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Maybe. [ Maybe! Tidus lifts his eyes up, considering it. ]

Hearing what other people are up to, doing, what's got them interested? Their favourite shows, people... it's normal life. For me.

[ A rather important distinction to make. His eyes have flittered back down by then on Inigo, and Tidus switches his fist to rest more under his jaw. ]

I didn't read it, but all the boats in the area I used to stay in was like that. There was a way where everyone could talk about what was up. If they were seeing anything weird, sharing news. They even put together lil' get-togethers like that.

[ He scoffs. ] Most of the gramps and old mom's used it the most, but they always love talking. They were always bringin' food over to my boat when I was a kid.

[ A beat. ]

And an athlete.

[ Thanks for the distinction. Not that Inigo hasn't caught on at this point to the fact that it's normal for most people - the longer he's here on the train, the more he's aware that his world is definitely some kind of anomaly - but it's still not something he can't really phantom in Ylisse, considering the state he's seen the halidom in for most of his life.

So he's quiet, trying to imagine it in Zanarkand inside of his mind. A lot of boats, all together, old people sharing gossip.. ]

Did you like it?

[ It's maybe a bit different from the complaining this started out with, but Inigo is genuinely curious. He's not sure how he'd feel about hearing random news from random places, but hearing about Tidus's life - that much he sure is interested in. Because he's interested in Tidus. ]

And did they talk to you about that stuff too? Or only bring you food?

'Course they did! No one's just shoving food at you without saying hi. [ But it's no chide, Tidus grinning as he explains it. ] Everyone approaches you when you're famous. All I had to do was stick around in one place long enough and everyone crowded me! It was annoying sometimes... but it was- it was amazing too, [ he admits. His voice becoming a tad shy, softer. His gaze playfully going elsewhere at this honest conversation. ] I liked it.

You got people cheering you on, warning you not to lose the next game - this was more than grandpas and their moms. I was part of the big entertainment, you know! [ He brightens up. ]

If I didn't play well, I'd ruin a lot of someone's day!

It sounds like you made a lot of people really happy.

[ As unfamiliar as everything Tidus says is to him - perhaps surprisingly so, since it's not like Inigo wasn't technically a famous figure where he's from - that much Inigo can parse from what he's saying. And it makes him smile too.

Besides, it's cute. Whenever Tidus admits something so emotionally honest, he always has that shy edge to him. ]

That's great. It must've felt really good to have been able to do that for people, especially by doing something you already love so much in the first place.

You don't think about the crowds when you're in the middle of a game, but...

[ But there's a buzzing, a silly but fun way that he ends it, his head leaning this way and that. Yeah, it feels good. The excitement over blitzball feels good - a feeling he hasn't experience in so long.

He nudges Inigo on the arm instead with his. ]

You'll get it! The happy crowds and cheering. When you defeat Grima, won't you? I know you said you're worried about the future... but won't everyone be real happy to get rid of it?

[ It's a bit of a surprise to have the conversation suddenly flipped around to be about his experience instead. It's noticable too in the way Inigo pauses. His jaw drops a little, his expression turning more awkward. ]

Ah, well.. Most people in the past don't even really know that Grima is about to come back. We're trying to prevent it from showing up in the first place, after all. [ Because when Grima showed up in their future, it had already been too late. Nothing could stop a threat that large. ]

So the best outcome would just be if.. nobody noticed. If everyone could just live their lives on like usually, never knowing what could have happened to them.

[ So no crowds, no celebrations. Just a disaster avoided and Inigo silently slinking off into the night, having fulfilled his purpose. That's how he always imagined it. ]

Ohh, hmm...

[ Admittedly, he forgot about that. They go into the past, or... go to some place, and... they manage to defeat Grima and then Inigo has to figure out the rest of his life. That about painted the picture for Tidus. And there was meeting his dad in the past...

