More of the Station [Marmadue]

[Erik Stoneking]

It was the same sight Erik saw every time he came to visit the station. Wreckage in so many locations that it was essentially a demolition ground. It was clear that others had tried to make their way through, but no useful progress had been made. It was sickening, seeing the same thing time and time again, especially when Erik had so many memories of the places locked beyond because the main transport was all but entirely destroyed.

"Well, I suppose now is as good a time as ever to see what I can do," Erik spoke aloud for no particular reason, but it felt right at this moment. Sometimes it was good to get out of your own head, and after the few months he had experienced, it might be better to live in the moment for a bit.

Walking forward Erik found a particularly large pile of rubble that had remained untouched, presumably because of the danger that would be involved in moving it without a good knowledge of structural stability, but that didn't bother Erik. Mostly because he wasn't thinking about it, but still.

"Hhurgh," he grunted out as he began to displace a few large pieces of debris sitting around the base of the pile. "God, heavier than you look aren't ya?"

Hard work such as this had a way of making time move slower, which Erik took particular notice of as he began to sweat while moving more and more rubble out of the way. Sweat would begin to drip down his forehead as he moved the last piece that wasn't holding up the blockage out of the way, so that he finally had clear access to the main wall of crumbled station.

"Well at least I can begin making progress now," he grumbled out crankily. Erik lifted a hand to wipe away a few beads of sweat before reached grabbing the first piece that caught his eye. With a bit of effort and pulling, the rock remained thoroughly stuck in its place and very intent on staying there. "Oh come on now, don't be stubborn with me! I doubt you're hiding anything useful behind this awful wall you call home! Nothing here hides anything useful, so just come loose!," Erik shouted at louder volumes with each successive attempt at pulling the piece free from its home. It did listen, possibly with the second to last scolding statement, and came out with what Erik wished was a pop but instead was an almost lack of sound.

"There!," he shouted out triumphantly as he stood back and realized that he had made almost no progress at all. The piece was rather large though, and the indent it left in the wall was satisfying to look at, a least until it began to make the sounds of a wall realizing it had many other places to be.

Erik stared apprehensively as shifting began to occur in the very less than solid construct in front of him as debris rushed to make its way to the very spot where Erik was standing. A cascade of rocks came forth as Erik broke free of his shock and dove backwards, far enough away from that while he would be pelleted with several falling rocks and flowing rocks, he would escape with relatively minor wounds of the scrapes and scratches variety.

The sound of the collapsing wall of rocks was surprisingly loud for the small wall it had been. It had been enough to block progress to whatever may lie beyond, but nothing more. Erik noted this to himself as he took inventory of his body. Certainly a lot of annoyances he would be dealing with and maybe two sprained ankles, but nowhere near as bad as being swarmed by heartless.

Assuring himself that he was alright Erik got up to at least find out what was behind the wall that almost killed him. Again, shock hit his system as he saw that was what behind the rock wall was... an intact station wall. In other words, absolutely nothing.

"Fuck!," Erik screamed, not caring about the noise he was making. He began to throw a tantrum, picking up and throwing any smaller piece of rubble he could find around his feet. Just more "progress".

[Marmadue]

Marmadue knew better than to try to explore the dilapidated ruins that was the Train Station. Alright, maybe he knew that exactly because he had been in there out of pure curiosity some time ago himself, but all he had managed to do was to prove that it had been so damaged, it was no longer a safe building to be in. Despite its massive size and sturdy-looking walls, whatever had happened in Twilight Town before his arrival had managed to bring even something so grand to its last legs. How long could it keep standing, he wondered. How long until the whole thing collapsed in on itself…

Thoughts that had stopped the Yuke in his tracks as he had been passing the building in question through the plaza, his gaze directed towards the sorry old thing. But the thing that snapped him out of it were the strange sounds coming from inside, as if the station could read his thoughts and respond to them. Creaks and groans, perhaps from the rocks and beams of steel that created the building, but the constant eerie darkness of the town certainly made his skin crawl! The feathers on the back of his neck were starting to stand up as he stared at the empty darkness looming at the top of the stairs. Could there even be Heartless in there…?

