2017-07-05: It's Like Deja Vu All Over Again
- Log: It's Like Deja Vu All Over Again
- Cast: Avril Vent Fleur, Fei Fong Wong
- Where: Lacour - Market District
- Date: July 5th 2017
- Summary: Avril's arrived in Lacour with her friends. A mishap causes her to have a chance encounter with Fei, a fellow amnesiac.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
Lacour is absolutely packed by this point in the tournaments, as news filtering in to other cities on this half of Ignas has managed to drive up the attendance significantly as matches proceed. Hype really works.
Adding to those coming in fresh were a trio of teenagers (or well, 'close enough' in Avril's case) who arrived in Lacour just the other day.
'Johnny Appleseed' turned out to be a brand of apple wine? Something about it just still doesn't feel right to Avril, alone for the moment as she stands near the edge of the bustling crowds, her attention on anything but the people passing by before her. Dean and Rebecca are busily having a lively argument several street stalls down, but for right now, Avril doesn't seem to have noticed it, distracted by now with her thoughts.
She almost feels a little bad. They'd come all that way for nothing...
Naturally, her friends had said otherwise, and Dean had suggested they go and see the tournament in Lacour -- to just travel around and see if something reminded her of anything. Perhaps for them, it was an opportunity to see the outside world.
And there is something... vaguely familiar about Lacour, but Avril really can't put her finger on it. Hands clasped before her and gaze vacant as she tries to think about it, the young woman never sees the other man -- pushing his way through the crowd in an apparent hurry to get from one place to another (possibly to an event at the coliseum?) -- coming her way.
He bumps into her hard, and uncharacteristically caught off guard, Avril stumbles backwards--
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong is still chilling in Lacour because, well, he was hoping to find Lily after a recent battle. As it stands, he has found Lily again and is now waiting for marching orders and punching people in a tournament in the meanwhile. He is the sort of person who jumps into a gear to protect his town which means he's not the sort of person to watch people get mangled in front of him. Wise words from Bart Fatima, but they happen to be true even if so far Fei's attempts at helping others have generally been a bit sketchy in their success ratio.
Thankfully, Avril bumping into someone and tilting backwards is a lot easier to stop than a Gear fight. Fei is, suddenly, THERE as he steadie Avril from behind. "Hey! Sorry, are you okay?" He looks towards the man rushing off. "Are you just gonna nearly bowl someone over and not say anything?? I know they gotta teach manners better in the city than that!"
He looks back to Avril. "You okay?"
He is pretty ???.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Oh--?"
Wide-eyed and yanked free from her semi-trace, Avril reaches out in vain for some sort of handhold, stumbling backwards as she fails to find one.
Someone else's hand finds her back, steadying her. Blinking, Avril's gaze turns sharply in the direction of the departing man. "I didn't see him," she murmurs, before glancing back over her shoulder at her saviour. "Thank you... I am alright."
She looks away again, staring in the direction that the person who had bumped into her had passed. The man's gone into the crowd, a veritable hit-and-run of pedestrian standards. "...He does not appear to have heard you," Avril comments, her lips pressing thin. "Was that really deliberate just now? He appeared to be headed somewhere important..."
Avril, for her part, pulls away from Fei at this point and looks him over. She pauses, visibly.
"...I am sorry, but... is it possible that we have met before? I have a feeling that we have, somehow."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei Fong Wong is kind of glad the hurried man didn't actually stop and challenge Fei because if that happened, well, it probably mean confrontation which Fei would prefer to avoid if it wasn't really neccessary. Rudeness is not a qualifier for neccessary.
"I'm guessing he just was in a hurry and wasn't paying attention--or caring." Fei isn't about to pressure the matter. He looks back to Avril and gives a small pause of his own though there isn't a sign of recognition, not really.
"It's--" Fei begins. "--not impossible? But I don't really know my past, sorry." He winces faintly. He probably should have given a harder answer than that after his experiences with Xantia. He doesn't stop Avril from pulling away, though, at least. Instead he steps back himself and he adds, "But I'm glad you're alright anyway. You're not here for the tournament, I'm guessing." Pause. "Or are you?" His impression was the former but he probably shouldn't assume just because of her appearance. Lunata looks adorable and can summon the spirits of the dead and has an omnigear so, you know, don't judge books by their covers.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Perhaps so," Avril comments, inclining her head slightly to the left as she watches the crowd. "I understand that there is a tournament taking place. Perhaps he is a participant? Dean said that people are competing, but I admit I do not entirely understand the purpose behind it." She shakes her head slightly, silvery hair sliding over her shoulders.