Wow, what a headache. ]

So the plan is to beat up Grima, then hop on over to Roland's world and help him out? [ Since the last they talked about it. ] Is that through...one of those gate things? The Dragon Gate?

[ He nods. ]

The Outrealm Gate, yeah. [ Close enough. ] Roland was suggesting he should go back to Ylisse together with me at first, if we get the chance.

[ Since that 'if' is always very much up in the air on this train. But if they somehow got the choice to all go home if they wanted to..

His tone turns more serious than awkward. ]

Which may be for the better. I'd rather not have him.. you know. Home. By himself. [ In that wasteland, he means, but Inigo wants to think about that so little that he doesn't even entertain it with all the words necessary. ] And then once we awaken Naga and defeat Grima with her help, I could ask Naga if she could help revive Roland's world. Or at the very least send us back in time there so we can stop the destruction before it happens.

[ It's a big task, sure. But Inigo has done it once already. Or is doing it already, anyway. ]

Edited 2021-01-10 20:04 (UTC)

If you go back before it happens... you're gonna go for a trip. Does Roland even know who shot off the weapons there? From what he told me, everyone was mad at everyone.

[ And it was a massive explosion, wasn't it? Something that directly hit the country, a devastation they couldn't get back from. Or at least... not without work. Was there even much of Aremica left? With the way that Roland speaks about it...

Tidus almost doesn't want to ask. But after the last time Roland brought up his country, Inigo's plan to go back with him, help him rebuild. His amicable tone dips. ]

Is there... is there even going to be anything waiting for him? The way Roland talks about it, [ Tidus hurries quickly, ] you know, I wasn't sure that...

[ That there would be. But he doesn't want to say that. There's an optimism present he isn't sure he wants to ruin, unfold. ]

[ Inigo could have responded to the first part more rapidly, but it's the second part of what Tidus says that makes him go quiet. Eyes downcast for a moment, making Inigo's response very, very obvious before he even says it. ]

I don't think there is. [ From what Roland has been saying, anyway. It sounded like what he'd be returning to would be even less than what was still there in Inigo's awful future - and that was already so terribly little most of the time. ] That's why I'm stepping in. I can't just.. I can't just let him go back to that.

[ Even if he's not sure he can fix it. But at least he has straws to grasp at. As long as he can hold out the hope that if he can just ask Naga--

Surely Tidus understands it too, even if his bond with Roland may be slightly different from Inigo's own. They're both fond of the man, wouldn't want him to suffer like that. ]

I'm setting one world right. [ His own. ] If I can do that, I can do it again, no matter what I have to do for it.

... Mmm.

[ If Inigo can go in the past or whatever of his own world and change the outcome... It's not entirely hopeless. But there's something fragile about it, the 'what if' that Tidus has come to question, or worry about. But he doesn't want to; he wants to believe that they'll fix things, make it so the nukes never go off in the first place.

And if Inigo's done it once before, why not again? As long as his Naga is willing to try for another world. ]

I hope so. Wars like that... they can change a world forever. It can take years to set things right... even a thousand. Or more.

Yes. I.. really don't envy Roland.

[ Inigo could have been in those shoes, after all. If the halidom hadn't fallen, and if Lucina had never been around - then that would have been him. The next Exalt of Ylisse, the one who's supposed to keep everything in balance.

He doesn't think he could have done it. That responsibility is too big for someone as incapable as him. ]

It sounded like he worked so hard to prevent all of it. [ Just like Inigo's biological father. ] And yet everything still went wrong, just because someone got angry. Someone got angry and decided so many people had to die, just like that.

[ There's something a little hard to his tone as he says that last part. Wars are commonplace in Inigo's world too, and he himself has had to kill often, but that doesn't mean it feels right to him. It'd be better if it never had to happen at all. If there was no need to fight. ]

[ Because of anger... Spira's own last war didn't manifest from anything any better. From the little he knows, it was something like pride. But Inigo's tone as he speaks is what makes Tidus pause, consider what he says, or needs to or doesn't. Because who needs to hear about any of that? About how the actions and decisions of a few can lead to so much hurt for many. Inigo already knew it himself, didn't he?

