Now, Guinaifen wasn't exactly sure what she had expected. She'd expected something, but if challenged, she wouldn't be able to say what, exactly, she had expected. Just that she had expected something.
The guy did look like a bit of...he kind of reminded her of the Helm Master? Lady Yukong. Not that Guinaifen had really talked to the woman, but there was a sort of presence that was similar between the two of them; they knew who they were and what they were, and they'd refuse to budge in the face of adversity or strange lights leading them to the cusp of a revelation. That sort of presence.
But she hadn't expected the bow, and as Dimitri does that she just stares like she got slapped in the face with a tuna or something equally random and unexpected and she's trying to process what just happened. It's also kind of nostalgic?
Difficult to explain.
"Uh."
Right. Right, it's a performance, she can act like it's a performance. She smiles as if they hadn't just been kidnapped, charged with a crime, and then bathed in white light while on the cusp of a revelation. A pleasant, confident smile. She knows what she's doing! She knows where she's going! She knows how to handle this and absolutely does not want to scream into a pillow.
"My name is Guinaifen! It's nice to meet you too, but maybe we oughta have this conversation somewhere else...? It would be pretty bad if we were in the middle of talking about whatever and then the light came back."
sorry for the delay! mostly because of a cross-country move / heatwave knocking me out
He does notice her hesitation but it's admittedly not... as uncommon a reaction as one might think. Among his peers in the beginning, especially, quite a few had been starstruck to be attending the academy with the crown prince. While he asked to be treated as their equal rather than a future king, well- It hadn't always worked out that way.
"Guinaifen," he echoes, the name foreign on his tongue. He does his best though to enunciate it clearly and, hopefully, cause no offense. After all, Dimitri is well aware the trouble his last name could give to some. "Yes, you make a good point. The last thing I'd want is for conversation with a new acquaintance to be interrupted so. You can lead the way, if you'd like. I'm still learning my way around." And maybe she is too, but it seemed only polite to allow the lady to lead since she was the one who wanted to move elsewhere.
Guinaifen notices the careful enunciation, and can't help but- see, there's a certain irony. Here she is, having adopted a new name - Guinaifen - in part to make it easier to assimilate onto the Xianzhou Luofu and make it easier to start a new life there. Untold well meaning aunties and uncles stumbling over her real name, Guenevere. People trying to pronounce it as carefully as Dimitri just handled Guinaifen.
...it would be really awkward to offer Guenevere after he made the effort, though...
...well, anyway.
"I'm new here too." She says this like it's a secret, grabbing Dimitri's hand and just tugging him out of the creepy light-infested room of visions, look, momentum is salvation, they can worry later, at leisure. "I think I saw a cafe? Or we could just walk around a bit. Promise me you'll shake me if I start staring off into nothing again, though."
It would be awkward, yes, but Dimitri would find it also endearing if she tried to accommodate him. But no, he'll get it down- It just might take a little bit of time and reassurance that he's correct.
"Oh, you-" he starts, but then is cut short by the simple act of her grabbing his hand. It's such a surreal, novel thing. Most people wouldn't dream of coming close enough to touch let alone just tugging the crown prince along via handhold.
"R-right, of course," he offers, brain catching up with what she's said instead of just focusing on hand. "The same goes for me, naturally. A cafe sounds lovely though. Somewhere to sit and collect ourselves a bit, maybe?"
"Great!" she says, quietly regretting the fact they're not on the Xianzhou Luofu- new experiences are great, sure, but her every instinct is screaming at her, and they're telling her this: Dimitri could really use an Immortal's Delight right about now. (A nigh-legendary and somewhat infamous frozen drink with boba, whipped cream, way too many calories, one sip and you'll see stars and the resulting sugar rush will make you hit twice as hard in the next battle. No way this could go wrong.)
The aggressive hand holding/tugging/getting out lasts until they're out of the courtyard of light, after which Guinaifen releases Dimitri's hand...in part because she needs to talk with her hands, and it's hard to do that when one's occupied, right? "I'm kinda new here. I wish we were home because I know all the best places on the Luofu- I like new experiences as much as the next girl, but sometimes you just want something easy." It's fine, she can figure out a place... "Are you more of a milkshake sort of guy, or do you like tea?"
