[RL with Setsuna, backdated to the 14th.]

[nonesodangerous]

There were several things noticeably wrong with the way Tieria woke up. First, that he was lying down, on solid earth, rather than floating peacefully in zero-g. Second, that he was staring up at the sky. Thirdly, and most importantly, he couldn't feel his arm. However, instead of the more serious issue of the arm being missing, it was instead under a large weight. A large, Setsuna-shaped weight.

((Follow on from this.))

Comments

[doomedyouth00.livejournal.com]

Years as a soldier meant that it took next to nothing to wake Setsuna up. Although of course, this wasn’t the type of situation that resulted in death if he wasn't immediately awake and aware of his surroundings (at least, in theory it wasn't). It was unsurprising then that all it took was a change in Tieria's breathing and a slight tensing of his body to pull Setsuna into consciousness.

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

"...Setsuna F. Seiei," began Tieria, in a blunt, clipped fashion, gaze fixed on the sky. "What are you doing?"

[doomedyouth00.livejournal.com]

Setsuna didn't answer immediately; he sat up, wincing a bit when he realised how stiff his neck was. Apparently Tieria didn't make an overly comfortable pillow. Rolling his head gently, he kept his back to the other boy, his thoughts racing.

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

Tieria pulled his arm from where it had been pressed into the grass, and rubbed the feeling back into it. He glowered at the back of Setsuna's head.

"I asked you a question."

[doomedyouth00.livejournal.com]

"..."

Looking over his shoulder at Tieria, Setsuna frowned, trying to work out why exactly he had just woken up from a sleep in the park, with Tieria of all people.

"Sleeping." He answered Tieria's question eventually. Sure, it was an obvious answer that was bound to just piss Tieria off, but that's what he got for asking such a stupid question in the first place.

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

Scowling, Tieria stood up and brushed the grass off his clothes angrily.

"Perhaps the question should have been why were you doing it," he spat.

[doomedyouth00.livejournal.com]

Setsuna rolled his eyes. It was just like Tieria to blame it all on him when he was as clueless as Tieria anyway. He looked up at Tieria from his seat on the grass indifferently.

"I suppose I was tired," He replied drily, his tone not giving away the fact that he was just as freaked out about the situation as Tieria was.

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

"That smart attitude won't get you anywhere, Setsuna," said Tieria, growing increasingly more impatient. "Where are we, anyway?"

[doomedyouth00.livejournal.com]

Setsuna had become something of a pro at ignoring Tieria's bitchy remarks, so his comment didn't faze him in the slightest. He looked around him, blinking as he realised that it was the park a couple of streets away from where he lived.

"...Japan. This is near my apartment." Setsuna's frown deepened as his memories of the past few hours slowly started to return bit by bit...he knew they were in the park because they'd gone for a walk...but the exact details were still somewhat fuzzy.

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

"That doesn't make sense. We don't have any reason to be here. I don't have any reason to be--" Tieria lowered to his voice to a quiet hiss, "--on Earth at all! There's nothing scheduled for the next 120 hours!"

He started to pick at some of the more persistant pieces of grass on his arm, looking as if he was trying to remove all traces of the ground.

[doomedyouth00.livejournal.com]

"...What's the date?" Setsuna asked slowly, finally getting to his feet too and facing Tieria. Could Tieria really not remember anything, or was he just not trying hard enough?

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

Setsuna's question momentarily put an end to Tieria's ranting.

"The fourteenth of February," he replied, watching Setsuna, faintly confused. Something struck him as important, but he couldn't think of what it was. The date held no particular significance that he could think of. It was the date the first satellite of the GPS had entered orbit, and also that of the NEAR Shoemaker entering orbit around 433 Eros, but these facts were practically ancient history, nothing important. As for human social conventions...

"...Valentine's Day."

[doomedyouth00.livejournal.com]

Setsuna didn't reply, he just stood there, watching Tieria and waiting for the penny to drop. By now he had remembered that Tieria had randomly turned up on his doorstep and pretty much demanded to be taken out on a ...date, if you could call it that. The faintest of blushes appeared on Setsuna's cheeks at that thought, and when he remembered how Tieria had kissed him. It had seemed okay to behave like that earlier, but now he couldn't fathom why either of them would do such a thing.

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

Tieria remained silent as the earlier events slowly came back to him. None of it made any sense. It was like watching two completely different people, or at least, some strange, alternate universe versions of themselves. A feeling of dread settled over him. He needed to run a diagnostic as soon as possible, it almost seemed as if he'd been tampered with.

...but a malfunction would only account for his behaviour, not Setsuna's. Unless he'd just been humouring him. That didn't add up either, it didn't appear to be in Setsuna's nature to play along with something like this.

"...Setsuna, I. I. I think there's something wrong. I need to return immediately, I need to check with Veda, I..."

[doomedyouth00.livejournal.com]

Not really knowing how best to respond, Setsuna nodded once. He wasn't sure if Veda would be able to explain anything or answer any of their questions, but it didn't surprise him that Tieria would want to get back to check anyway.

