At Nathaniel & Aiden's apartment; West Piedmont:
Nathaniel: Oh! Oh fuck YEAH! Take that you thin, fluffy bastard! I made the shit outta you!
Aiden (to Nathaniel): Ummm, what on earth are you doing in here?
Nathaniel (to Aiden): I made a fucking crepe! Look!
Aiden (to Nathaniel): Oh? Well, congratulations are in order, I suppose. You'll be a whiz in the kitchen soon.
Nathaniel (to Aiden): ... You don't have to be sarcastic about it.
Aiden (to Nathaniel): I wasn't being sarcastic... Nate, I've been called away to New London. Do you want to come with me?
Nathaniel (to Aiden): Oh. Right. Sorry. I was... after all that trying, I was kinda proud. You want me to go with you?
Aiden (to Nathaniel): If you'd like. I know you've been there quite a bit lately so I'd understand if you'd rather stay here.
Nathaniel (to Aiden): No. It's not that. I don't mind going.
Aiden (to Nathaniel): Good. I'm sure Mrs. Esterly will love the company while I'm running about.
Nathaniel (to Aiden): What's going on?
Aiden (to Nathaniel): It's Kobayashi. She's back in New London. Victor has her at a friend's flat in the East Garden. He's worried she's going to do something stupid & wants me to help talk her down... She's been very angry with him.
Nathaniel (to Aiden): Heh. Well. Shit. Poor Victor. I'm game.
Aiden (to Nathaniel): Thank you. Are you free to head over tonight?
Nathaniel (to Aiden): Yeah. I'm off for the next couple of days. I can go whenever.
Aiden (to Nathaniel): Perfect. Let's head over now. I want to saw hello to Mrs. Esterly before I deal with Kobayashi.
Nathaniel (to Aiden): You're hoping for food, aren't you? Alright, sexy ass...
Aiden (to Nathaniel): … Sexy ass?
Nathaniel (to Aiden): Yeah. You're fucking choice. What of it? :-p
Aiden (to Nathaniel): Is that English? Are you speaking English? … Who on earth have you been hanging out with?
Nathaniel (to Aiden): You caught me. I've been hanging out with jive talking biker gangs at night.
Aiden (to Nathaniel): I have no idea what any of that means… Come on, we should go.
Nathaniel (to Aiden): Can't I compliment you without getting you suspicious?
Aiden (to Nathaniel): Heh. Quite possibly, however, you don't often do it. Which makes me wonder what you're up to… Are you up to something?
Nathaniel (to Aiden): Heh. If I were up to something suspicious, I'd be trying to distract you. Like I dunno... like this...
Aiden (to Nathaniel): … Oh well, I'm not going to complain about that, at all.
Nathaniel (to Aiden): Heh. Didn't think you would. You ready to go, or did you want to take a few more minutes?
Aiden (to Nathaniel): Come here, you royal pain in my ass.
An hour or so later, at Ariadne's apartment; East Garden, New London, Britannia:
Ariadne (to Yukiko): Yuki? I brought you dinner. Are you going to behave yourself and not try to run off again or do I need to leave you in there?
Yukiko (to Ariadne): Anata ga ima koko kara watashi o ra nai baai wa, eikyō ga arudarou.
Ariadne (to Yukiko): I'm sorry, babe, I don't speak Nipponese. And, judging by the state of this room… You're staying in here. Have some food. And, don't try to pull any shit with me. I don't want to go all kung fu panda on you.
Yukiko (to Ariadne): Kung fu panda? I don't know what that means.
Ariadne (to Yukiko): Well, don't make me have to show you.
A few minutes later:
Nathaniel (to Ariadne): Hey. I'm just dropping off... Holy shit! Hari! It's you! (to Aiden) She's the one that kissed me.
Ariadne (to Nathaniel): Heehee, calm down, sexy pants. I knew you were all up with the gayness & your man lurve, Aiden. I was just playing around. Sorry if I freaked you out.
Nathaniel (to Ariadne): Shit. You wanna freak me out, you gotta try harder than that.
Aiden (to Ariadne): Heh. Well, it's nice to meet you in person, Hari. (to Nathaniel) Honestly, if you were going to go around kissing girls, she's not a bad one to start with. ;-P
Ariadne (to Nathaniel & Aiden): Flattery will get you everywhere, Mister Wilkes. Yuki is in the basement and Victor is off in town running an errand.
Aiden (to Ariadne): Thank you. (to Nathaniel) Bye, handsome. I'll be back to the house as soon as I can, but don't wait up.
