Exploring

[pre_ramune]

Gai is well aware that he stands out like a sore thumb on this...Earth, or whatever planet he's ended up on. Still, what's a warrior of light to do except explore and try to figure out what's going on?

He's made his way through parts of the city, but it feels weirdly like someone is watching him. He can't pinpoint anyone in particular, but it's...unsettling. Kind of like the way he could always "hear" someone in trouble.

Every so often, he finds a place to stop and looks around.

Comments

[de_light]

He blinks. That is the easiest, most straightforward apology he's ever gotten from Gai for any of this, and he really can't claim he's not affected by it, even if that was all a very long time ago from his perspective. He can't help but laugh a little bit.

"You really are earnest, aren't you? Pity you didn't find me sooner."

What would it have been like, if things had gone only a little bit different? He's wondered that before, but only moreso now. He steps forward and puts a hand on Gai's shoulder.

"If you ever get back to where you came from, find me and say that. Exactly that. You'll avert an enormous amount of tragedy."

[pre_ramune]

It's...comforting. The thought that even Juggler thinks things could have gone better, and that it's not to late to make sure they do.

"I don't suppose you could tell me where you went?"

[de_light]

What an odd conversation this is, displaced a few thousands of years in time. He moved around a lot then, and he's not even sure if he remembers all of it.

"How long has it been since all of that happened?"

[pre_ramune]

"It's been...about a day since we defeated Psychi. I tried looking for you on Earth, but when I realized you weren't there, I went back to Warrior's Peak."

[de_light]

He hesitates, but only slightly. It's a strange thing to think about, that this Gai could actually be directly from his past. What happens to him if Gai takes this information back and does something with it, then? But then, he expects the fact that they've met like this at all will change something or other, even if that is the case.

"You won't be able to find me for a couple of weeks. I didn't want to be found." Or perhaps more correctly, he couldn't deal with the pain of Gai not coming to find him, so he made it more or less impossible. But he doesn't feel the need to say that. "After that..." There's a brief pause as he steels himself for the next words. It's not something he'd want to admit to his own Gai, after everything. "Try Warrior's Peak again." And then he has to think about where exactly he went next. What was the first in a long string of disasters on his own? "If you miss me there, then the Elvorix system, I think. There was a war going on there. I thought I could help." He is not going to spend any time right now elaborating on exactly how wrong he was about that.

[pre_ramune]

Gai nods.

"Warrior's Peak, then Elvorix."

He's not going to ask about how things went there. Not when he can guess by the way Juggler said he thought he could help.

[de_light]

"That's assuming it's even the same timeline and I did the same things." Given other things he's seen happen around here, he wouldn't necessarily bet on that. "But if that doesn't work, then look for other places I would have gone for similar reasons." He was looking for somewhere he could feel useful. If things with Gai went similarly enough for them to have the conversation they just did, then that much is definitely still true, even if the specifics aren't.

[pre_ramune]

Both the future Gai and the future Juggler seem to find it hard to believe that this Gai is from their past. And honestly, Gai's still not sure if he fully knows what this information is supposed to mean anyway. If he can change things, then great. But if not, then does he have to watch helplessly as Juggler goes too far for him to reach? Or will it at least prepare him when it does?

"It's still worth trying," he says finally. "I'll keep looking."

[de_light]

Less hard to believe, and more uncertain what that actually means. He nods.

"And if I'm in bad shape when you find me, don't leave me alone." There's a hint if bitterness to that that might indicate that statement is less obvious than it might sound.

[pre_ramune]

It's deserved bitterness, though. Juggler might have pushed him and everyone else away both on Kanon and Earth, but it was partly Gai's fault too for not staying close to him.

"I won't."