He enjoys the contact while it lasts. For as novel as it is, he also understands it wouldn't be becoming of a young lady such as herself to hold hands with a strange boy like him in the public eye. Nevermind that the public here has no idea who they are so it doesn't matter- Old habits just die hard and Dimitri will be holding himself as a crown prince for a while yet.
"I agree, to wanting something easy." Especially since so far things here have been anything but. At least Guinaifen appears more knowledgeable about modern things than he does and is happy to lead the way. "To that end: Tea is more suitable for me. Do you think they'll have chamomile?"
"...chamomile?" She looks at Dimitri, half-cocking her head as she thinks about the question.
...it takes her a moment to place what chamomile might be - medicinally, she's more used to deer antler and mountain deer mint. In terms of food flavors, she lives in a land of jasmine and taro and lotus root, and stranger flavors. But it's not like Guinaifen hadn't traveled around the universe. She ate lizard, she wolfed down olm, she's had an omelette.
So, she's pretty sure she has some idea what chamomile tea is. Well. She knows it's tea, obviously, but-
Anyway.
"It might not be that kind of place, but I haven't actually been inside," Guinaifen says, somewhat apologetically, a little sheepishly: she's letting this guy down in terms of showing him around! Normally, she's more on the ball. Back home, she'd know the seven best places which are in the area and they could pick from them at their leisure. Here, it's the nearsighted leading the blind.
She sidles in again, gives Dimitri a friendly nudge, like they're two chums and hadn't just met not that long ago. (Don't worry about the details! Just go with it.) "To tell you the truth, I've spent so much time trying to get my feet under me - you probably have no idea how hard it is to get a crowd's attention when they don't know what to expect, but trust me, it's pretty rough...anyway. I've spent so much time doing that, I haven't really had a chance to look around?"
As far as Dimitri is concerned, it isn't a let down at all. In fact, he's a bit pleasantly surprised that they'll be experiencing it together then. While he may be glad to blindly follow behind, in terms of people to tag along... He's probably one of the easiest to do so with. She likely won't hear nary a complaint out of him overall. He's a very good boy.
Even the little nudge - which flusters him slightly - is taken in good stride.
"That does sound difficult," he agrees, giving a solemn-seeming nod. It's not, he's just unfortunately far too serious for his own good sometimes. "And I think I understand. While new myself, I can tell it's going to take some time to get used to everything."
That's a solemn-seeming nod. Guinaifen's making a list of assumptions and conclusions in her head, some accurate, some not so much, some to be decided, some to be revised. But that's how these things go when all you know of someone is that they're very proper (especially compared to her friends), and they hold themselves in a proper way, nod in a solemn way, and also that they have a tendency to get lost in the light with you. (The last one is probably not a good thing, but these things happen, apparently.)
But, ultimately, all that matters is that he's going along with getting tea, and seems to be friendly, and it's not so bad having a friend who's kind of on the proper side, right?
"Yeah." She laughs a little, a soft huff, and her voice lowers to something a little bit more conspiratorial. Like she's telling Dimitri a secret? That sort of voice. It's not that much of a secret, but sometimes the mood's important. "It's not the first time I had to deal with something like this, honestly, but the other times at least I knew where I was going. You know? It wasn't you're-"
Guinaifen gestures. It's a little theatrical thing, a bit playful. But one doesn't make a living putting on shows without developing a theatrical and playful side. "Here one day and then poof!" She gestures again. Poof! "Somewhere else entirely and no way to write home, no idea which way to go even if I could leave- at least I'd heard of where I was going and where I ended up."
But- she nudges Dimitri again, nodding her head to the left, they're making a left, she's pretty sure the tea place is to the left (is it? they'll find out) and- yeah. "It's probably the same with you, right?"
If 'proper' is all she thinks of him so far, she isn't wrong. Despite his distaste for being treated so different due to his nobility, the mannerism aren't about to leave him anytime soon.
"Yes, that is... certainly different. All of this is," he agrees. "So there really is no way to contact home." He knew but her saying so really confirm it all: He's an entirely new place, separate from all that he's ever known. He doesn't even have a way to connect with those back home and ensure that they're, at the very least, okay. He'll need to see what he can do to figure out if that is the case.
