fatealteration | (no subject)

(no subject)

"I'm sure there's got to be a city nearby," Joseph said. "Don't look so down about it! We can ask where we are then."

Caesar was nervous; Joseph could tell. Caesar was always more uptight than he was (though there were few people who weren't), but he could practically feeling the stress radiating off his body.

Who could blame him, though? One second they were in Switzerland about to confront Wamuu and now they were in --

Joseph looked at the environment around them. Tuffs of dried-out plants grew out from underneath craggy rocks; the occasional tumbleweed tumbled over a vast sea of sand. It was the complete opposite of where they were before.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Jane Shepard." Shepard offered Joseph her hand to shake first, then Caesar afterwards. "Where are you two headed?"

"We're trying to find our way back to Switzerland," Caesar replied immediately.

Shepard shifted her weight from one leg to the other.

"Sorry to say you're going to have a hard time finding it. What do you know about this place?"

Zelda cleared her throat upon seeing the bewildered look in their eyes. “If I may…please, let us escort you into the village first. You’ll have a chance to rest a little. Ah, and my name is Zelda. I’m part of a council that oversees things up there.”

Caesar bit back the urge to demand answers as quickly as possible. They were both exhausted and Joseph—

Caesar looked from his companion to everyone else.

“…Thank you. Very much.”

"So you're both from Italy?"

Shepard gestured at Caesar and Joseph with her fork before stabbing it into a chunk of meat in her bowl of beef soup. The villa's cooks were quite talented and they took advantage of the opportunity whenever a new arrival showed up to show off with their best cuts of meat and their best haul from the harvest. Today was no exception. If meals like these came with every new arrival, Shepard was sure she would start looking forward to people showing up in their little town.

“I am. He’s from England.” Caesar motioned at Joseph with his own fork.

Zelda turned quickly to Shepard. “Commander, does this mean these two are perhaps from the same world as you?”

"Possibly. But I've met others who were from alternate timelines." At least that's what Shepard thought. "Sometimes the only thing the same in our timelines is the planet."

Caesar felt his appetite dwindle from almost nothing to nothing as he listened to the two go on. He nudged Joseph with his foot under the table--if nothing else he wanted to know he wasn't alone in sheer overwhelm.

Was Caesar playing footsie with him?

Joseph nudged Caesar's foot back and flashed him a mischievous grin.

Caesar just squinted back, unable to process a response of any kind. They were clearly on very, very different wavelengths.

He needed a cigarette like he had never needed one before.

“Please excuse me for a moment,” Caesar said with the most polite tone he could muster before striding out to get some air.

"You going to smoke?" Joseph teased, wagging a finger at him patronizingly. "It's not good for your Hamon."

Edited 2024-10-25 16:29 (UTC)

The gesture Caesar made towards his friend wasn’t familiar to Zelda but she had a good sense of what it meant.

“Hamon?” She asked as she dipped some of her bread in the gravy.

"Hey!" Joseph shouted, though Caesar was long gone. "You're not going to explain it, Caesarino?"

Caesar obviously did not respond. Joseph turned back to Zelda.

"It's a special power that you use by breathing in a very certain way." Joseph knew Caesar could answer this way better than he could, but he wasn't here anymore, was he? "There's all kinds of things you can do with it."

Edited 2024-10-25 16:42 (UTC)

“Oh?” Zelda leaned forward—even among all the people who made up the villa, this was a first.

Joseph casually reached over to one of the plants on the table and gently gripped one of its leaves with three of his fingers. He took a deep breath, then adjusted his breathing. A bud sprouted from seemingly nowhere, then opened, as several stems extended and unfurling growing leaves.

"Not bad, right?" he asked, flashing a grin at Zelda.

“Oh!” Zelda looked to Shepard and back to Joseph quickly. “That’s just like Giorno’s…!”

"Giorno?"

"He runs the place," Shepard answered, leaning over the table to examine the plant.

“He’s quite…incredible. He founded the villa and the council. Its thanks to him we can all survive as well as he wave been. All the trees and vineyards and fields of food? He grew those as if by some miracle…but it’s a curious power he has.” And he was even younger than her. Truth be told, it made Zelda feel useless when she thought of all she had been good for all her life—but he and the others there had been nothing but encouraging.

And now since the abyss had opened up and what that meant for their community, she felt like she had something of value to contribute for the very first time. Thanks to her breakthroughs in technological development they wouldn’t have to depend on manual labor and Giorno’s power like they had been.

“He can be a bit elusive but I’m sure you’ll meet him soon.”

"Whaaaat?" Tch. "Is he too good to meet newcomers?"

“Oh, no! Not at all! He may not always be the first but he always meets newcomers without fail. And…if you both intend to stay for awhile, I can introduce you to Miss Juli. She handles room assignments and such.” Zelda paused to think and looked back to Shepard for confirmation. “Actually…Isn’t she with Giorno right now? She said they were visiting the new dormitories that were just built in the north complex.”

Shepard straightened in her chair, furiosity sated. "Yeah, at least they were talking about it earlier."

“That will be perfect. We’ve had so many newcomers lately - you both will be among the first to break the space in.” Zelda had to resist going on about all the innovation she introduced herself.