Marmadue swallowed and averted his gaze. He… Really wanted to hurry back where there were more people, now. But just as he took his first steps, it happened. Or, well, that was his first thought, of course. That something had collapsed in the Train Station, it certainly sounded like that! The rumble of falling rocks and who knew what else was deafeningly loud in the silence, enough to force the Yuke to freeze in his tracks and slowly crane his neck to see what he had expected to be just a big cloud of dust floating over a pile of rubble.

But no, the station was still there. Still, he could have sworn that something had collapsed nearby – had it just been so small, despite how loud it had felt just a moment ago? Perhaps. It must have been. Enough to send Marmadue running back to his shelter, if… If only he hadn't heard sounds that definitely sounded like speech. Like words. Had someone been inside? Had something happened?

Glancing around the plaza, the Yuke realized that there didn't seem to be anyone else nearby who had acknowledged that. He would have wanted to swallow in his nervousness, but he found that quite impossible, as if something had gotten stuck in his throat. Oh dear. Marmadue really didn't want to peek inside, but… But he had to, didn't he…?

He rubbed his hand as he started to walk up the stairs, each one feeling like it took an eternity. The large entryway looked just as dark and dusty as it always did. A slight glow started to emanate from the Yuke's hand, lighting his surroundings. The pieces of broken glass strewn around twinkled gently.
"Er, hello…? Is there… Anyone here?"

[Erik Stoneking]

As the familiar pain of failure set in, Erik finished up his childish tantrum and sat down in the rubble around him. It was comforting in a completely infuriating sort of way. It was nice to know that he could at least still feel pain from failure, because it meant that he hadn't completely given up yet. Still, that didn't make it any easier to swallow.

"Well, at least I tried," Erik said in a melancholic tone. As he finished speaking, Erik pushed himself up and brushed some of the dust off of his jeans, "but what am I going to do now?"

While pondering the thought, Erik had his silent words interrupted by some very un-silent ones. Some hesitant voice asking about the presence of people, which coincidentally Erik was one of. Almost on instinct however, Erik responded, "No, no one here. Just failures."

Erik laughed at his own self deprecating humor before realizing that the presence of a voice surely meant the presence of a being. Upon this realization he had another one about how much noise he had made, whoever was there was surely worried to some extent.

"Don't worry though, no failures were harmed in the making of this production," again Erik laughed at his own humor. Afterwards he walked in the direction of the source of the voice, the entrance to the station.

Upon arriving Erik's eyes were assaulted by the slightly more light of the outdoors and saw what he assumed was the origin of the question he heard earlier. Whoever it was, they clearly weren't from Twilight Town, but they at least looked somewhat familiar. Without thinking of politeness due to his recent experience inside the station Erik asked, "Have you already been introduced to Twilight Town? I really don't want to do my job as official tour guide right now."

[Marmadue]

Marmadue held his breath as he waited for a reply – a reply he wasn't entirely sure if he was going to get. Maybe… He had just been hearing things. Maybe there wasn't anyone there. Or maybe it was the Heartless and he should be running away right about now. Or maybe… Someone had crawled where they shouldn't have and got an entire section of the building collapsing on them, crushing them. Oh dear. The Yuke swallowed. He really didn't want to go any further, but he couldn't just leave now, could he…?

His steps were careful and slow as he walked into the darkness, his immediate surroundings illuminated by the magic emanating from his glowing hand. His shoes clicked on the hard stone and glass underneath his feet, echoing in the emptiness. But suddenly, a voice. A definite voice. Marmadue was stopped in his tracks. Unexpected response – any response would have been, honestly, but… But this one was more cryptic than usual, to be sure. He blinked in confusion. Someone outright saying that no one was there was almost like the punchline of a bad joke…

"Ah," he let out a quiet breath, not entirely sure how to reply or what to do. The Yuke glanced around him, slightly unnerved by the laugh that followed. Was the person in a good mood, or had he lost it… And Marmadue wasn't even sure if that he in that question was the strange disembodied voice or himself! Perhaps the voice could sense the confusion and apprehension, soon trying to make the newcomer feel a bit more at ease and reassuring him that nothing was wrong. Not that Marmadue could be quite certain of that, but he did notice that his tense posture relaxed just a bit.