"I wasn't even traveling when I arrived here. I should have been going to do something tasked of me, but then... It gets fuzzy, admittedly." The sinking feeling that something was wrong, mostly, and he needed to fix it in that last battle. Did he? He hopes so. For now, he can't know but- Maybe someday since people from his future are here. Someday, he'll learn his fate.
For now though? All he can do is enjoy some tea and company and try not to worry so much for once in his life.
Guinaifen shoots a...concerned look at Dimitri. (Concern's a good word. Concern has the right impression, the right mood.) It sharpens briefly as he uses the word fuzzy and she wonders; is this a side effect of the light? Did something else happen? Is it her business? Probably not, actually, and she probably should leave well enough alone, but she's also invested. A little. And concerned. Also a little.
But that's okay. It's none of her business why this guy's memory is fuzzy, and, so, with determination, she grabs Dimitri's hand and sets a slightly brisker pace as if the white light was going to follow after them, tugging him along if he's not good at keeping up. (Not too fast, it's not a sprint, but it goes from a walk to a walk with purpose.)
"Fuzzy how- doesn't matter, and you don't need to tell me if you don't want to. You'll probably remember in no time," she says with confidence, and depending on how things go she might one day think back to saying that and ask herself why the hell she thought it was a good idea. But the future is not set in stone, and that's a Future Problem for a Future Guinaifen. Present Guinaifen has no idea that she might be stepping in anything. "Ending up in a place like this would throw anybody off. And hey- if my people find me first I'm sure they'll be glad to help you figure out a way back home. The Xianzhou Alliance travels for great distances and meets with all sorts of people."
Their destination: an off-brand Starbucks, or the setting's closest equivalent thereof to it. To Guinaifen's eyes it feels weirdly sterile, in a way she can't quite articulate but has on the tip of her tongue. The name's breathtakingly generic and utterly forgettable, and as Guinaifen sees it she regrets not having dredged up the location of some boba place with enough sugar to rot teeth in real time.
Thankfully, he has legs for days and is able to keep up with the quickened pace. Dimitri isn't sure, admittedly, what brought it about but he isn't about to mention it. "I certainly hope so," he agrees, to the mention of his hazy memory. It's difficult to say for sure if it was just the strange circumstances of arriving, the stress in the moment, or even something as odd as that white light causing the lapse but... He knows that worrying about it overly much won't do him any good.
Not that he won't, of course, but still!
"They sound quite interesting," he notes, to the mention of traveling. "I never ventured far beyond my own country back home. Sometimes, to the nation bordering the north and then to the middle of Fodlan for my time at the academy but... It wasn't safe for me to be away from home - even if attended - for long." That's really the first indication, beyond the physical tells, that he might be someone important and not just a regular awkward teenage boy. He is that too though, yes.
...now, the thing is, there's something about Dimitri that seems familiar- no, not like that. Guinaifen knows for a fact she's never met this guy before in her life. Probably. Maybe? But even if they had it would've been when they were toddlers, or something, and that doesn't really count in terms of meeting someone.
No, this is the first time. (Probably.)
But there's something familiar in what he's saying that she can't quite pin down, something she knows she should recognize but can't quite, like an itch she can't quite scratch that's going to drive her nuts.
...it's probably nothing?
"I know how that goes," she says with deep sympathy, leading the way into Discount Starbucks with the bravado of a girl who is assuming she'll have enough money to cover two drinks and hopes she won't be proven otherwise. "Bad weather? Things that'll eat you if you get too far from a city?" And, then, a bit more gently, "People who might not have your best interests in mind and maybe you wouldn't wanna be stuck alone with them?"
If she is, Dimitri is ever the gentleman and will do what he can to pick up the tab. He's also a broke ass bitch though so, you know, dining and dashing - despite his morals - might also be an inevitability.
"The latter is... likely more the case than it isn't," he admits, giving a grim nod. Weather and monsters he could brave. Even others, he didn't worry about himself if they tried anything. But that wasn't very becoming of a prince, was it? So, it was best if he was kept safe either at home or the Academy grounds.
"Likely due to my position. Though here, I'm not sure it'll matter much."
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expiationlogs2024-06-10 07:58 am
no subject
The guy did look like a bit of...he kind of reminded her of the Helm Master? Lady Yukong. Not that Guinaifen had really talked to the woman, but there was a sort of presence that was similar between the two of them; they knew who they were and what they were, and they'd refuse to budge in the face of adversity or strange lights leading them to the cusp of a revelation. That sort of presence.
