It was… warm. Akatosh was wrapped in a very, ever so warm, fluffy blanket, and wherever he was, it was extremely comfortable. Arms were wrapped around his small form under the blanket, and there was the faint feeling of some warm air against his cheek.
When Akatosh had fainted earlier, Joker had been kind enough to bring him to the Circus to let him rest. He felt bad a poor outsider had been so overwhelmed to the point of fainting. But when he had taken him back to the Circus, he had seen that his own counterpart was taking a nap. Why not play a little trick on them both and put the unconscious outsider along with the unconscious Joker! He knew well how to piss himself off sometimes.
Akatosh stirred very softly, but didn't open his eyes, not yet. His head pounded, as if some invisible force was hammering down on his temples, and the weakest groan escaped him. Finally, after some moments of drifting in and out of consciousness, his eyelids lifted, and he blinked in a daze as he was greeted by the sight of a bedroom unfamiliar to him.
His hazy mind snapped back to awareness as he noticed the red-haired man, and he made a rather stressed and surprised sound, his features contorting to show his emotions. Akatosh immediately moved away, out of some weird panic not even he could explain, only to unceremoniously hit the ground with a rather loud thud.
He could tell, just from the perfect start to his morning, that this was going to be a great day.
There was a grumble coming from the bed after the loud thud on the ground, and the man sat up almost immediately, looking around for a moment in his sleepy surprise . "...The hell?.." He asked with a frown, his eyebrows furrowing rather hard due to the fact he was so dazed from waking up so suddenly. He looked just like… the red head Akatosh met earlier…. But he was dressed in a suit, a suit too nice for a jester to wear.
He finally noticed Akatosh, his red eye rather wide in shock, before he frowned even harder. "Who the fuck are you?" He asked, looking a bit pissed off to be woken by this fucker. He obviously didn't know Akatosh. Did he not remember him? That wasn't the only thing that was off about him this time, but he just seemed… different than before. Like an entirely different person… But he wasn't? Eh, this world was crazy enough as is, right? Maybe this was normal, having people forget someone so easily.
Akatosh stared up at him with a deer-caught-in-headlights look on his face, and his cheeks turned an even brighter shade of red than they had been before, his head swarming. It took a moment for his memories to catch up with the rest of him, remembering what had happened in the crazy day before, and he supposed, truly, that it hadn't been some bizarre dream if he was waking up here as opposed to Cyrodiil.
He tried to say something, but only stammered aimlessly, feeling just as overwhelmed as he had yesterday. Akatosh finally just shook his head, trying to get to his feet, trying to do something other than make a larger fool of himself, wanting to leave. He didn't understand this at all, and everything in this world just got stranger and stranger. He couldn't even get out of bed without causing a scene…
"The- the market," he finally got out. "And- and the food, with the poison- whatever it was, I didn't understand it, it burned, and- and the gun, with the man- oh, by the Nine, he's dead-" he visibly paled, just overly shocked, and the awful headache that came from a gun being fired off right next to his ear only increased his stress, before his expression melted into a frown, into annoyance. "What do you mean, who am I? Bastard, you would know!" Akatosh finally got to his feet, not meaning much by the curse, just infuriated at everything, wishing his migraine would leave him be so that he could figure out how what to do with this all.
The man looked irritated when Akatosh cursed at him, before he got out of bed and suddenly grabbed the short man by his shirt. "Watch your fuckin' language, shortie, I don't know who the hell you are! Or the shit you're talkin' about!" He huffed, lifting him off the ground, and there was a laugh, it coming from… a little weird clown mask on the man's hip. "Joker~ Be nice to our guest~. He`s an outsider, you know," it playfully scolded, sounding exactly like the redhead holding Akatosh up. But his lips didn't move when he spoke, so it couldn't have been him… right? The taller man raised his eyebrows a little, before he put Akatosh down and sighed. "So what the hell is he doing in my bed?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at the brunet, and there was another laugh. "I saw you napping, and he was already napping as well, so why not? Joker, don't be so mean, he is our guest!" That comment made Joker's eyebrow twitch in annoyance, and his fists clenched as if he was trying to control his anger. He was…. very, very grumpy.
Akatosh stared at the mask for a long, long moment, before he frowned, ever so softly. "I'm not short," he finally said, that being the only response he mustered for all that had just happened, even as untrue as the statement was. He hadn't ever been called short before, but for some reason, hearing that word be used to describe filled him with some great irritation he couldn't explain. Akatosh raised his fingers to his temples, then, rubbing them in some attempt to relieve the pain he was feeling. "Please, I- I just want to leave," he sighed out. He didn't belong in this strange, strange world, and he had his own world he needed to get back to. As lonely as it was, there, anyway.
