003-- Wonder how long I'll beable to see the moon like this?

[stillshinigami]

Duo sighed, crunching into the fish he'd cooked over the fire that he built out in the court yard. It'd been working well since he'd decided to reduce the ammount of that gruel in his diet, but he knew the fish wouldn't last. Not if people started eating in his example. He finished his meal quickly and lay back, crunching on an apple and looking at the sliver of a moon in the sky.

"Strange. Last time I looked at the moon I could see home." He said to himself through a bite of his apple. "Not like the moon even looks the same when it's full."

He grimaced, looking back up to the stars. There was a little pain there, homesick. The thought of never getting home? Turned his stomach inside and out. A hand falling on his stomach to try and quell that sensation, and he looked back up to the crescent thinking back to the days of his youth in that church. What would the old Father tell him to do at a time like this? Pray for guidance and answers? Pray that he'd get home in one piece? Sounded like just another lost cause to him.

But then again, wouldn't it be ironic if he were wrong? If all he had to do to get out of here was to pray to the lord on high?

"Dammit." With that thought cycling through his mind, he planted both of his palms against his closed eyes, then pulling down at his face. So damn this whole place to hell. He didn't know how much more he could take.

Comments

[stillshinigami]

Duo heaved a heavy breath, both arms going to clutch at the hair in back of his head. How is he not supposed to freak out?

"Well I was hopin' it'd be because you're in a magic castle in another time period, that that would kinda... You know. Be a little more important than the fact that I've got a time lost double." He shrugs like it's no big deal.

"Come on Quatre. He's just... Me."

[duomaxwell]

Since he'd been down on the ground and more focused on the busty girl he'd landed on, Duo had failed to recognize Quatre's voice as quickly as he would have otherwise.

"Cat--!"

Or maybe it wasn't that. Maybe it was the fact that this one was obviously older, and more familiar with his short haired double than himself. This wasn't his Quatre, and that part only took a second to sink in. Momentary happiness shifted in to a bit of a pout as he looked away, stuffing hands in his pockets now that he was standing.

"... hey..." he grumbled.

Haku, meanwhile, continued to feel like an outsider and wasn't really sure what to say or do. If she tried to leave again some other random person they knew might wind up coming through the door and knocking her down!

[shadeofawinner]

"Duo! There are TWO of you! Magic castle or not! What the hell is going on here!?" This was a little too much to be dropped on him all at once. While it was great to see his friend, seeing two of him was just bizarre and wrong on so many levels. He had enough trouble dealing with his feelings towards one of his friend.

[stillshinigami]

"Yeah. I know." There was a struggle in his voice to keep it level. The repetition was frustrating, as if it was so impossible to believe.

"I don't know how it happened, it just is." He caught the look from his double and flashed a bemused smirk very briefly. The look on his face? He knew what it meant. Don't be jealous, shorty.

"So... Yeah. Quatre Duo, Duo Quatre."

[duomaxwell]

It was hard not to be. He still hadn't seen much of his Heero, but that was par the course, so the thought that maybe, just maybe he could have had a friendly familiar face there...

But... it was still Quatre. In a sense. He managed a weird, awkward smile and waved a bit stiffly. He bit back an urge for a potentially tasteless joke and instead focused on the poor quiet girl he had run in to.

"And who's the chick?" he asked, motioning with a thumb at her. She let out a squeak at being noticed, shrinking back even further and earning a raised eyebrow at her shyness. Wilting flower indeed. Shame for some one so unconventionally attractive.

[shadeofawinner]

"That's...Haku Yowane. We met in the room with the coffins." He said, still trying to wrap his mind around this place and its strangeness. It was strange seeing Duo as he was when they'd first met all those years ago. When he'd first had...that yearning in his heart.

[stillshinigami]

'Yearning' eh Quatre? Very subtle. Be glad Duo couldn't hear your thoughts.

"Hey Haku." He waved, then gestured to his young double. "Him an' me met there as well." Duo glanced over at the embers in his fire pit, taking a few step over to it.

"If I'da known you were comin' mighta come down to see ya out of those. Still tired, Quatre?"

[shadeofawinner]

"Yeah I am, but that's nothing new, is it?" He said, still looking over the other Duo. Standing side by side they could have been twins. "So no one knows why we're here? And considering the ilk of other persons here it can't be some move by what's left of the Barton Foundation or some other faction."

[stoicperfection]

The last time Heero saw Duo, the older version, he had stressed interest in going outside to the courtyard. So that was where he decided to look for him. He made his way from the common areas to the exit leading outside, then looked around for a moment to take in his surroundings.

He walked out into the courtyard, keeping his ears open and listening people. However he ended up smelling something cooking and noticing the remnants of smoke just a little ways from his location. Following that, he eventually made his way to the small crowd gathered around a fire pit.

[duomaxwell]

Haku had bowed politely to the two doubles, but remained quiet as they talked. She didn't want to interrupt their meeting, however odd it may have been. Which meant when she realized there was some one else approaching (this time, thankfully, NOT in a way that they were going to run in to her) she didn't say anything then either. She simply moved off to the side so he could join them.

Duo, however, didn't notice that Heero had arrived, focused on Quatre's question at that moment.

"No clue. Been here a while and still haven't come across much more than a lot of empty space and... weird, freaky shadow... things."

[shadeofawinner]

"Haku and I managed to avoid a few of those..." He scratched the back of his head. Nothing about this place was adding up.

[stillshinigami]

Duo had sat away from the entrance, looking up at the people who surrounded his fire. It wasn't long til he noticed someone approaching from behind.

Hm? Was that-- Yeah. "Hey. Heero. Quatre's here."

[stoicperfection]

Heero stepped into the spot that Haku left open to him and nodded ion greeting to the older Duo. Then he turned his attention to the younger Duo, who looked like he could be his, and Quatre, who obviously wasn't the one he knew.

[duomaxwell]

"Geez, Heero, 'bout time you show up. Fashionably late as usual, eh?" Duo said once the other pilot had joined and his double had greeted him. He really didn't mean anything by the joke, but even Heero knew if Duo wasn't saying something vaguely jerk-ass-ish towards him then there was probably something wrong.

[stoicperfection]

That was very true. He would have worried if Duo didn't say moronic things once in awhile. Or more often than that. "I was busy." He replied, crossing his arms over his chest and looking slightly amused by the exchange.

[shadeofawinner]

"Heero...?" He looked over Heero, he was younger, which meant he wasn't the Heero he knew. "Hi, nice to meet you."

[stillshinigami]

Duo wouldn't have assumed that, and he didn't. All he knew that was when he met Heero, he was far too young to be the man he grew into in his own world. All he saw was the kid he met on that seaport base all those years ago.

He got to his feet and walked to greet Heero proper, grinning at his double's attitude towards him.

[duomaxwell]

"When are you not busy," Duo grunted, rolling his eyes.

Haku looked around at the group curiously, wondering what it must have been like to meet people that you thought you knew but turned out to be completely different. She didn't want to interrupt, though, so she shuffled over closer to where the fire had been, sitting on her knees on the grassy ground quietly.

[stoicperfection]

"I keep one step ahead." He shot Duo a look before he turned his attention to the older version of Quatre, the one he was sure belonged to the older Duo's world.

There wasn't much he knew about this Quatre. Duo hadn't really spoken about him much, but from he could see this version was more subdued than his own. Even so, it was still nice to see him. "Likewise."