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Etho had been adjusting to his new life pretty well!
Yeah, some of his apparent allies were very confused to see him wake up one day without any knowledge of fighting nor Japanese, but he'd been (re-, apparently) learning!
(The memory of almost dying- or maybe he did die!- hadn't quite left him, though, and breathing without a cloth over his mouth made him terrified smoke would creep in. The- the cloth probably didn't do much, but it was better than nothing. Blocked out the scent of incense a little bit, too.)
He'd been being super well-adjusted as usual when the new samurai he'd hired arrived at his home.
He opened the door as soon as he heard the knock! Like the good daimyo he apparently was, he had to do all this landlord-warrior-y stuff now. "Welcome in, uh...?"
A samurai entirely covered by their armor stood at his door, naginata in hand. "Jimmu," the actual warrior said-
-in the voice of his best friend from his past life.
"Joel!" Someone he knew! Maybe Joel had a better grasp on Japanese, and could make him not sound like a foreigner in a closed country. "How'd you get here?"
Joel just barely flinched. "Wrong. Jimmu."
"Welcome to my land, where I am a lot, and will probably come across you without your helmet, not-Joel-san!" his host said, perfectly cheerily. Was -san the right-
"You're right, I'm not Joel." He struggled with sentence structure a bit as well, though his accent was much better.
Etho switched to English- to help his old friend out, of course! "What's your family name, then? That's a big deal, right-"
Joel stormed past him, armor making a racket.
Etho'd just have to talk to him more at a later date, then!
The later date came sooner than he thought- Joel ended up going on a walk one day without his helmet. That made it sound weirder than it was- he just went outside in casual clothes.
And, yep, that was Joel. Without a doubt. Sure, his hair was in a different style than usual, but, come on. Same scarring and everything.
"Hey, Joel!" Etho came off conversational and casual and well-adjusted as he jogged over. He hoped so, at least.
The samurai whipped his head towards him. No response, huh?
"Being distant again?" They knew each other too well for Joel to be able to fool him- though, Joel couldn't fool most people. It was honestly kinda endear-
Oh, a response! "I'm being distant because I don't know you!"
"You got the scar on your lip from falling as a kid. You told everyone it was a battle wound." He slipped into English a bit, but it was fine.
Oh, no more responses.
Joel stormed off again. He did that a lot.
(As he did, Etho thought about the last time he saw him in their old life. They were at a friend's place before the- didn't matter.
The friend and Joel got into a bad argument- okay, maybe this wasn't the best memory, but- the story's funny, okay?!
They were arguing, and afterwards, Joel sulked further into the house, like it was his!
The friend- why was he talking around it? His name was Grian- was laughing as he dragged Joel out of there, like the argument hadn't even happened.
Man, Grian was a nice guy. Once Etho got out of this place, he'd need to see how he was doin' after... everything.)
The next time he got to talk to Joel- no, there was some sorta conflict going on nearby? And there was a chance Etho would have to join in, so he had talked to his men a good amount. But... talking to his men and talking to his friend were different things.
That disconnect was probably what spurred Joel to approach him first this time.
"Hello... superior." He really hadn't planned anything out, huh?
"Hey, Joel!"
He looked like he was mulling something over in his mind, before suddenly turning around and walking across the room.
"Messin' with the clock? How long are the hours this time of year?" Measuring time based on how long the day and night were made some sense, but was jarring to get used to when the seasons changed. Etho hadn't been there for very long, but unfortunately for him the season sure was changin'! Summer being over would probably be for the better, though, despite how much he liked the heat. Some rain'd probably be nice, liven the plants up a little.
"An hour each, I think," Joel replied helpfully, seemingly being less introspective this afternoon. "Says it's monkey o'clock."
"You sound like you don't like the system. Are you from the future?"
He paused. "Maybe I'm just from the West!"
"At this point in time? You'd have to be both."
"Maybe I'm just over a hundred, you ever think of that, E- sir? -sama?"
They looked at each other for a second, Etho's eyes sparkling.
"So what did you come in here to talk about?" he asked casually.
Joel put the clock back. "Well, I was going to say more, but- you were right about the scar."
"Believe we're friends yet?"
"-I don't know how you guessed that, but you got it right."
"Gonna slink away?" He always did in times like these.