That gets her attention.
"You have no memory as well?" She gestures, towards herself. "Then, I suppose that it would be possible that the both of us have met before, but not recall the event." Slightly, she frowns as she stares at him, clasping her hands before herself as if trying to think.
And slowly, she nods. "Yes, fortunately, I did not fall. ...My friends thought that it might be interesting to watch the tournament, so I am here with them." Even if she apparently doesn't understand the 'reason' behind a fight like this.
In other words, no, she isn't participating.
Hesitantly, she extends a hand. Dean had said that people shake each others' hands when meeting for the first time. Or for the second? "My name is Avril."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"Well, not past the last three years." Fei clarifies. It might be closer to four now, actually, but he doesn't want to sweat the small stuff. He doesn't know who Dean is. It's, like, the most common name ever so. He also admits, "I guess the purpose of the tournament is to show off ARMS--because that's what it's called, the Lacour Tournament of Arms." He gives a faint shrug. "Weapons--gear--they need to be advertised. So why not have a circus around it while you're at it?" He laughs a bit. "Not that I have really room to talk since I ended up in it and I don't even use ARMS but--" He smiles. "I guess I got kinda roped in. It hasn't actually been all that bad." He pauses. "I mean, don't get me wrong. I don't care for fighting. But it's much better than a REAL battle. It's like a sport where you get hurt instead of..."
He shakes his head. "Well, it's good to have friends." He smiles. "You looking for them?"
He pauses. That name...!!
... He doesn't recall it but it feels vaguely familiar. "I'm Fei." He says, easily. He's getting used to those weird feelings he gets sometimes. At a certain point, if he's not careful, he'll start feeling that way about anybody he runs into! So he sets the thought aside.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"So you lost your memory three years ago. I see. Have you been able to remember anything in that time?"
It's... a pretty direct question to ask. But despite appearances, Avril is a pretty direct person.
"ARMs... Oh, do you mean such as equipment, or..." She trails off, watching him intently as he explains. "So it is not merely about one's personal strength and ability, but also the power of one's weapons and equipment. That way, the skill of the crafter is tested as well as the skill of the one wielding it. I see. It seems that it might be a practical way of examining the talents of both. Perhaps if we had arrived sooner..."
Though with the ARMs she and Dean both wield they would have been disqualified. Maybe some other time.
"So you are a participant?" She looks him over and nods. "Perhaps we will see you. I will let them know to cheer you on."
And speaking of the 'we' in this equation: "I think... they were over..."
Avril slowly turns her head in the direction Dean and Rebecca had last been, a ways in the distance.
Even from here, the yelling is slightly audible.
"They're quite lively," Avril says at some length, smiling faintly as she lifts a hand to her lips. "I never feel lonely with them around."
Fei.
That name is...
Also familiar to her.
Also in a vague way.
"I wonder... if we did meet?"
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Do visions from a thousand years ago count? No, that's stupid. It's just... The information feels real, but it's obviously not really a memory. The Guardians must have been up to it. "I don't really know." He says. He doubts that Avril would be disqualified since he was nearly immolated by his first opponent and if that's how it goes with his first opponent, well, you have to imagine the others are going to be particularly crazy as well. Still, he can't really say for sure--so he doesn't.
Still, he thinks, they have similar problems it seems like. He should be kind. He does feel some affinity.
"I'm already in the loser's bracket, so I appreciate it!" He grins though inwardly he's kind of screaming 'agghh now I can't forfeit' but that's okay. It's all okay.
And then he adds, "To be honest, we might have. I never can really say for sure. Honestly, you're not even the first person with amnesia I ran into who seemed to know me. There's Xantia, also in the tournament." He laughs. "I guess it's not really an uncommon affliction. Or amnesia leads one to becoming a drifter. I guess that--makes sense."
He offers his hand to Avril. "But to be honest, it doesn't really matter. We can be friends if you want regardless of that stuff. So it's nice to meet you."
Of course, maybe they were trying to kill each other.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
"Oh, I see. I was wondering, since I haven't been able to recall anything clearly myself," she explains, gesturing towards herself. "I have the feeling that some things are familiar, but..." Slowly, Avril shakes her head. Just the vague sense of deja vu, wherever she goes. "I suppose, it has only been a few months since I met Dean and Rebecca... it may just be too soon for me. Or, perhaps I was always like this?"
Now that would be a sad thought.
