Day 35: Twin Pines Restaurant

[byname-bynature.livejournal.com]

(From here!)

Artemis walked into the restaurant and glanced around at the decor. He wasn't impressed, but he wasn't disdainful either. He simply smiled. It was nice... for a town with a population of barely three hundred.

The boy smiled up at the person up front. "Two, if you please."

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[vladville.livejournal.com]

"You mean, if we're normal to be from an Earth? I'm not certain. The last several days, I've found myself increasingly meeting with individuals from other worlds, accustomed to other bodies. It's been educational, at least," Vlad answered lightly, casting a positive spin on his meetings. Really, aside from the overly familiar individual on the bus, they had been pleasant overall. Perhaps more pleasant than the openly human meetings, on average.

"I'm afraid I specialize more in technology than in art, not to say I don't appreciate it as an amateur collector." Most of Vlad's home decorations were actually football themed, but there were a few busts here and there, some paintings. The question of what 'other' businessmen possessed was entertaining, as he contemplated it himself. True, something set him aside from the average businessman, but did they all have something shared as a group? Not that it mattered, so long as he possessed more of it.

Vlad waved a hand loosely at the suggestion that they were all insane. "I suppose it's possible we're all actually insane, or all brains in jars, or any number of things... I'm not much of a philosopher, really. So long as I'm sane enough to know who I am and what I'm doing, and to avoid needing sedation from our fine hosts during the daytime, I'd call my mental health in order." At least it had been a general statement. Vlad really wasn't up to being called a 'fruitloop' this afternoon.

[beloved-less.livejournal.com]

Soubi nodded. There certainly did seem to be many mentions of stranger worlds than the one they knew. It really was like being at one of those conventions with cosplayers and avid anime fans. Only these people really believed it. Hm. Would some people think of Soubi like that? An...anime character wannabe? Or anime character full stop. Some strange fellow pulled from the pages of a comic book? Well, he supposed he would be a main character. He was sure of it. He'd be portrayed as Ritsuka's faithful and flawless Fighter! Yes. He rather liked that.

"I can't say it's an education I'd previously have had any interest in...." he pointed out. He was quite through with all the schooling that had come before college. Now he was focussed on painting. When he wasn't focussed on other things.... Kio would disagree and scold him for being interested in only one thing, which was not his art project. At least not yet....

Dammit. He could pull himself away from his Sacrifice physically, but his mind still wandered back to the boy.

"Technology?" he asked, actually a little interested. The Academy was rather proud of it's technology, although he'd had little to do with it himself.

"I see, so you enjoy art. Do you have any preferences?" It was clear that Soubi was a little more in tune with this topic somehow. It wasn't something he did on purpose or was aware of, but the truth would always seem truer no matter how well you lied.

Soubi frowned for a moment, thinking. "There was a film like that, wasn't there? Where nothing was real. It's quite unsettling to think about it. But I know who I am," he smiled. Like hell. He was growing less and less sure with each passing day. But he had himself convinced otherwise.

[vladville.livejournal.com]

[three years later... --; I'm sorry!!]

The ratio of fictional-to-real or fantastic-to-ordinary at Landel's didn't particularly bother Vlad, considering he had a doorway to an entirely bizarre alternate dimension in his own basement and had played with creating creatures like those that lived in the other world. And he knew for a fact that some of the stories of that other world had become fiction in his own world, too distinct to forget yet too unbelievable to remain in the public consciousness as more than fairy tales. All of this was just a larger-scale version of that, what might happen if he'd had doorways to multiple dimensions instead of the one.

"I have to say I've enjoyed it, myself. It broadens my vision, I'd like to think. Helps me become a better person as a whole, to hear about such different experiences." Vlad answered breezily, gesturing limply with one arm in what was almost a shrug. "Technology, yes... I recently acquired a company that has been focusing on developing functional independent space travel at a far more efficient speed than previously thought possible. They also work on satellites and surface-to-orbit communication systems... I think privately funded space travel is the stage of the future, Soubi-san."

Was that honorific correct? Agatsu... the other name already escaped him, too long and foreign to recall after one hearing. Well, the boy was younger, he'd probably let it slide. Besides, maybe it would be a mild distraction as Vlad avoided trying to answer the question about art. His ignorance of Japanese culture was easier to admit to than his ignorance of art beyond 'what other people would also likely hang in their mansions.'

"Perhaps that's why I enjoy meeting these new people, it reminds me of my work at home, although I suppose space travel no further than the moon and speaking with actual aliens is quite different." Vlad chuckled self-indulgently. "I think the question of whether we live in an illusion, whether we can 'pierce the veil' or break the shell of the world or what-not, has been in human minds since long before Plato's allegory of the cave, and even if I don't watch many popular films, I'm sure it has been expressed there a few times."