He could hear the approaching footsteps, his hand stretching closer to the source in an attempt to see better at the darkness his eyes hadn't accustomed to yet. Luckily to him, it didn't seem to be a monster. It was… A person. A person he didn't recognize, a younger specimen of a different species, greeted by a very tall feathered biped clad in a helmet and a glowing magic hand. A completely normal occurrence in Twilight Town these days, surely.

"…Ah, that is, yes. I am ah, not… A recent arrival," the Yuke replied after a moment of what seemed like stunned silence, once the man asked his question and managed to even tell him his position in the same position. A guide, huh? A task that even Marmadue had done a few times, due to how many refugees had been popping up even after him – and it wasn't even a designated job he had taken upon himself, unlike this youth!

"Ah. Good sir, if I may… Er, as you surely know yourself, as an ah, official tour guide as you say, this building is… Not the most stable one in town," though perhaps that wasn't saying much, considering the state of the town in question,
"And, ah, it would not bode well for your continued survival if you, ah, made it a habit of exploring within these walls. Lest they ah, fail to keep the ceiling from falling at the worst possible moment…"

[Erik Stoneking]

"Not stable?" Erik feigned ignorance, "I'm sure I don't know what you mean, it's more solid now than on the day it was built... not that I was around for that, but I have to assume." Erik knocked on the wall a few times and even attempted to shake it to emphasize his point.

Nothing fell or shook of course, but that was only because Erik chose to make his joke around one of the few walls left that actually had a good foundation on it.

"See?"

Finishing up his bout of sarcasm Erik let out a toothy grin to the creature in front of him, to let him know everything was all right. As he did so he examined the creature's general demeanor and realized that maybe his joke had not been in good taste. After all, most of the being's speech had been jittery and the fellow themselves seemed to be almost shaking.

"Yeah, you're right though... we should move to the plaza," as Erik spoke he wasted no time walking down the steps and across the plaza to a spot where he could sit on what was left of the stone fence surrounding the area.

As he allowed himself to plop down and sprawl out on the cool stone Erik shouted back at the feathery biped that had managed to find him. "Good to hear you're not new here by the way. I hate breaking the news, but someone has to do it. My name's Erik, what's yours?"

[Marmadue]

"Ah," Marmadue quickly glanced around him, not exactly buying that the ruins were more solid now than when it was built. Well, he didn't exactly know the history of how it had been built, so who knew, maybe that could have been the possibility in a very unfortunate situation… But it wasn't like the young man really knew the truth of the matter, either, making the statement quite absurd. But when the man started to move his arm towards a nearby wall, the Yuke could immediately tell that he was trying to prove his point by hitting it! His own arm stretched towards the awfully confident and trusting fool, an attempt at trying to stop the man from doing anything too crazy or dangerous before it was too late.

He was too late, though. He couldn't stop the man, his vocal warning to stop this nonsense never making it out of his throat, his movements frozen in their tracks and his arm remaining outstretched. The man had… Knocked on the wall. It didn't fall down, however. Nothing did. A rather surprising turn of events, to be honest. Still, that… Was probably luck. Marmadue had been fearing for their lives, adrenaline coursing in his veins. A sigh of both defeat but also relief made its way through his teeth, his arm falling to his side and his shoulders slumping along with his head. That had been close. He really had thought that the ceiling would finally end up caving in with them unable to escape in time!

