Florin followed her, entering the house. There was a different air in here. A feeling of normality. Or at least, somewhat normal. But to Florin, it was a feeling he didn’t recall, perhaps just due to tonight’s situation. He stopped, glanced around the house a few more times, then turned back to her.
He sniffed. “What is that?” Florin gestured towards the pizza. Her telling him it wasn’t poisoned was slightly reassuring, though he still didn’t really recognize it right off the bat. He could swear he’d seen it before, in a past memory, but the name had escaped his tongue. He trailed up towards the table.
"This?" She held up her slice while pointing at it. In the corner of her eye, she stared at the pizza in with some confusion. This situation seems to be getting weirder and weirder the more it progresses. Well, this is better than before. Lifting up the box, she pointed at the logo of the pizza place. "It's pizza and there's pepperoni and Italian sausage on it. Have you tried it before?"
Dahlia blew on her piece then took a bite. The corners of her lips curved into a light grin as she enjoyed it. Looking over to him, she gave a thumbs-up. Defiantly wasn't poisoned for sure. Her foot tapped lightly against the floor. Focusing back on the food, she reached to pull the box of bread-sticks over and took two for herself.
Florin looked at it. It was faintly familiar, he knew he’d come across this at some point..but that was most likely from before. A long time ago. At least he knew what it was now.
“No,” he began, “We don’t..” ..have it where I come from.. He paused, mid sentence, then continued. “I haven’t had it.”
Florin moved closer to the table and sat down, slipping off his gloves. He kept his wrists pointed down on purpose, as he’d just remembered the tattoo he had on his wrist. Florin was still wary of the woman, if she was working with the enemy or not remained unknown to him. And according to the knowledge Florin had, enemies would have a high chance of recognizing the tattoo and associating him with the Insurgency. Which was something he did not want.
Oh Madone. We? Dahlia stopped what she was doing and gave him a questionable look for a second. There is no need to start with the interrogating. The poor man looks shaken from what happened. She leaned back to get a quick look out the window. No one's else is there aside from them.
Her eyes laid on the gloves that he sat down. They didn't look anything you'd normally see. The condition they are isn't too bad, but it looked like they went through a battle or two. She could've sworn that she had seen them before or maybe it was just her imagination. Perhaps they're a clue. Why would a random guy wandering through the forest have such gloves and a soldier uniform too?
Dahlia leaned back into the chair. "Really? This is the first time I've heard anyone never having pizza before. I hope you like it," She grinned. Looking back at the gloves, she tilted her head then pointed at them. "May I take a look at them?"
Florin lightly tapped the tips of his fingers on the table, perhaps not even realizing he was doing it. He still avoids direct eye contact, or at least for lengthy amounts of time. From time to time, Florin glanced up.
“Oh, um..” When her question came, Florin stopped to think. A few seconds later he replied. “Sure,” he pushed the pair forwards. His eyes remained on his gloves for a few moments before he returned attention to his food.
Florin lifted his slice, but tilted his face away from where she could see it. Then, seemingly lowered his scarf, took a bite, raised it up again and set the slice back down again. He spend a few seconds considering the pizza, the strange food he could faintly recall in his mind, yet only had just tasted it now. And speaking of the taste..well, it was the first thing he’d noticed. The taste of the food, different from the tasteless stuff he was used to having. Weird.
Dahlia's feet tapped on the floor as she happily took the pair. "Thank you", She whispered, closely examining them. The gloves reminded her of one's she saw in a dystopia war movie; not a favorite of hers despite a coworker liking it. Her fingers traced along the seams as she noticed some tiny pieces of dirt on them. She turned them inside-out in hopes of seeing some sort of tag or anything that could give her a clue about this man. Nothing, splendid. A disappointed sigh left her as she turned them outside-in. They look good though, she wished she had a pair like them for some strange reason.
"Are you in the army or are you just really into dressing up like a soldier?" She asked. Taking one glove, she slipped it over her right hand then did the same with the other. It felt weird on her hands, maybe it's since Carota has bigger hands than her. "Were you playing dress-up in the forest?" Dahlia stared down at them for a while before deciding to take them off.
Florin flicked his eyes towards the ceiling as he drifted into his mind. Here he was, eating at the table with a possible enemy. She had told him it wasn’t poisoned, and that seemed to hold true. He wasn’t feeling any signs of being poisoned after all.
