[Sorey has to hide his smile when he spots Dezel handing out candy to kids, human children. It's so unexpectedly soft-hearted; not that Dezel was a cruel person, but he never offered much kindness that wasn't hidden behind a thin veneer of realism. It's...really nice. Very nice. If nothing else, getting to see Dezel like this with his heart open to the world makes waking up a thousand years later worth it.
It's less weird to have children swarming and elders nodding to him in respect than it is to see them bowing to Dezel. Dezel had told him but only now is he really seeing it; humans can really see seraphim. And they must think of him as a new Shepherd, with Dezel as his Prime Lord; there isn't the same kind of desperate hope in people's eyes here either as they take him in. Shepherds are still around but they aren't a sign of dire times or a single flickering light in the darkness. They're simply people working to keep the world clean, because a world with humans is one with malevolence, but that doesn't mean it has to be a cruel world.
Sorey stays to talk with the villagers as Dezel wanders off to complete a task. He gets made fun of for the way he says a few things, and his choice of words here and there; elders chuckle and call him old-fashioned, and Sorey laughs with them as they tell him new words, new sayings. "Yer from across the ocean, aren't you kiddo?" ask a few curiously and Sorey hates to lie, so he just shrugs and holds up his hands to the little girl using him to play cat's cradle.
It's not until they get to Ladylake that Sorey truly begins to understand the scope of how the world has changed. The city, already impressively gigantic has tripled in size, the great bridge that once led to the outskirts of town now a historic feature and a tourist spot. Sorey doesn't have any traveling papers but Dezel produces his own, and his cloak is enough to mark him as a Shepherd so he's given a pass.
Trying to take in everything is making his head spin, so Sorey allows Dezel to lead him around (and buy him food that is delicious, a fried snack that is reminiscent of the salted fish of a thousand years ago) and just tries to keep from being overwhelmed. It's like walking into a new city, except it isn't; the streets are familiar, the architecture arches and flourishes like it did forever ago. Sorey could spend months just studying the layout of the city and buildings, but that's not anything new. Are the aqueducts still around?
Dezel leads him over to a fountain and Sorey starts inspecting the nearest placard when Dezel nudges him forward so hard he stumbles. Once his feet touch the stones the water flashes to brilliant colors, images filtering across of-]
Is that-
[Sorey goes bright red at seeing himself rendered so beautifully on the water before it moves on to historical moments, ruins and mountains, gigantic lakes and sparkling shores.]
...Mikleo's a bigshot now, isn't he? [It makes him swell with pride, to know that Mikleo who'd wanted strength so badly is now able to make something like this, something beyond Sorey's ability to even understand. It also worries him, because the Mikleo he keeps hearing about feels so distant from him that he's not sure who he's going to find when he finally meets up with him again.]
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It's less weird to have children swarming and elders nodding to him in respect than it is to see them bowing to Dezel. Dezel had told him but only now is he really seeing it; humans can really see seraphim. And they must think of him as a new Shepherd, with Dezel as his Prime Lord; there isn't the same kind of desperate hope in people's eyes here either as they take him in. Shepherds are still around but they aren't a sign of dire times or a single flickering light in the darkness. They're simply people working to keep the world clean, because a world with humans is one with malevolence, but that doesn't mean it has to be a cruel world.
Sorey stays to talk with the villagers as Dezel wanders off to complete a task. He gets made fun of for the way he says a few things, and his choice of words here and there; elders chuckle and call him old-fashioned, and Sorey laughs with them as they tell him new words, new sayings. "Yer from across the ocean, aren't you kiddo?" ask a few curiously and Sorey hates to lie, so he just shrugs and holds up his hands to the little girl using him to play cat's cradle.
It's not until they get to Ladylake that Sorey truly begins to understand the scope of how the world has changed. The city, already impressively gigantic has tripled in size, the great bridge that once led to the outskirts of town now a historic feature and a tourist spot. Sorey doesn't have any traveling papers but Dezel produces his own, and his cloak is enough to mark him as a Shepherd so he's given a pass.
Trying to take in everything is making his head spin, so Sorey allows Dezel to lead him around (and buy him food that is delicious, a fried snack that is reminiscent of the salted fish of a thousand years ago) and just tries to keep from being overwhelmed. It's like walking into a new city, except it isn't; the streets are familiar, the architecture arches and flourishes like it did forever ago. Sorey could spend months just studying the layout of the city and buildings, but that's not anything new. Are the aqueducts still around?
Dezel leads him over to a fountain and Sorey starts inspecting the nearest placard when Dezel nudges him forward so hard he stumbles. Once his feet touch the stones the water flashes to brilliant colors, images filtering across of-]
Is that-
[Sorey goes bright red at seeing himself rendered so beautifully on the water before it moves on to historical moments, ruins and mountains, gigantic lakes and sparkling shores.]
...Mikleo's a bigshot now, isn't he? [It makes him swell with pride, to know that Mikleo who'd wanted strength so badly is now able to make something like this, something beyond Sorey's ability to even understand. It also worries him, because the Mikleo he keeps hearing about feels so distant from him that he's not sure who he's going to find when he finally meets up with him again.]