The Yuke weakly raised his head, his gaze observing the young man who didn't even seem to be phased as he walked past him, out of the station. The man who knew that the station was in such a poor condition, just seeming like he had no worries in the world. Marmadue couldn't share such an attitude. Was he glad that nothing had happened? Of course. But such a dose of pure shock didn't leave one's body so quickly, a moment of relief didn't cause him to relax.

He did agree with one thing, however. It was better to move out, the Yuke soon heading out after the other man, following him down the steps. For now, it seemed like a good idea to keep an eye on the boy to make sure he didn't do anything… Stupid. Again. Get himself injured. Marmadue didn't follow suit and sit down however, deciding to instead stay on his feet – even if his knees were still feeling a bit wobbly. While the town wasn't exactly a brightly lit place with its eternal night, it was nowhere near as dark as the station was. The magic that had kept the Yuke's hand glowing and illuminating his surroundings started to fade.

The man introduced himself as Erik, not being a name that Marmadue could recognize. He couldn't recognize the face, either. Seemed like the two hadn't had a reason to actually bump into each other before now – but considering how many there were in Twilight Town, that was bound to happen. Then again, if the man was as foolhardy as he had acted a moment ago, it was almost a surprise for him to not have ended up in his care at some point in time…

"Ah… Well met, sir. I would be called Marmadue," he replied to the introduction, giving the man a small nod. Erik had brought up how he was a tour guide earlier, a position that certainly seemed to be on his mind. Not that he could blame him for that. It couldn't be easy to always have to tell of the… Bad news. Perhaps this Erik had looked for something that would take his mind out of it. Perhaps he wanted someone to listen.
"…Such a task is a difficult one, but… A necessary one, indeed. As such, I would er, suggest leaving the studies of a structure's ah, integrity to someone else."

[Erik Stoneking]

Marmadue

The name hit Erik's ears and struck a chord in his mind. It felt like a familiar name, if only because it had been occasionally whispered by Twilight Town refugees when speaking of an odd creature. The type of gossip and chatter that only increased in recent days with all the new beings finding their way to what might be one of the only worlds left.

"Ah," Erik lifted his head up from where he had been lying so that he could look Marmadue in the eyes hidden behind a helmet, "Good to finally put a face to a name, Marmadue. Not to be rude, but I always seem to hear about refugees like you simply because you all are probably a different species than us. residents and refugees alike get excited over the prospect of different types of beings, it's one of the few things left for them to get excited about after all." Erik's expression would visibly darken as his line progressed from beginning to end, leaving him with an almost hopeless expression for a second before catching himself so that he may put on his best smiling face.

"Don't worry about it though, I don't think anyone has ever said something negative about you. As for leaving the state of this building to someone else, you might be right, but.... " Erik thought backward in time for just a moment as he scratched the back of his head, "I claimed to be a civil engineer at one point. That should make me qualified to speak on behalf of the stability of the station, shouldn't it?"

Holding a serious expression for a few seconds Erik would let out a laugh at his own joke. Erik's jokes were ingrained in his personality, but the laughs that came afterwards had shown up only recently as a coping mechanism to deal with the lack of laughs that came with the increasingly desperate situations around him. If Erik laughed first, he hoped, he could show others that it was okay for them to laugh as well, no matter the content of the joke he spouted.

In this situation the joke and subsequent laughter from Erik's own mouth wasn't enough to suppress the reason behind the joke and he would let a sentence filled with enough sentiment to kill a less emotionally adjusted person.

"The station just used to be so beautiful y'know.... and now so much of my past is gone." As he finished off his line Erik stared blank faced at the ruins in front of him, a lifetime of memory passing by behind his eyes.