For once, Florin looked back down to her as the questions hit his ears.
Florin stayed silent, staring off into the distance. It would definitely raise suspicions…no, it would be giving himself up if he were to tell the truth. His boot lightly tapped the ground, or as light as one could.
But he also didn’t want to say that he was playing dress up in the forest, because he wasn’t. The very question almost irritated him, but it didn’t show. At the same time, he didn’t know what else to say. And he would very much rather not tell the truth. So, swallowing his pride, Florin answered.
“Yes, I was. I very much like to do that,” Florin responded. And if you could see his face, he would very much be smiling right now. Although there was something different about his voice, even his eyes, if someone was really good at studying them. His answer seemed almost sarcastic or forced. Florin wasn’t very good at lying, or talking in general. He’d much rather stay silent. But in this situation, it wasn’t an option.
Dahlia curled her lips back in hopes of suppressing a laugh. While she did take note of his voice, his answer was kind of funny. And yet, she figured he's hiding something under his sleeve. Maybe it's just her imagination, but she feels like there must be a reason why he isn't talking much or making eye contact. Perhaps that's just the way he is. Perhaps he's hiding something.
…I can't disclose any of that information. The phrase replayed in her head for a second as she lowered her head. Merde. Reclining into the chair, she traced patterns onto her knee in hopes of coming up with some sort of way to get information out of him. Something. Anything!
"Soo….You decided to go the forest to play dress up, stay there till sun down, and walk onto my property looking confused and startled. How fun," She deadpanned, crossing her arms. "Carota, are you lost? Did you park car somewhere you can't remember?"
Car. Florin didn’t even have a car, much less even know how to drive. He knew the bare minimum, but such a thing wasn’t that important in his life.
“I don’t have a car,” Florin answered, briefly lifting his arms as though to stretch, but also by proxy showing the tattoo that he had on his wrist. Florin remembered it within a few seconds, but didn’t panic on the outside. Just as one would normally do, he lowered his arms back down, but instead, kept them below the table this time. There was a chance she may have not seen the tattoo, he uses that thought to reassure himself.
“Yes. That’s about it.” He said, but couldn’t keep the slight confusion out of his voice when the words really hit him. Something wasn’t right, why would she be even asking about a car?
Initially, all she was able to do was sit there taken aback. Her eyes widened for a second while her head tilted. She could have sworn seeing something on his wrist, but barely caught a glimpse of what it was. It could be a scar or something for all she knows. On the other hand, that wasn't the concern at hand. No car? How else would he get to the forest then? This is the first time she has ever seen anybody like him before. There's no way he could have just appeared out of nowhere. Oh, none of this makes any sense anymore.
Getting up out of her seat, she rushed over to get something out of her backpack. Her hand reached in and rummaged around till she pulled out a lanyard with her government ID card attached to it. Dahlia played with the lanyard while walking back to the table. Biting the bottom of her lip, she fell back into the chair then slammed the ID card onto the table the pushed it forward. Her jaw tensed up as she went back to tapping her foot against the floor.
"Look, that pretty face on there is me. That's a government official's ID, which means I'm a somewhat reliable person to a certain degree but I promised to help you, didn't I? I know I must've tackled you hard, but please tell me what's going on," She whinged. Dahlia took a deep breath then held her hand out. "May I see your license? ID? S'il te plaît?"
Florin stared at the ID on the table for a long while. So it seemed that this woman was working for a government, although it didn’t look like any of the Sedorian IDs. He wasn’t even sure if the Sedori people used IDs to begin with. Florin was at a loss on what to do, essentially being chased into a corner. Begrudgingly, he lifted his left arm and flipped his wrist upwards so that she could see the set of numbers. Pointing at them with his other hand, Florin spoke.
“This is my ID.” Was all that came out. The numbers were as follows; 6734. Partially, the truth. The other closest thing that he had to an ID was not on him, nor was it extremely accessible.
For a second she thought that he was joking. Seriously. Dahlia stared into the man's eyes till glancing down at his wrist. 6734. Her index finger traced those numbers on the table over and over again. A dumbfounded look swept across her face. Why would someone have a tattoo as their ID? "That's it? Are you even registered?" She wondered. "I'm guessing you're not from here. You're French-speaking so you could be from France or Canada…"
Lowering her gaze, she bit on her bottom lip. What to do…What to do…What to do. If the only he has to prove his identity is that tattoo, then she's assuming that he doesn't have anything else on him. She could just call a few people to get this sorted out. Her boss should probably be the first. On the other hand, something seems to be really off. It's too confusing for her.