But she hadn't expected the bow, and as Dimitri does that she just stares like she got slapped in the face with a tuna or something equally random and unexpected and she's trying to process what just happened. It's also kind of nostalgic?
Difficult to explain.
"Uh."
Right. Right, it's a performance, she can act like it's a performance. She smiles as if they hadn't just been kidnapped, charged with a crime, and then bathed in white light while on the cusp of a revelation. A pleasant, confident smile. She knows what she's doing! She knows where she's going! She knows how to handle this and absolutely does not want to scream into a pillow.
"My name is Guinaifen! It's nice to meet you too, but maybe we oughta have this conversation somewhere else...? It would be pretty bad if we were in the middle of talking about whatever and then the light came back."
sorry for the delay! mostly because of a cross-country move / heatwave knocking me out
"Guinaifen," he echoes, the name foreign on his tongue. He does his best though to enunciate it clearly and, hopefully, cause no offense. After all, Dimitri is well aware the trouble his last name could give to some. "Yes, you make a good point. The last thing I'd want is for conversation with a new acquaintance to be interrupted so. You can lead the way, if you'd like. I'm still learning my way around." And maybe she is too, but it seemed only polite to allow the lady to lead since she was the one who wanted to move elsewhere.
no subject
...it would be really awkward to offer Guenevere after he made the effort, though...
...well, anyway.
"I'm new here too." She says this like it's a secret, grabbing Dimitri's hand and just tugging him out of the creepy light-infested room of visions, look, momentum is salvation, they can worry later, at leisure. "I think I saw a cafe? Or we could just walk around a bit. Promise me you'll shake me if I start staring off into nothing again, though."
no subject
"Oh, you-" he starts, but then is cut short by the simple act of her grabbing his hand. It's such a surreal, novel thing. Most people wouldn't dream of coming close enough to touch let alone just tugging the crown prince along via handhold.
"R-right, of course," he offers, brain catching up with what she's said instead of just focusing on hand. "The same goes for me, naturally. A cafe sounds lovely though. Somewhere to sit and collect ourselves a bit, maybe?"
no subject
The aggressive hand holding/tugging/getting out lasts until they're out of the courtyard of light, after which Guinaifen releases Dimitri's hand...in part because she needs to talk with her hands, and it's hard to do that when one's occupied, right? "I'm kinda new here. I wish we were home because I know all the best places on the Luofu- I like new experiences as much as the next girl, but sometimes you just want something easy." It's fine, she can figure out a place... "Are you more of a milkshake sort of guy, or do you like tea?"
no subject
"I agree, to wanting something easy." Especially since so far things here have been anything but. At least Guinaifen appears more knowledgeable about modern things than he does and is happy to lead the way. "To that end: Tea is more suitable for me. Do you think they'll have chamomile?"
no subject
...it takes her a moment to place what chamomile might be - medicinally, she's more used to deer antler and mountain deer mint. In terms of food flavors, she lives in a land of jasmine and taro and lotus root, and stranger flavors. But it's not like Guinaifen hadn't traveled around the universe. She ate lizard, she wolfed down olm, she's had an omelette.
So, she's pretty sure she has some idea what chamomile tea is. Well. She knows it's tea, obviously, but-
Anyway.
"It might not be that kind of place, but I haven't actually been inside," Guinaifen says, somewhat apologetically, a little sheepishly: she's letting this guy down in terms of showing him around! Normally, she's more on the ball. Back home, she'd know the seven best places which are in the area and they could pick from them at their leisure. Here, it's the nearsighted leading the blind.
She sidles in again, gives Dimitri a friendly nudge, like they're two chums and hadn't just met not that long ago. (Don't worry about the details! Just go with it.) "To tell you the truth, I've spent so much time trying to get my feet under me - you probably have no idea how hard it is to get a crowd's attention when they don't know what to expect, but trust me, it's pretty rough...anyway. I've spent so much time doing that, I haven't really had a chance to look around?"
no subject
Even the little nudge - which flusters him slightly - is taken in good stride.
"That does sound difficult," he agrees, giving a solemn-seeming nod. It's not, he's just unfortunately far too serious for his own good sometimes. "And I think I understand. While new myself, I can tell it's going to take some time to get used to everything."
no subject
But, ultimately, all that matters is that he's going along with getting tea, and seems to be friendly, and it's not so bad having a friend who's kind of on the proper side, right?