So many people did. It was a story that afflicted multiple worlds, endless lives. Just one or some thing can come along, and change everything for everyone. ]

But someone else can come along and stop them, or fix what they did. [ Inigo can be that fix -- Tidus hopes. He hopes that's the role that Inigo can keep on playing, just for a little longer. ] It can take time, but people... we're strong. We can live through a lot. Spira showed me that.

[ Inigo's head dips, and he nods while glancing downward. People are strong, he agrees, though he can't help but think there are things that are too difficult for people to come back from. His world never recovered in that future, after all. And how about Roland's world? If it's still going without him - what's left there? What's still happening there? ]

That's why I want to try and fix it so bad. I'm not.. I mean, I don't know much about how Roland's world works. [ Other than what the guy has shared with them both. ] But I don't know if anyone else could fix that there.

[ It didn't exactly sound like they had magical god-like dragons there, after all. ]

Roland's world is weird. [ If they're really going to be honest about it! A world that reminds Tidus at times of Zanarkand, or at least in some of the equipment and level of technology (considering he hangs out with Taiki and Inigo...), but then- ]

He's got his world, but then there's the world with the kingdom he ended up, but he can't do anything in that world to help his world? [ It's like a headache explaining it, both of his hands out with each empty held up palm to represent a world. ] They've got magic! And they're doing pretty well now, it sounds like. He just needs to figure a way to get from one world to another.

[ Easy! Simple! ...Except, he knows really how not easy that is, but it is confusing. ]

Evermore, right?

[ Inigo seems willing to entertain the idea, though he does go quiet for a moment. He's mostly just trying to figure out what Roland told them about that place.. Not too much, right? But the higgledies come from there, and it's where Roland learned magic, so it's got to be a place where they can at least do some special things.. ]

I wonder.. Though if that was possible, you'd think Roland would have brought it up already, right? [ Inigo hums, frowning slightly. ] When I talked with him about it, it was as if he really didn't think there was some way to help his own world. Even though he must know pretty well about what is or isn't possible in that second world.

Hmm... I don't know.

[ There's an easy doubt as he thinks about it, and Tidus tips a hand on the table, palm facing upward. ] Roland doesn't know a lot about how that world works, I think. He doesn't know how he got there - he just was. He needs to figure out if there's any way to get back to his world. Or, that's what he told me.

[ As far as he can recall. And he doesn't think Roland would mind him sharing that much. ]

I was the same in Spira. It was totally different. And I couldn't get back the same way I got there... I mean, I had no clue how anything worked. Roland doesn't even say magic works in his world, and I didn't know a lot about it either 'til Spira.

[ Or was he mixing some of his own experience and putting it onto Roland? Then again, it always seemed like an area they had a similar history in. ]

[ That makes him hum again, though longer this time. Right, it makes sense. All of them had experience with traveling to different places - but all Inigo has been to is the past, and maybe a few alternate versions of his own world. He hasn't had the kind of culture shock to endure the way Tidus and Roland must have.

So Roland not understanding the full capabilities of Evermore.. well, that could be true. ]

You'd think he would at least have asked around tho--

[ Inigo cuts himself off, mid-sentence.

Because it's like a fact about Roland suddenly hits him like a freight train in the middle of that statement. It makes him bury his face into his hands with a groan. ]

Oh, of course he would have kept that to himself! [ Even though asking for help over there would have been!! so easy!! ]

[ It's a reaction that gets a small laugh out of Tidus, 'cause sure, wouldn't he think that too? That Roland would put himself second. But... ]

Is that it? Roland went and became an advisor to a king over in the second world, but he always talks about if he can get back to his world. [ Doesn't he...? ] Other people going to other worlds isn't that normal. Not everywhere. Maybe they really don't know, so it's taking a while.