[Marmadue]

Marmadue tilted his head slightly when he noticed the man's demeanor change after he mentioned his name. Something in those eyes seemed to have realized something, but that something was something that the creature in question hadn't realized quite yet. Luckily for him, Erik was willing to share what he had been thinking of without a prompt, mentioning that this wasn't the first time he had heard of the Yuke. Indeed, someone like him stuck out like a sore thumb in Twilight Town, even though he certainly wasn't the only creature that looked odd to these particular featherless bipeds. He just happened to be rather… Large, towering over most of the people. It certainly didn't help that some might have found his features rather… Off-putting. It had been a good thing that he had bumped into Avari when he did, who knew if he could have won over anyone if they started off on the wrong foot…

"Ah, well, yes," Marmadue gave a few short nods in quick succession. Saying that they were different species was an apt conclusion. Those who were different were interesting to some – and frightening to others, but at least in the Yuke's case, he wasn't that scary once anyone had exchanged a few words with him. That, and he was a healer of sorts. Hardly the enemy of the people. It was a topic that he could have joined, had Erik not made the dip into the harsh reality that was their current situation. One of the few things left to get excited about… Marmadue wasn't exactly the most optimistic person around, unable to come up with any kind of a response that didn't sound hollow. His fingers brushed through the feathers on his neck. Oh dear, oh dear…

And just as quickly as it had come up, it was buried under a big smile. The Yuke glanced aside, not quite certain what to make of it all. Everyone had their way of coping with loss and stress, he supposed. Hopefully… The young man was fine. Well, as fine as he could be. As Erik continued speaking, Marmadue's gaze drifted back to him. While he couldn't say what exactly a person called a civil engineer did, he felt like he could discern enough from the words to figure it out! His eyes flicked over to the ruins of the station.
"Oh! Oh, dear me. I apologize, sir. I… Had made an incorrect assumption, and," and thought that the youngster guide was just at the station because he didn't know better. Or because he was too brave for his own good. But he had been wrong. If an expert thought that it was fine, then it was fine, right?

But then the man laughed again. Even though the Yuke's expression was hidden behind his mask, that slight tilt of the head and the slumped shoulders might have told the story of his confused state. Was it… Funny? A joke? That Erik had called himself an engineer, not that he actually was? Oh, he was so lost. At a loss of words and actions. And thoughts! He was knocked off his feet for sure – not physically, but mentally! Yet… Perhaps Erik was, as well. Perhaps… He had been like that for a while, his words forlorn as he looked at the ruins of the station, yearning for what was.

Marmadue had seen the building many times in its current state and held no love for it. But Erik, he… He had seen it before. When Twilight Town apparently was less of a remains of a town and more of a quaint and peaceful town, full of life. The Yuke looked downwards, at the man. All of them had suffered loss. Even those who hadn't been whisked away from their home.
"This… Pardon my intrusion, sir, but this town… Is it what you have always called a home?"

[Erik Stoneking]

Though Marmadue was no longer the focus of Erik's attention he could still make out some of the movements made out of the corner of his eye. They were movements of confusion, something Erik had seen on others countless times by virtue of who he was as a person. Though he sometimes felt joy in the confusion he caused, that was only when the subject was lighthearted. At current, the conversation was not lighthearted except for what jokes Erik forced out due to habit so the confusion he caused only brought grief upon him. It was not his intention to confuse, but it happened often enough that many conversations he held got nowhere.

"Sorry..." Erik mumbled out under his breath. Erik didn't know what words to use to apologize for his coping mechanisms, and as such a single world atonement was all he could spit out.

As Marmadue began to ask Erik about his relation to Twilight Town his thoughts began to jumble together. He had allowed himself too much sorrow and let it spill out to someone who had likely suffered more than him. As a result, Erik's words began to form before being fully thought out and made their way into the air between the two.

"Sorry, I have no right to be like this. You're here so that must mean your world is gone, and I'm here whining while my world in safe. I shouldn't complain," tears would begin to form but not fall in Erik's eyes as he stammered out an excuse and apology to Marmadue. Erik couldn't allow himself to project his problems onto someone who had lost their world no matter what amount of pain he was in.

"I know my suffering is meaningless compared to what you've surely gone through. I'm sorry for complaining. I don't mean anything by it I just wish I could see what I remember from so long ago but it's all gone but I know..." Erik's words only continued to spill out without allowing for breath until eventually what he was stammering out weren't even words. Erik had pretended to be okay for too long, and so he broke down and cried in front of the being he had only just met. Crouching down, Erik would hug his knees and let the tears fall.