Akatosh glanced down, then, to check if he still had his katana on him, and upon realizing it wasn't there, he frowned harder. "M-my- w- where is it?" He gestured noiselessly, supposing that he had been dropped off here after blacking out at the marketplace, and he truly was appreciative of being taken care for, but he needed that katana. It- it had belonged to his dear friend… "Please, I… I don't understand- don't understand the- the mask, or you, or anything, I just want to go home, and I want my- my sword…" Akatosh deflated at that moment, staring down at the tips of his boots as if they possessed all the answers in the world for him to find and use to get out of this mess.
Joker frowned a little, before he sighed in pure annoyance and crossed his arms, and he then grabbed Akatosh`s arm and walked him- well, more like dragged him -out of the room, which, amazingly, lead out into a Circus, the door they had exited from just… disappearing. As if it was never there to begin with. The man dragged him off until he got outside, where what seemed to be an exact duplicate of Joker stood, waving to a certain Alice as she walked away from the Circus, on her way to visit a friend.
Akatosh…. wasn't hallucinating, right? There were two Jokers. But he couldn't be hallucinating at all, they were wearing completely different outfits-!
"Hey," the one in the suit said, and the other stopped waving, turning around with a large grin. "Tell me what the fuck`s goin' on, jackass." The Jester seemed surprised at his counterpart's language, but merely started laughing. "I think I've already explained this, Joker," was his response, before he glanced over to Akatosh and scrunched up his nose with a goofy smile, just to make a silly face at him, wondering how this outsider was reacting to this weird, weird world.
Akatosh looked at him with the softest frown- looked at both of them with that same frown, and then looked away, his distressed expression only growing. "Are- are you- you twins?" But they were named the same, weren't they? Very weird twins, then? Akatosh didn't want to care, he just wanted to leave, but his curiosity was just as large as his stress. Maybe even bigger than said stress. This man- or men?- were so interesting, and this world was, too, he just didn't understand it, and didn't have his same affinity for adventuring that he truly used to. He wished something could be explained, but everything that happened since he fell into this place just added onto the confusion.
They both blinked, before the Jester laughed rather hard. "No, no, we are Joker," he explained, and his duplicate nodded, seeming to relax if only in the slightest way. "Same person, shortie. Though that runt Alice likes to call me 'Black' and this asshole over here 'White'. Shit names, in my opinion," he humphed. The one nicknamed White chuckled a bit, shrugging. "Outsiders are strange, Joker, I think it's nice of her to name us individually so she won't get confused," he smiled, while 'Black' rolled his eye. "Bull. She's just lazy as fuck and can't keep up," he muttered, sounding grumpy beyond belief. They were counterparts… but the same person. One was grumpy, and one was seemingly kinder.
Akatosh stared at them for a long while, before finally, he nodded, as if he understood this all despite the fact he didn't. He didn't know if that was because of the fact that Akatosh was just quite slow, or because this truly was as confusing as it seemed to him. Perhaps both.
The Breton was unsure of what to say, admittedly, and he let the silence sink in long enough for it to turn slightly awkward. "You're one person, but- but two people? Like, one mind, but- but as… two…" He trailed off slowly, before speaking again. "How?" The frown deepened on his face, but his eyes were large, reflecting the world off of them in dark brown irises.
Black was about to say something, but he was cut off by his smiling counterpart. "Did you say you lost something?" He asked playfully, changing the subject very quickly. This world was crazy… Akatosh shouldn't expect people to answer his questions very often. But at least Akatosh could try to see where his sword was with this new question…
Akatosh, easily distracted, nodded, his hand instinctively going to his hip to where said katana was usually kept. "Y-yeah. Where- where did my katana go? I had it before I woke up in- in-" he tried to search for anything to describe the weird, oversized tent they were standing outside of, one he hadn't fully observed until now, and only pointed to it, looking back up at White as he gritted his teeth anxiously.
Joker mused with a wild grin, before he reached behind his back, only to pull the said blade from seemingly out of thin air. "I took it so you wouldn't hurt yourself while you slept, sir Akatosh," White explained, while his counterpart crossed his arms and glared at himself, but didn't interrupt them.