Dahlia removed her scrunchie, letting her hair fall down behind her shoulders. Standing up from her seat, she tried to get closer for a better look at the numbers. "You're not from here, I believe so, but this doesn't make any sense," She murmured.
“I’m registered,” Florin stated, although not even knowing what kind of registered she was referring to. After a pause, he spoke up again. “My country of origin is Switzerland.”
Something was wrong, here, something was extremely off. Some of these questions barely made sense to Florin, and the whole setting….was he even in Sedori anymore?
Florin pulled away when she got closer, but kept his hand on the table, albeit hesitantly. “Where is here?”
Switzerland. Makes sense to her, sadly it may be one of the only things that make sense now. Dahlia bit the inside of her cheek as she gathered up all the details that she knew about this man. Dressed like a solider, tattoo numbers, from Switzerland, quiet, and lost…..
"I'm sorry?" What a baffling thing to ask. The fact that he does not where he is right now….It's just so strange to her. Not every day does she hear someone not knowing where they are. She held the side of her head up as she sat back down. "You are in the United States. About less than twenty minutes or so out from Seattle." A strand of hair fell into her field of vision. She took a deep breath in hopes of moving it away then stared back at the man. "It's strange, the fact you're here and you don't even know where you are. Did something happen to you?"
The United States. Florin stiffened, unsure as to how longer he could keep up his facade. He wasn’t doing so well now. Had someone knocked him out, then taken him to the forest somehow? But why would they do that, and leave him be? This whole situation made no sense, and it was even weirder that he was several hundred miles away from where he was in the past hour or so. That had to be a lot of distance to come over.
“I’m not supposed to be here,” Florin barely whispered out.
Dahlia was starting to feel bad for this man. Even with most of his face covered up, she could tell that something was wrong. The way his body appears so rigid is all that she needs to know what's going on. Well she has an idea at the least. Still, how does someone with no ID get all the way from Switzerland over here? It makes no sense, like it's something out of a movie or book.
"Obviously, there'd be no way y-" She bit her bottom lip, stopping herself from saying anything further. After clearing her throat, she put on a gentle smile. "It's okay. Let's relax for a moment then figure out what is going on since either of us don't. What do you say?"
Florin wasn’t sure how he’d be able to calm down, especially in this situation. Still, he didn’t seem to freak out too much on the outside, opting to stare blankly into space instead. He really, really wished he had his rifle with him. He also wished he knew where his companions were..a sudden idea jolted his mind.
Florin suddenly checked over himself, seemingly looking for an item. Unfortunately, much like his rifle, he didn’t find it, either. The grimace was not visible, but much to his dismay, his radio was nowhere to be found either. He had to assume it was near his rifle then, wherever that may be. Maybe the people who took him here took it off of him?
Florin slowly looked up. For what felt like the first time, he’d made eye contact with her. “Sure.” His voice came out neutral, surprisingly. “I can..I can do that.”
Crossing her arms, she began to tap on the side with her index finger. The smile softened as she watched intently, waiting for an answer. Though her expression did change once she noticed that he was looking for something.
Dahlia stared across the table, wide-eyed. She wasn't sure whether or not she was more taken aback by him making eye contact or the stability in his voice. Perhaps both, but everything single thing he does is more surprising than before. Still, she kept herself from asking any more questions. Relax, it's time for the two of them to relax.
"Okay! Carota, you don't have to tell me everything right away. Whenever you feel comfortable, you may," She nodded. Slouching back into the chair, her foot tapped against the floor as she pondered. Her eyes lit up as she sat up. "I know you saw my ID already, but my name is Dahlia," She greeted, holding her hand out. "Let's be friends, that way things will be easier for the two of us."
(So I totally understand if you don’t want to pick this back up. I’m also very sorry for vanishing without warning, for several months. I sort of touched up upon it in a different discussion but since my country has compulsory military service, I obviously had to go and attend the training for that. I’m back now for only a short while, maybe a few weeks or so but I noticed this was unread so I decided to check back here. Like I said before, I understand if you don’t want to continue this since it’s been a while, but I’m up to continue this if you are.)
(Oh no worries! I appreciate the response. I would be more than happy to continue this while you're still available. I am a bit busy at the moment but I will do my best to respond as soon as possible.)
