Snooping Around [NPC]

    Oddly enough, popping through an interdimensional portal was as easy as walking through a door or climbing through a first-floor window. And, just like the last time, Julian found himself in this parallel Penecia, he was in a room with a bunk bed, lockers, one door and an overall dreary set-up. Yup, definitely the right place.  He glanced around for a moment before doing a quick pat-down on himself, checking to make sure he and his possessions had gotten through in one piece. There wasn't any obvious pain and all his limbs seemed to be intact, so that was a good sign. His iPod was still tucked in his pocket, safe and sound, and the gift Emmiline had given him was firmly attached to his ear. Cool. Nothing broken, nothing missing, and he was still breathing. This little trip was off to a decent start.

    It had taken a few days for everything to really sink in. The only thing that had convinced him all of it actually happened was the squished piece of bread he found in his pocket when he woke up the next day. Maybe it was a good thing getting his Persona had him so drained; otherwise, he'd probably have thrown the food out without a second thought and believed everything to be a dream. After wrestling with the idea and finally convincing himself he wasn't crazy, he decided to try and learn a little more about everything he saw and heard. That girl, Emmiline, had done a pretty good job covering the basics, but it really couldn't hurt to learn all he could. And what was a better way to learn than walking around this place and talking to a few people? Maybe he'd find out what exactly happened to this world, or get some clue as to what crazy things Emmiline expected to happen in his.

    Well, now or never. He wouldn't get anything by standing around in this room all day. With that thought in mind Julian walked to the door and pushed it open. He paused for a moment to take a deep, calming breath before continuing on his way down the unfamiliar passageways.

    He'd expected more people to be around. The last time he was here, there seemed like hundreds; now there wasn't a single soul to be found. Was it because of the time he came? Were they all busy doing something? It couldn't be work, at least the conventional type; with the city as wrecked as it was, there was no way any sort of office or store would be open and running. What was it exactly that kept everyone busy?

    Voices drifted down the path, urging Julian to push his questions to the side for now and see who exactly was talking. ...Kids? Well, not exactly what he was looking for, but definitely not the worst people he could run into. He vaguely remembered the blond boy; the little guy had been in Emmilene's room trying to sleep, when she and Julian sorta barged in and woke him up. Not that he seemed to mind, though. The teen couldn't help but tilt his head slightly when the girl called him by name. Damn, when did everyone learn who he was? Yeah, Emmilene broadcasted his name that night, but for people to know him on sight was a little weird. Maybe he should rethink that whole "shining hope" theory he had. "I'm fine, thanks. But it's alright, I-" Julian cut himself off as Mason ran up and clung to his legs, rendering him immobile for the time being. Friendly little guy, wasn't he? It was almost unsettling how pleasant these kids were. Heck, he could remember Emmilene and some of the other people he met that night; they were pretty nice too, minus the whole kidnapping bit. In a place like this, he'd never expect to find people this...happy. Their attitudes kind of contradicted the whole set-up of this place.

    // Training...? // What kind of training would a girl her age have to do? That whole second of confusion was enough for the girl to dash off without even listening to whether or not Julian agreed to watch Mason or not. The teen's silver eyes watched her go before he sighed lightly and looked back down at the boy still hugging him. Well, it wasn't all bad. He'd been curious about how this place ran; experiencing it first-hand was a good way to learn, too.

    An amused smile stretched over Julian's face as he listened to Mason's explanation about where Emmilene was. "Y'know, normally you're not supposed to tell girls they stink." He chuckled and rested a hand on his hip. "Thanks for letting me know, but it's alright. I think Emmilene probably has a lot of friends she needs to take care of now. Wouldn't want to hog her and get them all jealous, right?" If what happened that night happened all the time around here, he was pretty sure that girl was busy. The last thing she needed was to answer questions that he could most likely figure out the answers to himself with enough time. Yeah, while it'd be nice to see her, it was probably a good idea to try and not bother her today as much as possible. Glancing down the hall for anyone else, he found it still pretty empty. No voices, no footsteps, nothing. "Guess you're stuck with me for a while. That alright with you?" Julian grinned at Mason, awaiting some sort of response from the kid.