Nathaniel (to Aiden): See you later, sexy. (to Ariadne) You wanna take a picture, or is just leering like a perv enough?
Ariadne (to Nathaniel): Leering is generally enough… Heh. You're a lot more fun this time around.
Nathaniel (to Ariadne): Heh. Jury's still out on that one. (to Aiden) Good luck. Get back soon or else Hari here might try to sneak in my bed. :-p
Aiden (to Nathaniel): Am I supposed to say no or be upset by that? :-P
Nathaniel (to Aiden): I... Ha ha ha! Shit. I got nothing to say to that.
Ariadne (to Nathaniel): Heehee. Are you sure you don't want to stay? I can introduce you to my friend, Señor Malbec.
Aiden (to Nathaniel & Ariadne): Heh. While you two bond or kill each other, I should go check on Kobayashi.
Nathaniel (to Ariadne): Sure. Why the fuck not? (to Aiden) Alright. Shout if you need me.
Ariadne (to Nathaniel): Excellent! Pop a squat & grab a glass.
Nathaniel (to Ariadne): Aye, aye. Squat popped glass achieved.
Ariadne (to Nathaniel): Good boy. Have some wine.
Nathaniel (to Ariadne): Heh. Thanks.
A few minutes later:
Aiden (to Yukiko): Kobayashi… what did you do to this room?
Yukiko (to Aiden): Nothing much. I was bored & decided to make matchsticks. Are you here to get me outta here? The correct answer is yes.
Aiden (to Yukiko): Only, if you tell me what you were planning on doing & if you plan on carrying it out once I let you out.
Yukiko (to Aiden): Go to hell, Wilkes.
Aiden (to Yukiko): Fine, be that way. Stay in there & rot.
Yukiko (to Aiden): Fine. I will.
Aiden (to Yukiko): Very mature...
Yukiko: I would really like to get out of this room without having to deal with the pompous ass brigade…
A short time later:
Nathaniel (to Ariadne): So, what do you wanna ask me? Or is my company just that fucking charming?
Ariadne (to Nathaniel): Heh. Let me check my very packed social calendar ... umm, nope, not scheduled to take any more of your guff, lover boy. But, I do have a question… Do you remember me?
Nathaniel (to Ariadne): Yeah. I mean, kinda. I don't remember everything from this timeline just yet, but it's coming back...
Ariadne (to Nathaniel): Hmmm, lucky you… You, Victor & Zoe are the only ones who remember me. I don't exist here… I mean, I do because I'm here but something got screwed up with my timeline somewhere.
Nathaniel (to Ariadne): Oh. Wow. Shit. That is... that is FUCKED up. Damn. I'm fucking sorry. Me and Zoe are the ones who changed the timeline.
Ariadne (to Nathaniel): … That may be so, but honestly, it was better than where I was in the last timeline, Nate-alicious. Maladori was doing experiments on me. It was not fun.
Nathaniel (to Ariadne): Jesus fucking hell! Holy shit that is... I'm sorry. That sucks. I was always scared Hiiri was gonna chuck me to Maladori one day.
Ariadne (to Nathaniel): Count yourself lucky. Here, have some more wine.
Nathaniel (to Ariadne): Thanks. Heh. Jesus. This is the only time I felt lucky to be Hiiri's pet project and Carver's fucking... Whatever.
Aiden (to Nathaniel & Ariadne): Pardon me, I'll take that… Kobayashi is a lost cause for the night.
Ariadne (to Aiden): Daaamn, man. She get to you or what?
Nathaniel (to Aiden): You alright?
Aiden (to Nathaniel): Yes. It's only my pride. I thought she'd listen to me & tell me what her plan is but she just told me to go to hell.
Ariadne (to Aiden & Nathaniel): She'll come around eventually… I hope.
Nathaniel (to Aiden): Here. Have another one. We've just been comparing sad sack stories about our alter-times with fucking CLAANG.
Aiden (to Nathaniel): Thank you, but I think I need to go for a walk. I'll meet you back at the house. (to Ariadne) Thank you for taking care of Kobayashi.
Ariadne (to Aiden): No worries, babe. She can stay here as long as needed.
Nathaniel (to Aiden): Oh. Uh, yeah. OK. (to Ariadne) I think that's this night killed. Thanks for the wine. I'm gonna head out too.
Ariadne (to Nathaniel): I understand. Anything you want me to tell Victor when he comes back?
Nathaniel (to Ariadne): ... Nah. Not that I can think of at the moment. Later!
Ariadne (to Nathaniel): See ya!
