle and get to know your fellow Travellers! This is a continuations post, but by all means feel free to start new threads.)

[thread links: CASTLE PLAZA | ODIN | THOR | LOKI | SIGYN | HEL | HEIMDALL | FREYR | FREYA | BALDR ]

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[She shakes her head impulsively.] I... [...would never get mad at you, not anymore, not after that, she starts to say, only... That's not quite true, is it? In fact, there's those things that are still bothering her, about his death, the things she can't vocalize now.]

Don't worry, I won't.

[As for pants, it's a good idea, Minato; she absently rubs her thighs, trying to get some warmth back into them -- they feel like frozen meat.]

Maybe I could just grab someone's room. Or trade or whatever.

[ He nods, even though her back is to him, and holds up a pair of pajama pants. His only pair, but they're flannel and warm. If Yukari wants to borrow them, though, she's free to. He turns around and tosses them at her. ]

Put these on if you're cold. There's a bathroom through there. [ He points to the only door not leading to a hallway. ] Or you can use my blankets. [ He glances toward the bed. The suggestion is a little... awkward. Even he realizes that. But it's too late to go back on it.

He looks down at the floor, expression blank. Honestly, Minato doubts that Yukari will be able to live here with him, room trade or not. He doesn't say anything in particular to the suggestion for a long moment. And when he does, his reply is pretty generic. ] You can try to trade, sure.

[Her cheeks are still red from the cold, which is helpful because it's hard to tell that she blushed at him pointing to the bed. Of course, this is the girl who absently commented on how no one would be hearing her scream... So she doesn't have that much room to criticize such phrasings.]

Uhh-- Yeah, I'll put these on. [She slips his coat off, too.] And, you can have that back. Thanks.

[She goes in to change, trying to figure out what he means by that inscrutable comment about 'you can try.' He doesn't want her there? Or he doesn't think that it'll happen?

She doesn't quite close the door when she gets inside, though. It's just... she wants to hear him moving around, at least. She's not ready to let him go like that.]

[ And move around he does, first putting the coat back in his nearly empty closet, then taking his own advice and wrapping one of the blankets from the bed around his shoulders, sitting hunched over and waiting at the edge of the bed.

This is all really... strange. He'd have done this for any of his friends from home, but with Yukari it feels less like being a good friend and more like awkwardly inviting a girlfriend into his room. And yeah, they'd sort of dated, he supposed, and she'd definitely told him that she loved him. He cared about her, too, but the extent of that caring was hard to determine. It might be a bottomless well or about the size of a wishing fountain, and Minato wasn't exactly the best equipped to be able to examine his feelings like that.

He closes his eyes, feeling suddenly very Tired and unwell. When she comes back out again, he'll open them again and hope that she won't be able to guess why he suddenly appears so weary. It is great to see her, and he is sorry that she'd missed him so much and that he couldn't have stuck around longer, but Minato doesn't know what to expect from this encounter from this point on. That Yukari seems so set on trying to live in Heimdall instead of where she really belongs is troubling to him. ]

[She comes out, clad now in that slightly awkward mashup of her stylish outfit and his, um, pajamas. He's still there. Of course he is, but seeing him is a relief in and of itself. Even if he does look tired again... even if that sends a chill through her.

Surely, she thinks bitterly, this isn't a normal amount of caring for a boy. Not that she can control it either way, but she's conscious that she probably seems clingy right now. Why had it hurt so much again when he'd died, when he'd left her? It was hard to remember, at some points, but with him here, it's more obvious: she hadn't let anyone in close until him, not since her father... And then, he, Minato, too...

At that, she stops thinking about it as best as she can, and eyes him ruefully. It makes sense that he's tired, she thinks, suppressing the worry. She says in a falsely cheery voice:]

These are pretty comfy, Minato-kun. Even if it all clashes.

[ He sits up a little straighter when she reenters the room. He'd gotten a chill earlier, that's all. This kind of weariness is nothing compared to how he'd felt that last month.

Looking at her, she looks pretty ridiculous. The pink of her sweater clashes pretty badly with the flannel pants, enough to bring a small smile to his face. ]

It doesn't. You look great. [ It's refreshing, seeing her not so well put together, actually. In a way, she really does look great, even clashing like that. Minato pats the bed next to him. ] We should talk some more.

