Noel's eyes sudden snapped open, as a dull throb pulsed callously behind his eyes, inadvertently causing him to close back his eyes once more from the sudden pain.
'My head has been hurting a lot nowadays like I've was sitting on one of those playground swings when I was younger. I wonder if they have something similar to Aspirin for headaches ... ? '
"Ah, I see you've awakened, Boy. A headache, I presume?"
Before him, Noel heard a voice that was as a tad bit casual, neither too indulgent, nor too dry, a correct balance of neutrality in tone and voice.
Yet he couldn't help but sense a hidden underlaying tone of mockery hinted in his voice.
Noel, broken out of his momentarily stutter, slowly opened his eyes as hundreds of colors rushed to enter his eyes at the same moment, making him narrow his eyes once more in irritation.
'However, what exactly ... is this lingering feeling of discomfort?'
His eyes scrunchized uncomfortably as he realized he had been holding his breath the whole time. He let out an audible exhale.
In his mind there was a lingering discomfort that did not stem from his intuition of something wrong. Rather, it felt as if his presence in this train was not natural, inorganic.
Inorganic?
He turned his head with a questioning tilt of his head towards the passengers in the train with a trace of confusion. Yet, his narrow eyes widened as he realized that he hadn't properly seen the train properly before.
It was very different from what might expect from another world's train, very much so. The train was filled to the brim with passengers in different and colorful clothing that had a different feeling of that of his original world, Earth. It was akin to a spectacular mix between modernity and the medieval period.
Not only that, but he was in awe as he realized that there were artifacts similar in function to that of speakers, placed almost unnoticeably near the corners of the ceiling that played a mix of jazz-like and violin/piano music.
The ceiling itself was a mix of roman-like fresco wall paintings that depicted unoriented and disorganized images of naked figures, a mix of males and females on clouds and weaponry.
His nose twitched as he thought upon a pleasant aroma of dishes.
'How tasty it must be. I wonder if they would mind getting me a plate?'
The lingering feeling of discomfort in his chest had gradually began dissipating, yet something in his heart became unsteady, as his expression grew a tad uneasy.
'Just ... just what is this uneasiness?'
Noel shifted his feet as he became aware of the preens of other people, before he looked back to Exile who wholeheartedly focused on enjoying something that seemed to vaguely resemble a .... cheesecake?
"You've also got cheesecakes here in this world?" He asked, his eyes wide open in shock.
Noel's eyes remained staring at the silver spoon that moved to scoop up a spoonful of the delicacy, before subtly disappearing between the top and bottom of the pale lips that seemed no doubt innocent of having passed the desert through them.
Surprisingly, Exile raised his eyes to look at him with his dead grey-blue eyes intently staring at him for a few moments, grunting something.
"Haven't you noticed that your foot seems to hurt much less, enough for you to talk about this nonsense?"
"Hm?"
Noel glanced down to his foot that was urgently sending pain signals to his brain earlier, only to find it neatly and professionally in white bandages, as if handled by a specialized a medic.
He looked back to Exile, and was about to speak, his eyes furrowed.
"Solömon O'MacCall, a friend of mine who works here. Served me this splendid cake as well. Tell him hello when you see him around. You can tell him immediately when you see his crisp white shirt, and a tattoo of his lover's name on his forehead. He's a good fellow"
Noel raised an eyebrow in interest.
'What kind of guy has a tattoo on his forehead, and of his lover? Really .. ? Still, I don't think Exile is the type to joke about this kind of thing'
Exile took a handkerchief out of his breast pocket, and wiped his hand on it, before wiping his mouth, and put it back. He hit a bell besides him once, before a garçon quickly came to receive his order.
"Cream and sugar"
The man went immediately to bring them and came back before placing them on the table and left.
"Do you like drinking tea with cream, or with sugar, or both?"
Noel thought about it for a moment, as he looked into Exile's eyes and leaned back. He personally didn't like drinking tea with anything else, hell, he rarely drank tea. Most of what he drank was either coffee or water, so tea was like a less charted territory he wasn't used to drink.
Moreover, he didn't like any additives to his coffee. He'd usually just drink black coffee, devoid of any milk, cream, or sugar. To him, sweetness usually came from either your happiness, to which you wouldn't need any sugar, and in case of sadness, it would taste bitter, sad enough to make you feel every drop of the bitterness.
To him, drinking coffee with milk, cream, and sugar was like how many people perceived Hawaiian pizza, otherwise known as pineapple on pizza, as an international disaster that required interpole interference for a full-fledged investigation.
As for Alcohol? Yeah, no. He wasn't much of an alcoholic fan.
What kind of madman would drink alcohol in sadness, only for him to spill out all his secrets like a pea pod? The only thing left after drinking that horse piss would be to just write down his credit card and SIN numbers throwing them in a soccer-based pub, and then jump off a bridge.
'Should I just agree to drink it with cream and sugar? No, no, I have to stay true to myself, how can I prove my strong will to him if I just agree with anything? Damn it, what should I do? Should I just drink it as it is? Or should I just ask him to add it since he brought in the first place?'
Internally, as Noel was agonizing over if he should add cream and sugar or not, Exile turned his attention away, and started pouring the cream anyways. Watching him while biting his lips, Exile then took two spoonfuls enough to cause diabetes type 2, and mixed it with the spoon, before he clinked it twice on the edge of teacup, and set it down.
He pushed the cup towards Noel. "Enjoy"
Noel didn't answer, but merely stared for a few moments at the light-brown white color that was still swirling from the spoon, before he held it between index and thumb, and drank the coffee at once. However, he suddenly choked on it.
"Cough, cough, cough" Holding his hand to his lips, he stopped any of the liquid to leak out of his mouth, pursing his lips as to avoid the awkward silence.
"Thats quite disgusting" Exile remarked without a change in his expression, before he stared into Noel's eyes intently yet calmly. Although Noel didn't exactly understand what Exile wanted from his, he placed his hand on his lap, subtly wiping any remints of the liquid on his hand.
"We will be having a long talk. Me and you, Noel, about your responsibilities to come. Do you understand me?"
Noel nodded in understanding as realization dawned on him that he had forgotten a crucial fact.
'Oh, I had completely forgotten about this completely. I recall that Pepa, no, that Elias had pushed her responsibility to me, but I still don't understand what it was, but I recall it was serious. Was it... about something related to .... war?'
Internally, Noel grew uneasy, but he merely nodded his head in understanding as he leaned a bit forward to listen to Exile's next words.
"Your job will be to be a disposable soldier"