"The loser's bracket..." Her expression creases, as if uncomprehendingly. "Would you mind explaining that to me? There are many things that I seem not to know about."
It seems that she and Fei are not the only ones wandering Ignas without any memories. He mentions a girl named Xantia, which is a piece of information Avril files away for later. It might be good to talk to her -- there might be a common thread somewhere. "Hmm, perhaps so. I am traveling with my friends in the hopes of recovering my memories, myself, so that seems like a plausible conclusion. If one travels far and wide, one will encounter many things, and perhaps even encounter oneself," she goes on, waxing poetic for a moment.
And then he suggests they be friends. "Friends..." she murmurs the word as if trying it out, then looks him over once again. And then, at last, she nods. "Yes, friends. That sounds nice to me. Thank you, Fei."
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
Fei's in like 3 tournaments in his game just so you know. And that's not counting the card game tournament. Let's just say he knows a lot about how tournaments are operated. Okay and granted the tournaments he is in don't really involve 'double brackets' since they're single elimination but that's besides the point.
"Well, it's double elimination. So if you lose you go into a second bracket where the other losers go. On the other hand, if you win your matches, you stay in the winner's bracket. It's 'double elimination' so basically that means if I lose again--I'm out! But if I keep winning, I still have a chance to win it all. That's...basically how it goes!"
This is probably done super deformed style with charts that appear out of nowhere for the younger viewers of Dream Chaser Mush. Or uh younger players?
Anyway, it's also possible that RPGs just overuse the amnesia element but even if so, Fei does feel the sympathy even if, quite frankly, he's not sure he WANTS to know what his past memories are. Whenever he thinks he has one, it's usually JUST PLAIN AWFUL.
But then he adds, "Heh... they're some friends. I guess I'm the same way, though." He smiles. "If I ever get a memory back and you're in it, though, I'll be sure to let you know!"
Uh unless it involves the whole trying to kill each other thing. Fei gives it even odds normally but Avril seems nice, so it's probably pretty unlikely. "You hungry?" He adds.
<Pose Tracker> Avril Vent Fleur has posed.
To Avril's credit, she does listen intently the entire time Fei explains, punctuating a few of his comments here and there with a nod.
Almost as if this is the first time she's heard it. "Oh, I see. So if you succeed in your next match, you might still win the tournament," she says, recapping everything he's said in her own way. "But any further losses will eliminate you from the competition. That seems like a troubling position to be in, as you cannot afford to lose."
Memories are... troublesome, aren't they. To be honest, Avril is fine as she is, but much in the way one can't help but poke a sore tooth with a tongue, there's the nagging sense that she must find out.
And if there's one thing she has a firm sense of, it's that if she's started this quest, she must see it all the way through.
"I appreciate it," she says simply, then smiles. "Should I recall anything about you," and more than the nagging sense that they've met, or something like that, "I will let you know. Is that right?"
She lapses into silence, then, gaze lingering on him, then sliding towards the distance, where...
"Oh? ...Oh, yes, actually. I believe that Dean and Rebecca might like to eat as well. Shall I introduce you?"
The shouting, at least, died down some time ago. So perhaps at least Fei's first meeting with Avril's friends won't be Rebecca putting the boot in.
(Dean probably deserved it, whatever it was)
<Pose Tracker> Fei Fong Wong has posed.
"It's alright. While I don't really want to embarrass myself or anything, I'm not exactly aiming for the top." Too much attention, for starters. It could be bad. He beams brightly with a big smile. "My actual job is piracy." He has had to adapt to be ok with this fact so he kind of treats it like 'no big deal' which means he's not exceptionally quiet about it. It's not like he's in Aveh at the moment anyway. Either way, THE PACT is formed. It may not mean anything for a while, of course.
"They sound like good people." In fact, considering that Dean and Rebecca are small town folks themselves, he might get a little misty-eyed at seeing people like the ones from Lahan. But he'll get along.
Well, for the most part. Dean's love of golems and giant robots is gonna wear quick on Mr. Hates Gears And Fighting, even if he is perhaps a little less Hates Gears And Fighting than he was in the prologue.
"I'm feeling pretty good today so it'll be my treat! Just don't bankrupt me!"
Life is kind of turning up roses lately, actually. Sure, there was that bad thing in Old Petra, but nothing PERMANENTLY bad happened and if anything, he seems to be making more friends. Maybe the Drifter life isn't so bad.
Or maybe this is the calm before the storm. Fei is more accustomed to that result but you never know. Maybe this is the start of his happy ending.
(It's not).