He turned his head sharply, before correcting his walk to be less slink-y as he left the house.
Etho was awoken, for the second time in his life, by the smell of smoke.
"Get up, get out-" Someone was in his room, shaking him.
"Yeah?" He sat up with a start, seeing-
One of his samurai, entirely covered by their armor.
"Etho! Oh, thank God, you're awake!" Joel exclaimed, dragging his best friend up.
"'Etho'?"
"Yeah, you got me, now get the fuck out of here!" He was speaking fully in English now.
As Etho got up to 'get the fuck out of there', as asked-
He- he was pretty sure he knew what was going on earlier, what with the heat and the smoke and the blinding lights-
He just didn't want to accept that he was burning alive with Joel again.
"Don't have to tell me twice!"
"I did- now's not the time!"
Parts of the roof were caving in, parts of the floor were-
A flaming beam fell right past his face.
Joel was just gesturing directions now, probably to avoid more smoke in his lungs.
Etho didn't know any sign languages to retort back in, so he just gave a thumbs-up and ran down the stairs-
A stair fell out. He skipped it-
Some of the crashes did not sound like part of the house-?
Fresh air.
Well, as fresh as you could get next to a burning building. And burning plant life- but, hey, they were ou-
A rival samurai had their swords pointed at them, right at the entrance. Etho recognized their emblem as being from one of his allies' enemies in that conflict he was kinda avoiding.
He shakily put up his hands. "H-hey, how's it-"
Joel stabbed them with the naginata he'd brought into a burning building, like the reckless weirdo he was.
Etho smiled under his- he wasn't wearing his cloth.
"Me killing that man made you happy?" Joel grabbed him by the wrist, leading him towards the exit, past all the warriors on both sides. Gunmen were out, too- probably the extra crashes.
"No, it was-" He looked around. "You're leading me straight through a battle? Aren't they after-?"
"If you seem casual enough, people will assume you're meant to be there."
"Sure."
An arrow whizzed past his face, lightly grazing him next to his eye scar.
"We're running straight past the battle, actually!" Joel yelled like a battle cry, leading him out of the gate faster.
Finally a good ways away from the burning han, they could catch their breath.
They both slumped over in some flammable foliage.
For a bit, they sat in silence, other than their heavy breathing.
"Joel?" Etho finally managed. "Why were you even hiding that from me?"
"My identity?"
He coughed. Smoke was the worst. "Yeah."
Joel sighed deeply, taking off his helmet. "Okay. Uh, I'm sure you remember where you... were when you disappeared."
"I do."
He put the helmet back on, slumping further. "Fuck, how do I- You know my falling out with Grian? We did get back on good terms soon after, and I- I was- cooking for him, right? The last day you visited with me?"
The world slowed.
"And I- I decided I was still mad, and I- didn't have to be careful about his stuff, because if I broke it it just showed him? And I- uh... didn't turn the stove off properly."
His face was fully in his lap by the end of his story.
He really-?
"Joel?"
"Oh, God." He started rocking.
"... How did you get here?"
He paused. "The fire?"
Etho smiled broadly, which was probably off-putting to his distressed friend. "Then you're even, right?"
"What?" Joel sat up straight, though he was still gripping his knees.
"If you think you should've been punished, you already have!"
"No, I just-" He slumped again. "I didn't want to see anything about you again, knowing- I thought I killed you! And when I got hired by some rich guy-"
"You weren't expecting to see me?"
He nodded. "I didn't know if I wanted to tell you or not, but- you knew. It'd only matter to me. The only things I ever seem to do are cause and delay the inevitable, and why would I break that streak for something as trivial as my best friend, huh?!" He was rocking again.
"Joel." Etho put a hand on his shoulder, causing him to stop. "You did break the streak for me."
"When?"
"Today! When you saved me!"
They sat there like that for a bit, before-
Joel went in for the hug.
He pulled off his horned helmet mid-movement, which seemed sorta risky, but now was not the time to call him on it.
"We're getting out of here, Etho," he murmured into the other man's shoulder.
"We are. By the way," Etho murmured back, "Why did you pick a polearm?"
"What?"
"Are you trying to look short-"
Joel pulled away to look at his friend, smiling. "Etho!"
(He'd been crying.
Etho pulled him back into the hug.)