    Good; he really didn't want to have to argue with a child right now. Having Mason's cooperation made his day a whole lot simpler. "My world?" Kind of weird to still be talking about parallel worlds like they were an everyday thing, but he'd get used to it eventually, right? Julian plopped down next to Mason on the floor, leaning back against the walls of the hallway. He tilted his head and let out a quiet hum in thought, trying to pick a good place to start. "Well, let's see..." Should he describe Ohio? Or maybe California, where his Uncle lived? Or would Azores be best? ...Azores, probably. This place was an alternate version of there, anyway.

    "For starters, I don't live underground. All the houses where I'm from are above ground-level. Kinda makes it brighter than it is here." The teen glanced around at the lights strewn down the halls. It was well-lit here, but his house in San Malarus was deiniftely brighter. During the day, at least. "Annnd...I dunno. I haven't been here really long, so it's hard for me to compare the two." Smiling gently at the blond boy, Julian shrugged his shoulders lightly. "Maybe this place and my world are closer than I think." Of course, there was one glaring difference between the two worlds. But Julian didn't really want to bring it up and make Mason upset. Who knows what these people went through? The topic of the past should probably be treated like a mine-field for now. His curiosity could hold out for a while longer, before he started poking around and just stirring up a bunch of bad memories.

    "Not long ago"? Did that mean a few years or a few weeks? It was hard to tell with kids; to them, sometimes a day was eternity and five hours like two seconds. But Mason couldn't be much older than ten, so history-wise, the destruction he'd seen outside was pretty recent. "Shiny?" a light smile crossed Julian's face. From his tone, he was obviously dubious, but amused nonetheless.

    The comment about this place always being clean was kind of surprising. Now that he looked, everything was well-organized, and there weren't layers of dust anywhere. Despite this place being kind of dreary, they kept it up well. Was that all Emmilene's doing? He'd never pegged her for a neat freak. "Sometimes it gets a little messy, but we always clean up before the house looks too bad." Well, more like Julian did. His dad could be such a scatterbrain sometimes, leaving his projects and tools all over the place. It was kind of hard to complain, though; Matthew brought home money, food, and stories from work, so Julian looked at cleaning as doing his part around the house. "Don't worry; I'm sure everyone can handle just a little bit of cleaning." Julian shot Mason another reassuring grin. Sure this place seemed huge, but they had a pretty decent population here; if everyone pitched in, it wouldn't be too hard to keep the place decent.

    "That," the teen looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully and tapped his chin with a finger, "is an excellent question." More like a funny one, but Julian was more interested in keeping Mason entertained and content for now. After a moment of thought, he tilted his head. "Well, people always call my world 'Mother Earth'. So maybe my world is the girl and this one the boy?" It seemed reasonable enough, if not a little convoluted.

    "So I've told you a little about where I live. Can you tell me a little bit about where you live?" It was a simple response to try and keep Mason engaged in a conversation. Kids normally loved to talk about themselves, so why not give him the chance? It was a nice, simple topic that the boy shouldn't be too hesitant to talk about, right?

    Well damn. He really should've thought that through a little more. Now he felt kind of like a jerk. The friendly expression on his face started to fade and was almost completely gone by the time Mason took a second to compose himself. With all the wreckage outside, it made sense that some people hadn't made it out. For this kid's sake, though, he hoped they really were just missing. Julian reached over with a hand and gently ruffled the boy's hair. It was something he always did for his cousins when they cried, and by now the gesture was almost automatic whenever he saw a kid upset.