Akatosh was slightly taken aback by the always happy man, and he took the Akaviri katana from his grasp, giving it a quick lookover before sliding it back in its sheath at his waist. Finally, his frown was replaced with the barest of smiles, and a grateful one no less. "Thank you," he murmured, and he let out a sigh, looking back at Black in an apologetic manner. His head was still aching, and his stress was still there, but he had managed to calm down enough. "I'm sorry for my earlier behavior. I was… surprised… But thank you for taking enough care as to let me stay here after what happened yesterday. I- I need to leave, though. I've overstayed my welcome by now." Surely, there had to be some way to reach that Gate. There was always a way to go back, even when he had visited Paradise, all that time ago.
White tilted his head a little before he frowned in curiosity. "And where exactly do you intend to go?" He asked, while Black only gave Akatosh a small sneer, but said nothing, having not enjoyed waking up so quickly, especially not with a stranger in his bed.
Akatosh pointed up at the sky in answer. The Oblivion Gate, looming over their heads still, seemed to glare at Akatosh from above, taunting him with its surface of flames. "I need to go through that to get back to Cyrodiil, where I come from. I- I just need a way to get up there." He rubbed the back of his neck almost anxiously, wanting to leave, and up there was his way of doing so.
Black looked up, before he made a face, while the Jester spoke up. "I don't know how you`d intend to get up there…," He mumbled once more, before he tapped his chin as in thought. "A hot air balloon or something could work…" He hummed to himself for a moment, before he sighed and walked into the circus, going off to go talk to some faceless clowns about something, while Black was still standing there, having the most shocked look on his face as he continued to stare at what was in the sky. What… what the actual fuck…..
Akatosh glanced back at White as he left, wanting to ask what a hot air balloon actually was, but he decided that, for once, he would hold back his questions. His gaze drifted back over to Black, and he was quiet for a moment, following his gaze back to where the Gate was. "They're called Oblivion Gates," he supplied, finally. "Usually, they take me to this weird- weird hellish world, and usually I'm supposed to- to go to this tower and- and close it, but this one lead me here instead." He felt like he had to explain himself, even though, as he finished, he didn't think Black would truly care. "They're not supposed to be opening anymore." He added that, to himself, mostly.
A frown was all Akatosh got in response for a long moment, only due to the fact that Joker was even more confused, before the man finally spoke up. "Why the fuck would you want go through that shit in the first place, Shortie?" He asked, looking down to Akatosh, as if that was the most important question. "Wouldn't you call yourself lucky for ending up here rather than some hell hole?" He added, the redhead just asking so many questions now…
Akatosh looked back over at Black. "It's my job to close them. It's the only thing I'm good for, and I kind of promised someone I would." The friendly enough smile that he had strung on his face faltered, then, but he turned his gaze back up to the Gate. "A man I once knew gave a very big sacrifice to close them for good, as monsters kept coming out of them and a Da- a- a g-god, an evil one, was trying to take over my world by making Oblivion Gates. I- I think, it's- it's hard to explain. But it should be impossible for them to be reappearing, and it's my job to close them." He repeated the words, seeming uneasy.
Black listened to this all, and he was quiet before he nodded and tried to seem like he understood. Before anything could have been said, however, a hand softly grabbed Akatosh`s own. "Akatosh, I believe I know a way to help you… But this may break a rule. I don't know if it will or not, to be honest, though.. You`re not playing the game and all... ," White said, having come back from talking to the faceless clowns in the Circus.
Akatosh looked up at him, confusedly, for a moment. "The game…?" He trailed off, uncertainly, before deciding to just hold back his questions for now, letting the stranger hold his hand despite the miniscule discomfort it brought him. His questions weren't exactly always answered when he asked them, anyway. "Nevermind. Um, what's the help?"
"Just follow me, good sir," he said calmly, before he began to lead him by his hand to what seemed to be the back of the Circus, Black staying behind for now. Now it was just the weird Jester man and Akatosh… Akatosh glanced down at their hands for a moment as they walked, and for as much as he wanted to know, he held his tongue, maintaining the silence and waiting to see what Joker had waiting for him.
Once they got to the back of the circus, Akatosh tripped a little on his own two feet in surprise, clashing awkwardly against Joker's side, but he couldn't be bothered to care. Awaiting for them was a gigantic hot air balloon, covered in a brilliant rainbow diamond pattern. It was fully inflated, making quite the sight for Akatosh, but out of everything he had seen in the mere hours he had been here, the Breton supposed it wasn't the strangest.
He broke his vow of silence to finally ask about this all. "What is this? How can it help us get up to the Gate?" He held the slightest pout on his lips, but yet couldn't tear his gaze away from the large object in front of them both.
