Slight of Hand [Katsuya's Awakening]

    "Holy fu-!"

    One second, he was glancing around, making sure the coast was clear before he started climbing through one of the portals to the other Penecia. The next, there was a tug on his jacket and he was falling face-first through the damn window, tumbling rather painfully along the floor of one of the Outpost's small rooms.

    Stunned and mildly sore, Julian laid on the ground for a few seconds, grimacing. What the hell just happened? He couldn't possibly be getting worse at climbing through these holes between dimensions or whatever. If anything, he should be getting better. He'd visited this place enough times by now, hadn't he? So what caused that spill this time?

    The teen slowly sat up, gingerly prodding his face for any damage. His teeth had clacked together kind of hard when he fell. The thought prompted him to run his tongue along the back of his teeth. Besides a dull ache, there didn't seem to be any cracks or anything. His jaw stung a little, but that would probably be gone in a few minutes. // Must've tripped or something. Didn't think I was so- //

    ...

    // God. Damnit. //

    Some guy was laying on the ground not that far from him, in apparently the same position. A sneaking dread settled in Julian's stomach. Did this guy think he was falling or something and get dragged through the portal with him? Was that even possible? ...Wait. Wait. Maybe this was just a guy from the Outpost that he hadn't met yet? That was completely possible. Totally. Maybe there ws no need to panic.
...Didn't hurt to be on the side of caution though.
Julian hauled himself to his feet, brushing off his clothes before crouching down next to the guy. His head cocked to the side curiously, a worried little smile playing his lips. "Hey. You alright?"

Everything is dark. I can't see anyone or anything around, I am like standing in the middle of a dark void. Everything was silent when a voice suddenly broke it. Hey! You alright!?" a voice of a man asked me. I opened my eyes, it seems that I was asleep when I was in that darkness. I saw a fellow teenager, he is male and I assume he is older than me. I rose from the ground and felt a little numb on my head. I then would stand up and look around my surroundings. Woah, where am I? I'm in Penecia but this is not the Penecia I know. Everything is in ruins and the sky is red and everything around me is green except for the two of us. "Woah! Where am I?" I asked the teenager right beside me. "Who are you!? What are we doing in this strange place!?" questions continued to flow through my mouth.

    At least this guy was awake. That was a good sign. Any smidgen of hope Julian had of this being just some guy wandering around the underground bunker, however, was shattered as he started blabbering. // Fuck. // Seriously. How the hell could other people fall in with him? That would've been a pretty nice little tidbit of information to know up front, wouldn't it?

    Rising up with the teen, Julian laid his hands on the other boy's shoulders, staring intently at his face with a hint of concern. It was a lucky break that the normal guards posted around weren't crowding the portal at the moment. While they weren't in the small room with them, there was still a big chance of them being just outside the door, so anymore shouting would probably just spell all kinds of bad news. First things first: calm this kid down. "Calm down. Look at me. Look at me."

    Should he have followed the directions, Julian would smile lightly and continue talking, slowly removing his hands from the guy's shoulders and letting them hang at his sides. "First off, you're okay. It might look a little dreary, but I swear, it's not that bad. Scout's honor." Not that Julian had ever actually been a cub scout, but whatever. "My name is Julian. And you're...?" the teen would trail off uncertainly. As he said this, he'd hold out his hand for a handshake, grinning amicably in an attempt to calm the guy's nerves a bit.

The teenager which introduced himself as Julian said that everything will be okay. Now, he is asking for my name. "Kazuya... My name is Kazuya" I answered. I will then walk a little distance away from him still wondering in my surroundings. Why is the sky red? and why everything here is just a wasteland?. I turned back to Julian and asked these questions calmly. "I'm asking you again, Where are we? and what are we doing here?"

    Why the hell did Murphy have to invent that stupid law? Everything was going to go downhill from here. It took a lot of willpower to keep from scowling at the guard. Rather, he managed a small smile and a, "Don't worry, we're fine." ...Oh great. Now he's asking about this guy. "His name's Kazuya." Julian glanced back at the other boy, silently asking whether or not he'd gotten the pronunciation right before turning to the guard and grinning politely. "Sorry, can you give us a minute?"

    Assuming the guard would back off and give them some space, Julian looked back at Kazuya and looked him up and down for a moment, trying to think quickly. Since the damn guards pounced on this so quick, he couldn't just bluff and usher this guy out of here. No, that probably wouldn't work out well. This guy already seemed kind of suspicious and...well, oddly freaked out. Why the hell an underground room would be so weird to him, Julian had no idea. Maybe he was claustrophobic? "This place is...well...Penecia, technically."