"...Did something force us to act like that?" He asked quietly. He didn't expect Tieria to know the answer, but he was pretty freaked out about the whole thing too, even if it wasn't obvious.

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

The possibility of outside influence was more disconcerting than temporary insanity. The thought that someone could have altered the way they behaved was a sickening one. But on the other hand...

"Why would it? What's the advantage of making us act like that? Wouldn't it have made for sense for us to...to kill each other, or something?"

[doomedyouth00.livejournal.com]

Setsuna shrugged; Tieria made a good point, but Setsuna was still inclined to believe that something had happened to make them act like that. Mostly because he remembered feeling attracted to Tieria earlier, and now all such feelings had disappeared, which made absolutely no sense.

"Perhaps. But it seems strange that we would behave like that of our own volition."

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

Frowning, Tieria tried to think of other possibilities. Could they have been drugged? No, because he would have to have been drugged before coming down to Earth, and the chances of someone drugging him on the Ptolemaios were slim to none. This was beyond a practical joke, and he didn't suspect anyone on the ship was that malicious. (He doubted Haptism's "issue" would present itself in such a childish fashion.) And besides, no drug would have that kind of effect. An aphrodesiac wouldn't cause him to single out Setsuna and make the long journey down to the planet. Would drugs even have an effect on him? And how would they be administered to both of them? No, drugging was impossible.

He was rapidly running out of ideas, he would have to research it. Even if Veda had nothing in its databases about such a phenomenon, there was always the Internet.

...the Internet. That place.

"...Setsuna."

[doomedyouth00.livejournal.com]

Setsuna tore his gaze away from the grass (Tieria had been silent, thinking, for a long time, and Setsuna's attention had wandered somewhat. He had been gazing at the ground thoughtfully, trying to think of a reason behind their actions) and looked up at Tiera once more.

"...What?"

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

Tieria was hesitant to explain the conclusion he'd come to. After vehemently denying the possibility of some kind of interdimensional hub (even now the idea sounded ridiculous) he felt somewhat stupid bringing it up as a potential cause. He took a deep breath, and tried to explain as best he could without sounding like a fool.

"I can only think one thing that could do something like this, something with such a dramatic effect yet with no motive. But it would mean," he paused, moving his focus to the ground before continuing, "that I had made a rather large error in judgement. An underestimation, if you will."

He glanced up at Setsuna. "A virus from that community. Which would mean that it is in fact real, and not some game."

[doomedyouth00.livejournal.com]

"..."

For a moment, Setsuna was speechless. He personally hadn't given the community a whole lot of thought: for him, it was just somewhere to go if he got bored. Although he wasn't sure if he wanted to believe that everyone there was from different worlds, it didn't really affect him, so he didn't let it get to him too much. Tieria, on the other hand, seemed to get very frustrated about it, he knew. Which made it all the more surprising that the only valid excuse he could come up with was to blame it on the community.

That being said, it was also a very far-fetched excuse. Setsuna didn't see how a website could possibly cause people to act in a certain way.

He eventually spoke, his tone flat and almost ironic. "...The community."

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

"Look, I don't want to believe it either," said Tieria, getting irritated at Setsuna's tone. "But if you can think of something that makes more sense then by all means, please tell me."

[doomedyouth00.livejournal.com]

"I thought you didn't believe the stuff from the community?" Setsuna asked calmly. He was intrigued to find out what had caused Tieria's sudden change in attitude, so figured he shouldn't wind him up too much.

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

"I don't! Didn't. Whatever. But I honestly can't think of anything else. It fits too well. Of course, the ramifications of this situation could be staggering..."

Tieria went quiet, seemingly in the process of attempting to calculate just how badly this could affect their situation.

[doomedyouth00.livejournal.com]

"I suppose..." Setsuna also fell quiet, watching Tieria as the other boy thought. He honestly had done a complete 180 and had decided that the people from the community had been speaking the truth. Setsuna didn't quite know what to think about the matter.

"So. Something happened on the community that made us think we...were attracted to each other?" It didn't sound right saying it aloud, and it made Setsuna want to cringe from embarrassment. "Is that what you're saying?" He asked, trying to get the conversation back to the point at hand.

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

Tieria turned away, unable to even look in Setsuna's general direction.

"Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying."

[doomedyouth00.livejournal.com]

"So the viruses they talked about are real." It was more of a statement than a question. Setsuna frowned; this whole thing was giving him a headache. It didn't make sense, and yet, there was nothing else he could think of that could have caused it. He lifted a hand to rub at his forehead.

"I'm going home."

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

"Wait!" Tieria blurted out, almost turning to reach for Setsuna. "Did it..."

He trailed off, changing his mind. "You won't tell them, will you? The others, I mean."

[doomedyouth00.livejournal.com]

Setsuna had already turned away to begin walking back, but at Tieria's words he stopped, although he didn't turn to face him again.

"...No."

The thought hadn't even occurred to him. Why would he go running to the others and tell them? He was just as embarrassed by the whole thing as Tieria presumably was.

[nonesodangerous.livejournal.com]

Tieria said nothing else. He waited as Setsuna walked away, before heading in the direction of the airport, to start the long journey back home to the Ptolemaios.