    ...What was he supposed to say to that? Definitely not the truth. Or at least all of it. Shoving the facts into Mason's face wouldn't make him feel better or do any good. So Julian went with the next best alternative. Giving him the best reassuring smile he could, the teen spoke softly, "I don't really know. But it's definitely possible, right? If I can go through those portals, I bet your parents can too." He paused for a second before continuing. "I'll keep an eye out for 'em, alright?" It wasn't a guarantee that his folks would come back, but it should give Mason some kind of hope. In a place like this, no one could have too much of that.

    "Forget you? I doubt it. Don't worry, you'll see them again someday." Now, whether that would be during this lifetime was another story. Still, Julian gave Mason the most reassuring grin he could, trying to convince the kid he was telling the truth.

    So that "Savior" theory wasn't too far off, huh? At least where this boy was concerned. Did everyone here think Julian was a saving grace or something? Why? Because he came form another world? Not exactly the best reason, in his opinion. He hadn't even used his persona before, unless spending an hour in his room trying to figure out how to summon the thing counted. Which he kind of doubted. ...Yeah, maybe he wasn't exactly the right person for this whole "save the alternate reality" business. But at least Mason was smiling. That was a good thing.

    "Big brother?" Blinking down at the blond's face, the teen tilted his head in thought. Huh. He didn't have any siblings of his own, so hearing that phrase directed at him was a little weird. But a good kind of weird. ...Although, it might have been a little better if there wasn't the underlying message of "Julian is gonna save the planet!" in there. "Well, I'll do my best." laughing lightly, Julian ruffled the kid's hair playfully. "I've never had siblings, so I might not be very good at it at first. Bear with me, alright?"

    He sure perked up quick. Kids normally bounced back easily from whatever funk they were in, but the rate that Mason did it was almost scary. Cute, but scary. "The second I need help with something, I'll come find you, alright?" Julian couldn't help but chuckle. This kid looked so eager it was hard not to laugh.

    But Mason brought up a good point. What did he have? Well, a freaky new power, for starters. And a civilian kind of army in a parallel world that he wasn't quite sure how to help. What about Azores? Besides a bunch of unnerving news reports, there wasn't much to go on. Kidnappings and stuff happened a lot; there wasn't any reason to assume that the "approaching danger in his world" (as Emmilene so nicely worded it) was tied to that suspect. Until he had more information on that, the only place he could think of to start was here in this alternate Penecia. Maybe what caused havoc here was trying to do the same thing again, just in another dimension. That might be some good questions to ask.

    ...To another person. Shaking his head lightly to clear away the thoughts he'd momentarily gotten lost in, Julian focused his attention back on Mason. This boy had gotten so upset thinking about his parents. To try and pry anything more out of him after knowing that would be a dick move. No, he'd save that for Emmilene the next time he saw her. "Seems like you're yawning a lot. Should you be sleeping now?" The teen raised an eyebrow, his lips quirking upwards at the expected denial. Mentioning the words "nap", "sleep", or "tired" around a kid usually produced a very amusing performance.

    Julian's grin softened as he saw Mason's face, drool and all. Man, the kid was tired, wasn't he? And he was actually mature enough to admit it instead of arguing. In a funny way, Julian kind of respected that. "Yeah you are." The teen nodded lightly as he gently looped an arm around the blond's shoulders and returned the little display of affection. Julian didn't doubt that Mason could find his own way back; this was his home, right? If the kid couldn't find his way back on his own, then he'd be a little worried. "Still, I'll walk you back. Y'know, just in case you pass out in the halls or something." Standing up as well, Julian gave the boy a teasing little smile before placing his hands in his pockets and following the boy down the halls.

    He was a little worried about Mason making it back alright; who knows what kind of trouble he could get into while he was like this? If something happened, it'd be pretty much all Julian's fault. And being responsible for an accident or Mason's injuries or whatever wasn't exactly the best way to stay on this group's good side. Besides, he'd been asked to watch this kid for a while. That meant until someone else took over the job, Mason was his responsibility. He couldn't very well up and leave, could he? That was like leaving work a few hours early. You just didn't do that.

   

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