    He hadn't gone any farther than that when Emmilene herself strode through the door. Damn. He should've figured they'd send for her. She was always pretty quick to react to things. Gotta give this place props for that, at least. "We're fine, far as I know. Sorry about this, Em. I learned something new about the portals the hard way." A slight frown of apology crossed his face. She seemed alright, but if she was actually upset underneath that calm veneer, he'd prefer she understand that this was a kind of accident.

    Julian stayed quiet for the rest of the girl's little speech. This was her domain, and the situation was basically out of his hands for now. But he'd stay around, though, since he started the whole thing. Otherwise, unless he really needed to add something, he'd let Emmilene take control of the conversation for now.

"I see... I trust you" I said to Emmilene with a serious face. More questions are inside my mind but i'll be careful what to ask so I can avoid any trouble. So I started to ask questions "What is this world? and what's in this world? Do you guys live here?"

(Ok... 48 hours have passed so skippin Julian's turn)

I would them follow into the small room and I sat on the seat near to the little girl. This is a little bit weird because a little girl is the leader of this resistance against Chaos guys. Well, she is already very mature on the young age, provably even more mature than me, and she can handle herself in this strange alternate world or we can just say that this place is a wasteland. Now she asked if two gods waged a war what will happen?. "Some weird supernatural things will happen to this world and it might also affect the real world" I answered. Now she stated some stuff about this world and Julian and her helpers then now she is pffering me something, she is offering me a power. It will be used as a weapon in the war of this two worlds but if I gained that power, I will be following her and protect her with all my might because if she died, we will lose this power. I'll accept this power not that she offered it, it is because that I want to help too to end this war. So i stood up and said my decision. "Ok, I'll accept it. It's not that you offered it, it is simply because I want to help in this war too and protect you with all my might. If you want more manpower then count me in!"

    Julian had followed Emmilene and listened quietly to her whole sphiel, carefully watching Katzuya's reaction to all of this. For the most part, the kid didn't seem that fazed. He was almost...calm about all of it. There was no denial, no disbelief, hell, there wasn't even any anger or anything. Should Julian commend this guy for keeping such a straight face or be suspicious of him?

    He was starting to lean towards "suspicious" as the teen gave a response that nearly had Julian gaping at him with disbelief. Who said cheesy stuff like that in real life? It was like Katzuya ripped lines right from a Marvel movie or something. Add that in with the poker face, and...geez, this guy almost didn't seem human for a second.

    Pinching the bridge of his nose, the dark-haired male took a few deep breaths. Alright, maybe this guy was a little...different. He couldn't say he really trusted him either. But as he raised his eyes and discovered Emmilene giving him a questioning look, he found himself nodding slightly. He'd just have to keep a close eye on this guy, was all. The moment he screwed up, there'd be hell to pay, of course, but maybe just this once he could let this slide. Emmilene seemed fine with it anyways, and he trusted her judgement a little more when it came to the matters of Alternate Penecia.

    The following light show was definitely familiar to him. That was the same circle and whatnot he'd been in the night that one soldier decided to spirit him away to this place. A different card this time, though. Maybe each person received a different card? Hm...right, they were tarot cards. Of course they'd correspond to different people depending on their personalities. Maybe when he got home he'd have to look up this "Temperance" card and see just who he'd be dealing with from now on.

    "Hm?" he hummed out questioningly as he approached the beckoning woman. ...Huh? Reward...? ...Oh. Right. "Bring more people and I'll give you stuff." That had been her stipulation, hadn't it? He had half a mind to try and return the items since this had been a big screw-up anyways, but thought better of it. The last thing Katzuya needed to see was him and Emmilene bickering about gifts and whatnot. That'd just leave a bad impression. So Julian just nodded before pocketing the items and moving to Katzuya and resting a careful hand on the guy's shoulder. "How're you feeling?"

"I'm ok, i'm ok. It's just that this is a little bit strange. Also i'm safe as long as I got Gryphon" I answered calmly like I was not in danger or something. I am always like this, Panic for a while but in a few minutes, i'll be calm. Sometimes, i'm always calm like nothing is even happening. I always look at the positive things in life and never look at the negative ones which is why I am always smiling. I need to get out of here now. "Excuse me but do you know where the nearest portal is" I asked but whatever the answer is. I would say "Thank you" and follow the direction as instructed then leave the alternate world.

Exit~desu