(Thanks!)
Though he had made eye contact, it was brief, and it wasn’t long before he looked back at his hands, fiddling with his fingers. He listened as she spoke, finding it hard to believe that not long ago this was the same woman who had taken him down outside. Although trust was a hard thing for Florin, he felt like he could take her words as truth. He wasn’t sure of what was going on, but Florin could at the very least deduce he was in a safe zone for the time being.
Florin nodded. Dahlia, he’d remember that. He debated on how to introduce himself. He hadn’t introduced himself as..not as the numbers on his wrist for a while. In fact he hadn’t introduced himself in some time.
“Strotz. Florin Strotz,” he said after a moment. On second thought, he wasn’t quite sure if he should have said his surname, but then again, he was in the United States, which was far from being an ally of Sedori. He had that much known, which was slightly comforting, upon reminding himself of that.
He glanced at her hand, unsure what to do for a moment before slowly lifting his own to hers.
Florin Strotz. She quietly repeated the name to herself till her lips curved up into a faint smile. With her left hand under her right, she reached a bit to gently shake Florin's hand. Well, Dahlia hoped that she was gentle. It was odd to think she's shaking the hand of someone she just tackled not too long ago.
She let go then pulled the pizza box closer towards her. "I'm sorry for knocking you down like that, Florin," She sighed. Picking up another slice, she leaned forward and sat it down on his plate. "I am not sure how else to apologize except for this and however else I can help you."
None of it made any sense to her still. A random stranger wearing a military uniform just walking around the forest outside of her home. And he rarely makes eye contact. Then again, if she was in his spot, she'd probably act the same. Poor thing, she wondered if she hit Florin's head too hard or if he was too warm in that uniform.
"I do want to ask if you remember how you got here….but I'm too distracted by the uniform you got on," She stated as she stood up. "Looking at how everything is coming out strange, I am only guessing you have nowhere to stay so how about I get you a change of clothes? Something more comfy?"
Florin hadn’t shook hands with someone else for some time, though was familiar with the gesture. He retracted his hand back to himself again. “…It’s fine.” Florin responded. Though he was not fond of the action, and it would stay in his memory for some time, he couldn’t exactly blame her. For what would he do in her shoes? Probably something similar. “It’s not that bad.” And in the grand scale of things, it wasn’t. At least to what Florin had experienced, his mind momentarily recalling a memory of the first days on the Sedorian mainland, but quickly pushing it away. Now was not the time to be distracted.
His eyes drifted to the slice, and for a moment, he lifted his hand to the tip of his scarf where it stopped by the bridge of his nose. However, he paused. There seemed to be an internal debate that took place in his mind.
Florin flicked his eyes back up to her, but did not turn his head this time. He supposed it could be safe to switch out of what he was currently wearing, according to his knowledge that the Sedorians hadn’t made landfall in the States yet.
“What sort of clothes do you have..?” After a moment, he asked, hesitantly.
"Okay…." She whispered, nodding along. Keeping her eyes on him, she watched as he grabbed the scarf. Her brow quirked up noticing the ponder in his eyes while moving the scarf down to eat. There was so much hesitation in almost everything she has seen him do. Every little detail.
Dahlia wanted to make a comment about it, but she swallowed her words once Florin's eyes met hers. It took her a moment to go from thinking about her observation to the clothes. Her lips thinned out into a smile while holding her arms out. "Something like this," She answered. "Just a plain shirt and sweatpants."
"Excuse me for a moment, please." She turned around and walked down the little hallway into her room. A few minutes later, she came out with a long blue shirt and some gray sweatpants. Usually she gets clothes like that in men's sizes since they're comfortable.
Placing the folded shirt on top of the pants, she placed them down to Florin's right. "Like these." She patted them before taking a step back. "They should fit you, but they should be more comfortable than what you've got on now. Wear them if you'd like to."
Florin didn’t lower his scarf. Instead, he pulled away from that action, and turned towards watching Dahlia as to what she was doing.
To be honest, Florin couldn’t remember the time he wore casual clothing like what was offered to him now. Had he? He had to, but it wasn’t an important thing for him to remember, he supposed.
He set his fingers on his covered chin, as if in thought, his eyes slowly looking up to the ceiling, or near there.
After a moment, he nodded, a subtle thing. “Mhm. Sure,” he responded softly. “I’ll put them on.”