[She smiles a little at that, and is mildly surprised at how naturally it comes. She hasn't smiled (really smiled, anyway) in weeks, but there her lips go, curved upward. Whether or not the happiness comes first like an eraser to rub off the black fog, or if it follows in afterward like the sun shining through clearing clouds, it grows naturally as she goes over and sits next to him. Just like usual; just like always.]

Funny, I was just thinking that the wrapped-in-a-blanket look works for you too.

...But yeah, we should. [About this place or about home, though...? It's hard to know where to start. She'll see if he wants to start first before going on herself.]

Good. It's one of my favorites, too. [ He wraps it a little tighter around himself before continuing. There's a lot he wants to know about how things had ended up at home, but there's probably a lot that Yukari wants to know about this place, too. It is hard to know where to start, so he goes quiet for a long moment before continuing. ]

...How is everyone? [ A stupid question. But one that's relevant. One that won't let him leave it alone. ]

[She shifts a little, and her shoulder brushes against his. She keeps it there; a little contact is nice, even if they can't stand in the cold holding each other forever-- or whatever.]

They're fine... Or they seem to be. [She's been pretty focused on herself.] Well, Aigis was getting awfully... robotic, if ya know what I mean...

But, well, everyone was sad, but they were getting along. [Whereas she, Yukari, was... stuck.]

[ That's a relief. He wouldn't want any of them beating themselves up over the inevitable. The news about Aigis hurts a bit, but he'd kind of expected it. Of course she'd take it badly. Minato had been the one thing she wanted to protect most in the world, the one person she trusted more than anyone, and he'd just... fallen asleep.

If there's anyone he feels guiltiest over abandoning, it's Aigis. But Aigis isn't here. ]

That's good. [ He could say more, but he doesn't trust himself to. Maybe talking about how things were back home hadn't been such a good idea after all. ] Any questions about this place your maid didn't answer?

[She observes his reaction to that part narrowly. It's more than a little bit of jealousy, certainly. He'd already spent his last moment -- not counting now -- with Aigis; did he miss her the most now, too? Does he wish she was here instead of Yukari?

But those aren't thoughts she likes harboring at all. She really dislikes them, in fact. She briefly puts his other question on hold to go on.]

They were closing down the dorm in a week or so. We were all moving out.

[She pauses.] About this place... I don't know. I don't know if there's anything I can really do except take it at face value, huh?

Permanently? [ Even though he'd tried changing the subject, his curiosity's nearly endless, and that definitely draws his attention. It wasn't like most of them didn't have somewhere else to go... He wasn't sure why he felt so strongly about it, especially if they were all moving out permanently. The seniors surely had to, but the juniors...? ]

Yeah. Since we didn't need it anymore, I guess... They wanted to use it for something else?

[ Stupid. Gekkoukan had other dorms, he knows that. But they weren't his. As much distance as he'd subconsciously kept, as unsentimental as he tended to be...

Those dorms were still home.

And no, it doesn't matter. He's never going back, so why should it? He feels even more tired than ever and allows himself to fall backwards on the bed, eyes shut while one hand rubs at them idly, not because he's crying or anything. He hasn't cried since he was a little kid. His eyes hurt a little, though, like maybe they want him to.

No need to say anything. His reaction is pretty clear - the walls are down, and so is he. ]

[That's as much of a reaction as anything has ever gotten out of their leader. Yukari has to admit she's surprised that the building's closure had had a more pronounced effect than seeing her, than hearing about Aigis... but when she thinks about it, it makes sense. That was home. That was reality. He didn't want the world to change without him...? Well, neither did she, for that matter.

This isn't the time to repeat herself, to tell him that she loves him and always will and damn meeting anyone else ever again, if she goes home she'll stay single forever... Especially since that's creepy and clingy, and she knows it.

Even all of that aside, though, he'd been there for her many times, but this was maybe the first or second time she could really be there for him. She could hardly have, if she wanted to, stopped herself from leaning back also and giving him another tight, wordless hug.]

[ Minato had nearly forgotten Yukari for a moment, but now that she's close again forgetting about her isn't an option. There's nothing worryingly dramatic about his behavior, he hopes. Yukari's had enough to deal with, he doesn't want to worry her any more than she's been worried already.