[Marmadue]

Marmadue tilted his head at the man's apology – perhaps he had taken note of his fidgeting in the middle of the laughs and, well, what might have been jokes that went right over that helmeted head of his. A nice gesture perhaps, but not exactly needed in this situation. The Yuke raised one of his hands slightly as a small gesture of don't worry about it. Not when Erik was barely holding together now. The man's eyes, though directed towards the ruins of the station, seemed to glisten more in what little light there was left in the darkened town than they had a moment ago. His voice no longer as certain or clear, the tone perhaps a bit wavering now. Despite that – or perhaps exactly because of that – the continued apologies for the man's own feelings of loss and how he didn't even seem to think he was allowed to feel them stabbed his heart.

The Yuke drew in a sharp breath, his chest rising and staying in the position. What could one even say to that? He glanced around them, as if hoping for there to be someone else who could help Erik better than he ever could, but they were alone. He… Wasn't the best talker, honestly. His magic wasn't one that could help to heal such… Emotional wounds, like these. Marmadue had noticed his hand crawling closer to the man when he had broken down in tears, but he hesitated and stopped before touching.

He knelt down, trying to bring himself more to the level of Erik, present and beside him, but not too… Close. They were strangers, after all. Getting too physical didn't sound like the most reassuring thing when it came from a strange creature like him, so it wasn't something he should have forced on the poor man.
"I… Ah, well, I apologize for not being the most… Eloquent of speakers in such manners," Marmadue finally started after a silence peppered with sobs had taken over the air, his voice rather quiet and careful,
"Whether or not I have suffered more, that does not make a difference. Everyone is… Entitled for their own feelings, I would say. A greater loss of someone else would not make yours any less painful."

[Erik Stoneking]

There were words of reason reaching Erik's ears, but they didn't mean anything. Everyone is allowed their own pain, yes, but that was only true for everyone else. Everyone that wasn't Erik. The irrational thoughts would cloud the obvious path towards acceptance as he would listen, but not really, to Marmadue's words.

"My world is here though. I'm safe, so I need to fix this, the missing worlds won't come back by me feeling sorry for myself," Erik's words came out through gaps in his crying. In his mind, Erik would not be allowed to feel his sorry until everyone had their worlds back, and if that were to happen there wouldn't be anything left to feel pain over. The proper way of dealing with his pain was simply not there, so Erik did what he always did and redirected it.

"Help me get off this world," he would say while looking at Marmadue. Tears continued to flow as Erik talked about his "solution", "Help me so that I... we.... whatever... can find a way to bring the worlds back. I'm not allowed to feel this pain, so help me fix the pain."

Erik's request was his goal, but it was only presented at current as a way to avoid dealing with his emotions, something that he was, at least at present, not adjusted enough to deal with.

[Marmadue]

Oh dear. This wasn't going at all how Marmadue had hoped. Once again he glanced around him, a beg for help that he wouldn't be getting anytime soon. He was just so miserable at situations like these, and he clearly had no idea how to make them better! His approach was the logical one, but it wasn't something this Erik person found any solace in.
"I don't know if… This counts as safe," the Yuke looked around at the sorry state of the town, in ruins and overrun with those shadowy monster creatures. Well, maybe not overrun, per se, but there definitely were too many of them to really feel that safe!

Oh, but he wasn't making this any better, was he…

Marmadue turned his gaze back towards the sobbing man – who this time returned that gaze, his cheeks streaked with trails of tears. What Erik couldn't see was the dumbfounded blink that followed his request of getting off the world. The… First one of its kind he had heard, for sure!
"Ah, that is, ah," he stammered out, unsure what he could even say. Especially as the man was also talking about how he wasn't even allowed to feel the pain of loss. Should he… Address that…? Now? Later? Oh, why didn't he have anyone who knew what to do in such situations with him…
"…I am afraid I cannot say I know how to do such a thing, sir."

