[Voice / backdated to May 11th]

[dissonates]

[It had taken a few days for him to notice a certain housemate's disappearance - the man had been kidnapped, after all, and Asch didn't make a habit of nosing around in his room. It had been instinct more than anything that had made him poke his head in to check Van's room this morning.

The room had been empty. It's a familiar feeling, standing there in a room that used to hold someone important. Not necessarily treasured or even missed, this time, but undeniably important. And there's a fleeting thought, one he has to bury with the rest of the ideas that he doesn't share with people: how long until he's alone again?

...Yep, not sharing that one. He does close the door behind himself, though, sit down on the bed, and open his journal.]

Van Grants has gone home.

[He won't be all that chatty, but the message definitely needed to be conveyed.]

Comments

[Voice]

[dissonates]

[Asch is actually tempted to lie, or to not answer; the question makes Luke's intention pretty obvious.

...But.]

No. It's just me.

[Voice]

[fabrecation]

[There's a small pause. As much as he'd like to invite Asch back to the apartment, he knows he can't. Not with Guy still there. It'd be incredibly selfish of him.

But Asch doesn't have to be alone...]

You could... live with Ginji, maybe. Noelle's gone, too. [Lonely bros?]

[Voice]

[dissonates]

[Asch's response is obviously annoyed; the thought had occurred to him, but it's not like he's- he's not desperate or lonely or bothered by this, okay, it's just-

-dammit...]

...Don't go making offers for someone else, replica. Didn't you learn any manners in Baticul?

[Voice]

[fabrecation]

... Right. Sorry.

[...]

How... How do you feel about him being gone?

[Voice / Filtered]

[dissonates]

[Asch almost snaps at him; it's very, very tempting. His mind is in a weird place right now, a frustrating mixture of anger, loneliness, and relief. He's been left behind again, but the threat is gone. He's... safe, but practically on his own.

It's fine, but he hates it.

Dammit. So instead, he scribbles out a small filter and goes for broke.]

...I don't know. He's already been gone for some time, so it isn't like I feel any different. It just seems like- ...an opportunity wasted.

[Voice / Filtered]

[fabrecation]

... Yeah. I know how that feels.

[Maybe Van could've changed... for the better. What with Luceti being without a Score, its people independent from fate or a destined path. To be surrounded by such people, maybe making friends...

Luke will always be wary of him. He may never trust him again, or think of him without discomfort or scorn. But there is still a good deal of respect, of past attachments that he can't shake off no matter what may happen.]

It would've - ... [He lets out a quick, frustrated sigh.] It would've been... good, I think. To live in this kind of world.

[Voice / Filtered]

[dissonates]

I think he meant it, too- the truce. I'm not saying he was trustworthy, or that he wasn't still trying to manipulate everything that he could- [Because he had; in the short time that he'd been in the village, he'd tried plenty of times to turn them against one another, albeit quietly. He can't be trusted.] ...he meant it, though. There was no point in fighting us.

[Voice / Filtered]

[fabrecation]

...

I don't know. Did he?

[Asch knew Van better than Luke ever could. He knows that. But he still can't help not trusting something like a truce from the man who's already broken so many bonds and promises.]

[Voice / Filtered]

[dissonates]

...He'd... been making plans. Changing his ideas- I found them in his room.

[And if he was hiding them rather than sharing them, that meant that he was, at least in part, serious about it.]

[Voice / Filtered]

[fabrecation]

Was he?

[It's not really a tone of curiosity, though a hint of it is there.]

So what was he thinking of doing instead?

[Voice / Filtered]

[dissonates]

There's no Score in a place like Luceti.

[He'll let that explanation speak for itself.]