White smiled at him and had put an arm around him when Akatosh almost tripped, holding him close just to ensure he wouldn't fall or anything. "This should be able to float up to the Gate you oh-so-desperately need to get to, dear stranger…," He said, only vaguely cheerful at this point for some reason, and he then began to walk Akatosh towards the hot air balloon, still not letting go of him.
Akatosh nodded, and he stumbled along, though his mouth held the softest frown across it. "How does it do that?" The inquiry was softly spoken, and he gently stepped away from Joker, brushing an absent strand of hair behind his ear to keep his anxious hands busy. Once they got to the strange balloon, he tried to step up on it, but his legs were just as short as the rest of him and he couldn't quite manage, shame crawling down his neck.
There was laughter before Akatosh was suddenly swept off his feet, and cradled in White`s arms as the man got up in the basket of the hot air balloon, faceless clowns having helped set it up without any trouble at all. Because Joker was just the type of guy to own a hot air balloon.. "The heat from the fire fills the balloon, and it floats with the hot air," he explained, knowing it wouldn't make any sense to Akatosh if he didn't even know what a gun was, but oh well! Akatosh was set down carefully onto the floor of the basket, and Joker spoke to some faceless outside of the balloon, who all nodded and cut the ropes that had been holding the balloon down to the ground, making them start floating.
Akatosh was about to say a lot at that all despite being utterly speechless, and yet, he was robbed of the words as they began their slow ascent. Akatosh could only watch the ground get farther from them both, and he felt unstable, feet planted unsteadily on the bottom of the basket they stood in, but it gave him a rush of excitement that he hadn't felt in a long, long time. The scenery only began to drift more and more away, giving him a proper view of below, and finally, he approached the edge of their rickety platform, gazing over the side of it.
It took him a moment to discover his voice again. "This is amazing!" It came out as an exclamation, and the words widened his smile. His eyes shone with a strange gleam to them, and he let out a laugh, staring down as they only went higher. "I… I can't believe this…" He murmured the words in wonder, looking back up at the redheaded man.
White looked over to him with a grin, before his smile faltered a little as he saw the look Akatosh had, making him surprised for a few moments before the smile came back a bit softer than before. "I`m glad you enjoy it," he said quietly, before he reached over and grabbed a lever, pulling it to make the fire bigger, just for the balloon to start floating faster and further from the ground. He wondered…. If he could make Akatosh laugh like that again. This short, short man was so…. Interesting.
Akatosh nodded excitedly, before he gasped, watching them fly through the sky as their speed increased. He leaned even farther over the edge, taking extra precaution to make sure he wouldn't fall, stretching his arms out against the winds billowing around them. "How could I not? I've never done anything like this! It's amazing!" He repeated the words he had used before, not realizing his reiteration, not caring. It was hard to rip his gaze from the world down below them, and he didn't, not yet.
As they climbed higher towards the blindingly bright sun, they only approached the great Gate even quicker, humming gently as its flames licked at the air around. The light of it reflected off of Joker's eye, making the soft red glimmer like a gorgeous ruby, and when Akatosh turned back to him, the sight took his breath away, and he weakly smiled. "Thank you," he said, finally. His heart was pounding, being so close to the Gate, so close back to Cyrodiil. "I- I really appreciate all that you've done to help me, mister Joker." He didn't call Joker by the nickname this counterpart had been given, feeling that his true name fit him the best.
The redhead was quiet for a moment, his eye widening a bit, having been staring at Akatosh without realizing it, but after his surprise, he grinned and laughed very very slightly, nodding. "Least I can do, really," he said quietly, but he politely bowed, taking his jester hat off and holding it against his chest. "It's been a pleasure meeting you. I feel quite honored to have been able to put such a smile on your face, my dear stranger… And to have been given your name as well," he said, before standing back up straight, just seeming ever so happy now. Hm… he wished Akatosh could stay a little longer, though. He still had many questions about everything happening, and he wanted to mess with this man some more since he was just so entertaining…
Redness tinted his cheeks at the words, but Akatosh merely nodded, keeping his weak smile. His heart was still beating, nearly pounding against his chest just badly as his head still was, but instead of feeling as weightless as it should have, it felt heavy, sinking deep into his gut. It was almost with trepidation rather than joy that he watched the Gate crawl closer, felt them crawl closer, and then they were at the thing, stopped.