One hand flops down to his side, no longer rubbing at his eyes, and he shifts the other to wrap up around Yukari's back once again.

This could be worse. This isn't as horrible as it could be. At least he trusts Yukari. The hug may even have helped, even if its main effect was to snap Minato out of whatever funk he'd gotten himself into.

It's silent for a long while until he finally finds some words. ] Things change. They move on.

[ It had always been a rule of his life. It's the only thing that hasn't changed - the certainty that things do change and that nothing is permanent. ]

[It's nice, for her, anyway. Being worried about his living reaction is infinitely better than being sure of the alternative, and she really does want to take care of him as much as she can. If this is a second chance to do that better, she'll take it. She nestles quietly in that position during that long silence before he says that.

It's a little jarring to hear. She can't help but take it, rightly or wrongly, as partially a comment on the big subject they're avoiding. Not everything moves on, she wants to say; not everyone can move on, even if they really, really want to. Even if that was their job and their promise.]

But not everything has to, right? Some things can stay the same?

[She wants them to, badly.]

[ He's not entirely aware of how she's misinterpreting him. Minato is sure of their bond, as sure as he can be about anything. He does sense that she's looking for a particular answer, here, though. That's a leading question if there ever was one.

There's nothing particularly romantic about his answer. He doesn't take her hand, or hug her tighter. He just rolls his head to the side and meets her eyes. ] Not everything, no.

[But that's good enough for her. She doesn't recognize that she made it obvious what she wanted to hear. That's just what people do, anyway... Hearing him say it is what she wanted, and he has that way of sounding earnest about it and looking into her eyes and...

She swallows, and lifts a quick smile.] I'm glad....

[If she were more eloquent, and less tongue-tied, and if it felt necessary -- she would go on more, but that feels like enough said about that, for now.]

We're all going to be friends anyway and everything, dorm or not.

[Though that a touch guiltily, since she's been pushing them away.]

[ It's clear enough that he'd chosen the right words, though there had never been any doubt about that. They're still sort of curled together, but that's okay. Yukari needs this, and he doesn't mind it either. If anything, it's nice. Comforting. Just like what she tells him next.

There's a definite warmth to his gaze, now. ] Good. I'd hate to see you fall apart with me.

[ A general "you". But it applies to her specifically, too. ]

[That's confirmation, if nothing else is, of how wrong she was in some ways, to practically disconnect from her friends afterwards. But she couldn't handle it, she really couldn't... It would've been temporary, she tells herself. Things would've gone back to normal.

That individual meaning of 'you' is what she seizes on.]

I won't. I... I wouldn't ever forget, but I promised. I won't run away and I won't lose.

[ That attitude has always made him really... proud of her. For lack of a better word. That kind of determination is really admirable, and he knows she really means it and how hard it was for Yukari to get to that point.

He nods twice and finally pulls her closer, rubbing her back with his palm. ] I believed it then and I believe it now.

Yeah, you better...!

[It's kind of surprising to her that she can even adopt that teasing tone, but she's fallen into normality again so quickly. She closes her eyes, allowing herself to enjoy this. She can't deny that at this point, this could very well be some kind of twisted dream, because, well, it's just what she wanted... along with the surreal new world component. But she can't bring herself to care about that. Her fingers press against his back, too, verifying its tactility once more, and she lets out a little sigh, half-content and half-exhausted.

After a moment, though, she opens her eyes again.]

Uh, Minato-kun, I guess that means... am I the first person from Port Island you've seen here?

[ He gives her a small smile, recognizing the teasing for what it really is. She's not the only one to think this is kind of nice, though he's long past thinking it's a dream. This is very much real, and it's a relief having someone here he knows and trusts.

Well, other than... ]

I already mentioned Ryoji. But other than him, that's it. [ His expression is perfectly relaxed but also frank - he either hadn't seen any of the others or they hadn't shown up yet. ]

[She doesn't really think of him the same way, as someone from Port Island, that is. But -- fair enough, then. She nods.]

I guess we can't do anything about that... If we're stuck here all alone, or I mean, without the others...

...! I-I mean, don't take that the wrong way or anything...!

[Oooops.]

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whoa typo alert withOUT that is kind of key, oops.

Haha yeah, I figured...

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