Stone Men In Water Street

[Rezantis]

"Yah, we may as well swing past your place in Austin and see what the deal is.  You do, in fact, seem to own a place, although it's been abandoned a fair while and might have vagrants."

Rez closes the uplink and laptop.

"Anyway, let's eat."

[Bjorn]

"Sounds good.  Good to know I have at least one home.  I wonder what happened to my place in Toronto?"

Leading the way, Bjorn takes Rez into the In-N-Out to experience the relative joy that is the Double Double.

[Rezantis]

"Well, I doubt you've been declared legally dead - although we could get Relm to check - so I imagine it's going to, well, stay there for a while.  Hope you turned the gas off."

[Bjorn]

"I guess Relm should look into it.  If she can get her hands on my assets, all the better, I guess.  But, really... I don't think I actually want to know.  It'd be... easier to do this if I didn't think too much of what I have to leave behind, if that makes sense."

[Rezantis]

"Best to just leave it, for the same reason I haven't tried touching my accounts or anything.  People may notice, and that could be very bad."

[Bjorn]

Bjorn nods, a bit sadly, and then makes Rez eat.  After that, they head back out, where Bjorn skips across the street to a convenient 7-11 to buy some drinks, snacks, etc. for the long drive to Austin, while Rez busies himself with the uplink some more.

Edit: it is not the Warrior Eternal's job to know how to spell!

[Rezantis]

Rez closes up the uplink and laptop, packs them away, and . . . waits for Bjorn to get back from the 7-11.

"You know, I miss Ayame."

[Bjorn]

Bjorn comes back with a few bags filled with beef jerky, trail mix, etc. -- and most importantly, bottles and bottles of liquid caffeine.  "If you're all done, let's get going.  To my great regret, Austin will not come to Archimedes, so Archimedes must drive to Austin."

[Rezantis]

"Hardy har.  Stop calling me that, I'm not him."

[Bjorn]

"No, you're just his modern-day version, with a better fashion sense.  Now, shut up and get in the van.  I'm so nice, I'll take first driving shift.  You don't really want to drive in California."

[Rezantis]

"Mm."

Rez gets in the van . . . and they're off!

"We're not them, though.  I mean, maybe we have the potential, but we're not them.  Seriously, please don't call me that, it reminds me of stuff."

[Bjorn]

"You're right," Bjorn says, seriously.  "We're not them.  But at the same time, if you believe Ezmereth, we're the same type of people as them.  They're examples of what we can accomplish, the sorts of people we can be.

"But what do you mean, it 'reminds you of stuff', exactly?"

[Rezantis]

"Mm.  I know we have the potential . . . eh.  Relm.  She's not Ayame, in the same way I'm not Archimedes and you're not . . . well, whoever you were.  She has the potential to be as skilled as Ayame was, and she knows pretty much everything Ayame did.  I mean, I *like* Relm, but I still miss Ayame . . . they're different people.  If that makes any sense."

[Bjorn]

"Somewhat.  I mean, I didn't know Ayame -- or Relm, for that matter.  But that's a really different situation, right?  I mean, Relm knows she's a reincarnation, down to remembering most of her previous lives.  It's not really the same deal as you and me, right?"

[Rezantis]

"Not entirely, no, but that's not really what I meant . . . it was more just illustrating.  I mean, she a fair bit - not all - of what Ayame and the incarnations before her knew, right back to the original Oracle.  It's just that she really is a different person . . ."

Rez sighs.

"I like her, but . . . she's like a little kid, half the time.  And on the one hand, it's nice to see, but on the other hand, it's . . . well . . . I don't know."