Grasping Futures

While Alex had committed more or else fully to the job of being a husband and father, there were still a few loose ends in his life that he felt like he needed to tie up, and a few things that he wasn't alright with just leaving undone. He'd wanted to come by and visit the old man for years now, thank him for the training back then, but life sure had seemed to get in the way of all that, huh?

It wasn't as if Alex was unfamiliar with South America at this point in his life. He'd traveled plenty through this part of the world, either during his pointless efforts to make Margaritaville or just walking through the jungle for something new. But he hadn't had much in the way of a goal all those other times, really, just been wandering. Was kinda nice having a purpose when you did shit.

Of course, these days his sense for spiritual disturbances was better than most. The feeling of a Hollow rearing its head, and being destroyed just as quickly, would already typically be enough to catch his attention at least briefly. But that wasn't the main concern for him right now. He was positive he knew whoever it was that'd handled said Hollow, but he couldn't place it.

Alex could, of course, have done some tremendous sprint or overblown leap to the point of interest, but that had never really been the sort of thing that was his style. Instead, he just walked over, quickly enough and with enough familiarity with this jungle that he could easily make better pace than most. He didn't recognize this chick physically, but that didn't always mean much these days.

"Yo. You lost?"

"Last I checked, those don't freeze, but you do you, I guess. Hopefully it gets you big and strong or however that works."

Alex wasn't exactly the sort to dissuade someone from their aims regardless of their possibility, if only because that would have suggested more care for others than he really had in him. He was a nice guy and all, but he wasn't that nice of a guy.

"I owe a guy a favor or two. He lives around this part of the world, so I figured I should stop back in and say hey. Been a few years, I'd say he probably wonders what I'm up to but that drunk fuck probably doesn't even realize that much time's passed."

He noticed the yellow eyes, of course, but they didn't really draw much of a reaction from him at this point. He'd run across so many fucking weirdos that even a human with those eyes wasn't much to him. Hell, he'd been keeping a Hollow around in his chest for a hot minute or two.

Alex met Calypso's hand with his own, giving her more of a high five than a handshake. Whether that was what he genuinely assumed she wanted, or whether that was just what he preferred to do, wasn't really clear, but either way it was certainly quite fitting for his personality.

"Alex Vaugrenard. I guess I am a man of fire, but you might have to check with my wife about the 'heart' thing. I don't really think too much about that, I just do whatever."

It occurred to him that Ulv had generally spoken of him in the same sort of way, but that wasn't necessarily a positive or a negative. For him, that was just the way things had been. His own mother had been nice to him sometimes too, but that didn't change anything, now did it?

"Well, if you wanna come along then I won't mind. Don't really know the way too well but I'll remember when I see it. Few pretty defining landmarks, nice waterfall we used to drink by."

"You put a lot more thought into this than I ever have, lemme tell ya."

Alex didn't say that disparagingly, of course. Despite the simple life their household lived, he knew pretty well that his wife was the sort of girl who put a lot of thought into those sorts of things. He sort of wished he could keep up with her, but he didn't actually think she wanted to bring those things into their peaceful little life. Better to just stay ignorant, really, and he was just fine with that.

"I'm not really the type of guy to care much about who's more or less evil. If they're both evil, then they've both gotta go."

Of course, that had hardly been how he'd seen the world a few years ago, had it?

"Guess it's just about perspective."

"I've heard about that stuff, but I don't think it'd be my style. I'm a little too in the moment for all that. 'Sides, there's plenty of people I just can't be assed to give a fuck about, so I'm never gonna be that understanding."

It didn't exactly seem like Alex was particularly bothered by that thought, really. This whole sort of conversation was just idle chitchat in his head, not something he really put much serious thought into. After all, moral quandaries weren't his area of expertise.

"I'm definitely not out here to fight the world. No plans on it any time soon. Maybe once upon a time I thought I had to get stronger and keep my friends safe from whatever might be out there, but I'm not doing them any good dead. If it's in front of me and it's evil, then I'll deal with it, but at the end of the day it can't be that evil if it's not causing any problems, can it?"