[ So is it really a lack of trying? Not knowing your resources, other things coming up... Tidus knows that feeling well. His tone cooling as he adds, too: ]

...I think Roland wants to get back to his son. Or know that he's okay. [ ... ] Make sure that he's okay. Roland wouldn't abandon getting home.

[ His gaze drifts aside. ]

...not if he thought there was something to go back to.

[ At least, Tidus is sure of that much. ]

Well, it's either Roland being Roland, or they really don't know how to do it.

[ But the middle road between that - someone in Evermore having an idea of what they could do to restore Roland's world, but Roland not having asked around for any other reason.. That's the one that doesn't make sense to Inigo. Because it's exactly like Tidus says. Roland wouldn't abandon his kid.

Inigo exhales. ]

And I bet it's probably the latter. [ Even Roland wouldn't act so much like himself and keep everything to himself with those stakes on the line, right? ] I don't think he would have let me help him instead if there was any alternative.

[ There's a moment of quiet, like Inigo is thinking about something. Maybe thinking back on the conversation he had about it with Roland. Then he just shakes his head. ]

But you don't have to worry about it. I'm going to set things right for his world, no matter what I have to do for it. So it's going to be okay.

[ It's a reassurance that Tidus likes - a certainty that reminds him of when they faced the impossible back in Spira, knowing the path they wanted to follow. The only answer they would accept, no matter if they couldn't see the way forward. ]

Good, [ he says just as confidently. ] We're all counting on you. You and Naga. You don't give up no matter what, you hear?

[ In its own way, they're more words of confidence than a simple demand. ]

[ Inigo huffs, as if Tidus is telling him something very obvious. It's light though, obviously not truly bothered in any way. ]

Of course I'm not going to give up. I have too many things to set right first. [ Living for that is easy. It's always been easy. As long as he had even just one person to save, Inigo could always pick himself back up off the ground, no matter how miserable things got.

It's when he runs out of that and has to worry about saving himself instead - that's where the problem lies. ]

I'm not.. [ He starts, then stops, seeming to deflate a little. But despite that, he does continue on. ] I'm not saying this in any pushy way. But if you need me to try and help anything for you, or anything for back home-- if there's anything I can do, or you want me to do, I'll do it.

[ But as if he's already half made up his mind on what Tidus will most likely say, Inigo preemptively adds: ] Just know the option's there, alright? I'd feel awful if I offered it to Roland, but not to you. Don't want you to feel I'm biased here.

[ Please, Inigo is not above begging his spiritbound magical dragon god to save multiple worlds, okay. ]

[ He laughs lightly, on purpose. Knowing what Inigo is doing when it's right there, but Tidus still needs the time to figure what to say, how to dismiss it in a way that feel right. Fiddling with one of the pieces of Inigo's material idly. ]

You saw what the train said. Spira's fine! Yuna told me too, so I know it is. [ He glances at Inigo, giving him a smile. ]

Just focus on Roland, and your own world!

[ But he looks back easily to the table, fingers tapping against its surface once. ]

[ If this isn't avoidance behaviour, then Inigo doesn't know what is from his point of view.

But after other conversations they've had? He sure isn't going to push it right now. Maybe it's easier to just remind Tidus from time to time. Leave the idea somewhere in the back of his head to simmer. ]

I can't believe it. This might just be the one time I've seen you trust the train.

[ At least those words are clearly meant to be a joke - Inigo purposefully gives them a teasing twist, if not just since he's also trying to keep the conversation light on his end now. ]

Well I trust Yuna! [ Does he sound a tad huffy at being called out on that? Yes!! ]

I didn't need the train to tell me! I'm just saying! All that's happening there is some weird stuff with a guy... and a bunch of people bickering about who's causing trouble and why they can't get along.

[ He turns his head to Inigo, mouth quirking. ]

Sending a giant dragon god to tell everyone to knock it off might be overkill.

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