[Erik Stoneking]

"Marmadue..." Erik began to mutter. The thought was cut short by a realization, he had indulged too long. It was time to stop his tantrum, if he could, so he started by finishing up his already stagnated speech with an ending not originally meant for the sentence, "Thank you."

Slowly pushing himself upwards Erik would rise to his feet while attempting to regain some regularity to his breathing. It was difficult and required the stifling of many tears while many more still escaped, but it was an attempt. The attempt was followed by half-hearted shuffling to the stone fence surrounding the station plaza so that Erik could lean himself against it in a faux relaxed stance, the facade of which was broken by Erik's shaking body and tear streaked face.

"This isn't something I should be dumping on someone I've just met, but thank you." Erik's speech lost emotion as he began the process of closing himself off in order to shut down his emotional outburst. The coldness of his voice was contrasted by the occasional sob he would still let out.

Erik needed to redirect the conversation otherwise he would break down again, so he asked the first question that came to mind, "Where is it that you're from?"

[Marmadue]

As Erik called out his name, Marmadue turned to look at the young man, his attention fixed as he waited for a continuation. It didn't come very fast, but it came. An unexpected thank you, one that perhaps wasn't meant to be there – but it was difficult to say. Perhaps there was something else the man had wanted to say, but this was what he was getting. Trying to pry out anything out of someone so distraught didn't feel like the right thing to do.
"Ah," the Yuke let out a small sound, straightening alongside with Erik as the man in question stood up and shuffled over to a stone fence, leaning against it. Marmadue's own movements mimicked his, though with a slight delay, as if trying to figure out if he should or what it was that Erik was doing, exactly.

"You're, ah, welcome. I suppose in this scenario, we're all in this together, so, ah… Please do not worry about it," he finally got some words out of his mouth, but still felt like he probably hadn't done as much as he could have. Or should have. The man didn't look particularly relieved… But what could he do?

Standing beside Erik, Marmadue let him make the first move – even if that was to just tell him to get lost in case he wanted to be alone. Whether or not such a wish should be followed, he did not know. But surely, he couldn't have argued against it, either. A different conversation altogether was a bit of a relief – a topic that wasn't all that uncommon amongst the refugees. At the same time it could be a rather sensitive topic. The Yuke glanced at the shorter man beside him, before averting his gaze and facing the distance.
"Ah. I am from a rather small village called Shella, where I lived among my kind. …Slightly seclusive perhaps, but everyone had heard about it! At least, back then," Marmadue honestly didn't know if the past tense was because his home was gone, or because he wasn't living there still at this very moment,
"…A quaint location. Nothing much to really be afraid of inside the village, as long as the caravan returned every year."

[Erik Stoneking]

Erik perked up while hearing about Marmadue's village. It was nice hearing about pleasant nostalgia about another's world. Even if it was probably gone, as evidenced by Marmadue's presence, it was nice to know about what was. Though it was close to the topic of Erik's own misery and feeling of being allowed his emotions, it was somehow far enough away that it didn't' trigger anything.

"Shella? That's a beautiful name for a village," Erik said with a tone of longing. He had never been able to live outside of a city setting, but his sense of wanderlust and want to find a fix for all the madness currently going on. Visiting other worlds, or in this case finding a way to bring Shella back, was something Erik deeply wished for. He imagined how he might have developed differently had he been given a country upbringing rather than the one he had found himself with.

While imagining himself tending to crops Erik realized he might've let his mind take too many liberties, he didn't know much about the village, but the use of the word village had set his mind into motion. "Sorry, I might've given your village attributes that don't exist. Because you used the word village I've found myself imagining a rustic area with rolling hills and many plots of land for crop harvesting. I don't know if that's true or not, but do you mind describing Shella a bit more?"

Erik allowed himself a smile while continuing on with his thought, "I only ask because I think I want to visit someday, and it'd be nice to know what type of place it is before doing so."