It was humming louder than before, burning even brighter than the sun above, still balanced on the chunk of dirt floating high over the world. It was large enough for him to stand on, to reach from here, he knew. Akatosh gazed at the portal, his lips gently parted in wonder, and he closed his eyes, his breath shaky, before opening them back up to meet the eye of the other man before him.
"I suppose this is goodbye." He was stalling, was reluctant. After how badly adamant he had been to get here, why was he reluctant?
"I suppose so," was all Joker replied with for a long, long moment, before he reached behind his back and pulled out a beautiful crimson red rose, offering it to Akatosh. "In hopes you return, Akatosh," he finally said, wondering if Akatosh even could return to this Wonderful Wonderworld. He was surprised Akatosh even had a way to escape in the first place and all… But hey, Akatosh wasn't playing 'The Game', Alice was. It wasn't like Joker was ruining the game or breaking the rules by doing this all, merely helping a random passerby man return home. Eh. Joker couldn't remember the last time he did a good deed like this…
The red on his cheeks went darker, and with a slight reluctance, he took the rose, holding it in his fingers. Akatosh nodded, then, to Joker, and without another word, he tucked the rose behind his ear along with the absent strand of hair, hoisting himself over the edge of the basket to land on the chunk of ground ahead.
As soon as his feet hit the rock, he staggered, expecting it to crumble. It didn't, holding up his weight, and Akatosh let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. The Gate's humming was incredibly loud, now, buzzing in his ears, and he looked as some semblance of his reflection watched back at himself through the burning fires.
He looked… sad.
Akatosh took his first step forward, but didn't take another after that, the ground seem to burst at his feet, in a sudden flurry of color. He cried out in surprise, hand instinctively going to the leather bound hilt of his katana before he fully caught onto what was happening. Another burst of color, and then another, exploding over the Gate, over the ground beneath his boots. He backed away in surprise, and only felt air to support him- something air was bad at doing.
He could only leap and catch onto the edge of the basket before he fell, his legs swinging hard beneath the rest of him, hands clenching so tightly to the basket that his knuckles turned white. Akatosh was quickly slipping, however, unable to turn and see what had happened just as much as he was unable to hold up his own weight what with his lack of physical strength, and after a few short seconds, his grip weakened and fell.
Before he could plummet to his death, a hand grabbed Akatosh`s arm, Joker having caught him. The Jester was so… surprised at this all. He had no clue what the actual fuck was happening, and the basket of the hot air balloon was tipping just a bit due to the weight on only one side, but it would hold.
"What`s happening, Akatosh?" He asked, starting to pull Akatosh up back into the basket as fast as possible so they wouldn't break the hot air balloon or anything, not finding it all that hard to pull him up due to the fact Akatosh was so tiny and small. Jeez, even Alice would be heavier than this man. He eventually managed to pull him into the basket, and he felt relieved he was able to save him in time. Outsiders were precious things, whether they were playing 'The Game' or not.
Akatosh was shaking softly in surprise, his heart having leapt into his throat, and he found it hard to swallow it down and find the words to speak. He merely pointed, then, as his gaze drifted up, utterly speechless at the sight before them, behind them, around. The colors weren't just mindless explosions, but great, fluttering insects, butterflies, capturing the hot air balloon between them as Akatosh and Joker were swarmed. Each butterly held a different color, all so bright and vibrant, making a fantastical sight, but an eyesore all the same. He watched, stunned, for that was all Akatosh felt he could do.
Slowly, the swarm dispersed, leaving the two behind, leaving Wonderland behind, even, fluttering away to some distant world far out of reach. There was no Oblivion Gate in their wake, there was nothing, and when the rainbow-dipped butterflies finally escaped from the sky, only Akatosh and Joker were left, still in their hot air balloon, floating hundreds of feet above Wonderland.
Eventually, did his voice come again. "That was my way home," he murmured, gently. He didn't sound disappointed. His heart was calmed, his breath was steadying, and he clung to Joker in a way, staying in his arms.
Joker stared at this all with absolute shock, his mouth gaped open, before he tried to hide his surprise as best as he could. He didn't feel like this was something of this world's doing. It confused and shocked him very very ever so much. "...I suppose we will have to find another way back…. If there is one. That was all… rather amazing, however, I`ve never seen anything like that before," he mumbled, his red eye rather wide still, despite how much he tried to calm down. This man was extremely entertaining.. Even the events he caused were quite a show to Joker. He could have some fun with this one.
Akatosh looked at him, slowly, and he was silent for a long span of seconds, before he managed a single, silent nod. "I suppose." He fell silent once more, and only watched as they began their slow descent to the ground.