"Yeah." She laughs a little, a soft huff, and her voice lowers to something a little bit more conspiratorial. Like she's telling Dimitri a secret? That sort of voice. It's not that much of a secret, but sometimes the mood's important. "It's not the first time I had to deal with something like this, honestly, but the other times at least I knew where I was going. You know? It wasn't you're-"
Guinaifen gestures. It's a little theatrical thing, a bit playful. But one doesn't make a living putting on shows without developing a theatrical and playful side. "Here one day and then poof!" She gestures again. Poof! "Somewhere else entirely and no way to write home, no idea which way to go even if I could leave- at least I'd heard of where I was going and where I ended up."
But- she nudges Dimitri again, nodding her head to the left, they're making a left, she's pretty sure the tea place is to the left (is it? they'll find out) and- yeah. "It's probably the same with you, right?"
no subject
"Yes, that is... certainly different. All of this is," he agrees. "So there really is no way to contact home." He knew but her saying so really confirm it all: He's an entirely new place, separate from all that he's ever known. He doesn't even have a way to connect with those back home and ensure that they're, at the very least, okay. He'll need to see what he can do to figure out if that is the case.
"I wasn't even traveling when I arrived here. I should have been going to do something tasked of me, but then... It gets fuzzy, admittedly." The sinking feeling that something was wrong, mostly, and he needed to fix it in that last battle. Did he? He hopes so. For now, he can't know but- Maybe someday since people from his future are here. Someday, he'll learn his fate.
For now though? All he can do is enjoy some tea and company and try not to worry so much for once in his life.
no subject
But that's okay. It's none of her business why this guy's memory is fuzzy, and, so, with determination, she grabs Dimitri's hand and sets a slightly brisker pace as if the white light was going to follow after them, tugging him along if he's not good at keeping up. (Not too fast, it's not a sprint, but it goes from a walk to a walk with purpose.)
"Fuzzy how- doesn't matter, and you don't need to tell me if you don't want to. You'll probably remember in no time," she says with confidence, and depending on how things go she might one day think back to saying that and ask herself why the hell she thought it was a good idea. But the future is not set in stone, and that's a Future Problem for a Future Guinaifen. Present Guinaifen has no idea that she might be stepping in anything. "Ending up in a place like this would throw anybody off. And hey- if my people find me first I'm sure they'll be glad to help you figure out a way back home. The Xianzhou Alliance travels for great distances and meets with all sorts of people."
Their destination: an off-brand Starbucks, or the setting's closest equivalent thereof to it. To Guinaifen's eyes it feels weirdly sterile, in a way she can't quite articulate but has on the tip of her tongue. The name's breathtakingly generic and utterly forgettable, and as Guinaifen sees it she regrets not having dredged up the location of some boba place with enough sugar to rot teeth in real time.
no subject
Not that he won't, of course, but still!
"They sound quite interesting," he notes, to the mention of traveling. "I never ventured far beyond my own country back home. Sometimes, to the nation bordering the north and then to the middle of Fodlan for my time at the academy but... It wasn't safe for me to be away from home - even if attended - for long." That's really the first indication, beyond the physical tells, that he might be someone important and not just a regular awkward teenage boy. He is that too though, yes.
no subject
No, this is the first time. (Probably.)
But there's something familiar in what he's saying that she can't quite pin down, something she knows she should recognize but can't quite, like an itch she can't quite scratch that's going to drive her nuts.
...it's probably nothing?
"I know how that goes," she says with deep sympathy, leading the way into Discount Starbucks with the bravado of a girl who is assuming she'll have enough money to cover two drinks and hopes she won't be proven otherwise. "Bad weather? Things that'll eat you if you get too far from a city?" And, then, a bit more gently, "People who might not have your best interests in mind and maybe you wouldn't wanna be stuck alone with them?"
no subject
"The latter is... likely more the case than it isn't," he admits, giving a grim nod. Weather and monsters he could brave. Even others, he didn't worry about himself if they tried anything. But that wasn't very becoming of a prince, was it? So, it was best if he was kept safe either at home or the Academy grounds.
"Likely due to my position. Though here, I'm not sure it'll matter much."