[FA'E PRP] Can we get an explaination for this bullshit ?

[Zero Dream]

((Please do not post in this thread unless you are myself, Sosiqui, and
Bennali Sundragyn if she wishes to poke in, thanks smile ))

The sun was barely up that he had left again, battling the urge to just keep Zero close and take her with him. But he had to be reasonable - where he would end up going, what he would end up doing, was likely less safe for his weakened guardian.

He still had the receiver Zero had given him, and he had to trust her that she would let him know if something went wrong. He could not allow himself to do something unreasonable. And it was with that in mind that he did something he had not allowed himself to do for quite some time.

He'd locked his emotions away, carefully, and put them away. So he was unfeeling and calm when he arrived at the glade, eyes seeming even more cold and blank than usual, outfitted much like a one man army, with one handgun to each hip and his guardian's saber in his hand, unlit.

Even now, he wanted revenge. It was only logical. Something had risen to threaten his and Zero's existence - perhaps not solely - and the threat needed to be stopped before it could go further.

The trees of the Glade were probably going apeshit, but he could not care at the moment. He stopped in front of the door, and knocked.

[Sosiqui]

The barrier that Riven had erected around the Glade alerted the spirit Fa'e to Sei's presence before he'd even arrived in the front yard - though the barrier-spell didn't stop the younger Fa'e, it did produce an unpleasant tingling sensation as he passed through it. A few brightly painted pumpkins sitting outside belied the feeling of tension in the air, as if even the trees were watching Sei with suspicion.

But the door didn't open. Instead, there was a faint flicker of purple to the side as Riven stuck his head through the wall of living trees to get the best possible look at the visitor. The spirit Fa'e heaved a sigh of relief. "Sei - you're okay."

Well, he was alive, anyway. The younger Fa'e's demeanor was worrying; it reminded Riven too much of how Sei had been just after his last growth spurt. Still, considering the circumstances, he'd take what he could get.

[Zero Dream]

The blonde ignored that feeling along with anything else, standing still, and giving off no reaction of surprise when Riven partly phased though the wood to get a good look at him.

"I am fine." He answered - [i­]for now, at least. He could not shake off the wrongness he felt, no matter what. Only all the more hints that it was not his.. "You seem fine as well." The blonde noted, though there was no relief in his voice. It was flat in a way that seemed impossible. "But Zero... is not. Something tried to kill her, to pull at our bond... but she resisted it." He was not quite sure just how she had, even thinking as fast as he was. He actually had to struggle to not present his points too quickly and not unsettle the spirit fa'e even more.

Luck, perhaps, but luck was out of the grasp of logic. "I wanted to know if you were okay... And Zero wants to know if Sosiqui is fine. She is home, her cybernetics got busted in the attack. She cannot even walk."

He paused for a moment, before allowing himself to continue. "Do you have an idea what happened ?" The blonde asked, his tone still flat, though his apparence as a whole made it quite clear he intended to do something about it.

Just what, he was not quite sure, though retribution was high on the list.

[Sosiqui]

Riven frowned ever so slightly at the stark lack of emotion in Sei's voice; he floated the rest of the way out of the house, re-solidifying once he was clear of the walls. "I'm fine, yes - my Guardian is fine, too. Shaken, but fine. Ghlyssa's Guardian is ill, but their bond is still there."

He paused. "So your Guardian was also attacked, then... it wasn't just us." Maybe that was why the younger Fa'e seemed so stiff, so... blank. He quickly searched Sei's face, his eyes in particular, but saw no glimmer of gold. "Have you seen what happened to the headquarters?"

This was unnerving, but Riven didn't want to ask, not yet. The situation was anything but normal.

[Zero Dream]

"I went... But I did not dare go inside. It seemed like a bad idea." He explained, taking a few steps back to allow Riven space to re-solidify. Had he been in his normal state, he would likely have been rather puzzled. "I did not see anyone outside, but it was pretty late at night when I actually got there. Zaoll was still in there, I think. I was..." He paused, almost as if he actually think about what he had to say before he actually said it. "Worried about her. And everyone else. You are the first that I actually saw, and... the others are not answering their phones." For what reasons, he was unsure. There were many possibilities, and he followed each train of thought at length while still keeping his attention to the spirit fa'e, multitasking more like a computer than a person.

Riven was looking at him, and it was not too hard to figure out why. He knew that in this state he... unsettled people. "I am fine." He repeated again. "The spell that locks Ex out of me... seems to still be holding." He had no way to truly be sure, even now. "I have done this to myself. I would... be rather useless otherwise. Have you heard from anyone else... ?"

[Sosiqui]

Riven winced at the mention of Zaoll - poor Astor, I hope he doesn't do anything rash- and gave Sei one last measuring look. Now that he focused on the younger Fa'e, he could sort of sense a... suppression enveloping his spirit. Something not entirely in Riven's domain, but close enough that he could get a very vague impression of it if he concentrated. After a moment, he nodded, slowly. "All right. I trust you."

"I have not, other than Ghlyssa, but we just woke up - we were exhausted." Riven blinked, then, and tilted his head to one side. "Sei, did you... have you slept lately?"

[Zero Dream]

"Yes." He answered, tone remaining flat, though his free hand went toward one of his pockets, as if he already knew knew what Riven was talking about. He pulled out a small strip of paper and handed it to the spirit fa'e. "I woke up and this was in my hand. I have not written this... But it was there anyway. Even now I do not know what it means... I am starting to think there may be others." Multiple shards of clue ? It was a possibility. The first that had occurred to him. One other was that it was simply nonsense.

[Sosiqui]

"Ah..." Riven breathed, peering at the piece of paper. "Hang on. Just one second-" With that, he darted into the house, again phasing through the wall.

He returned a moment later, holding out two pieces of paper, identical in size to Sei's own piece but bearing different words and handwriting. "Ghlyssa and I also woke up from dreams - identical dreams - with these papers in our hands. Here... can you make sense of them?"




"Glee's doesn't make any sense at all," he added, almost petulantly. "But... hey, it looks like yours and mine have the same handwriting..."

[Zero Dream]

Sei took the two papers, looking them over and commuting them to memory as best as he could, though... "I do not know." He admitted, though offered no apology as he would usually have had. "...Identical dreams ? Four glows snuffed out at HQ, and Airi calling out ?" This... if they had all the same dreams...

And Airi... it had not occured to him before, but it did now. "Maybe Airi sent them." She had seemed to wield some power over dreams, as far as he knew. "But these notes... If we all dreamed the same thing, then there might be as many notes as there are fa'e... We might be missing too many pieces to attempt to make sense of this."

[Sosiqui]

"Yes! Yes, exactly..." Riven's voice trailed off as Sei kept speaking.

"... that makes sense. Too much sense. I can't believe I didn't think- of course the dream had to come from Airi! Then these clues... maybe also came from Airi?" Riven wrinkled his nose at them. "Why'd she use different handwriting?"

[Zero Dream]

"I am not sure." He admitted, again. "Maybe the notes were not her's... If she is held captive by something, then... If... whatever this is has the power to try to sever guardian bonds, who's to say it cannot get in our heads as well ?" Normally, Sei would have found the thought quite repulsive, but it would all hit later, once he finally let go of this. "I think the different handwritings are relevant in some way."

[Sosiqui]

Riven shuddered visibly. "I... don't want to think about Chaos getting in our heads. Because that's what caused this - the attack on the Guardians, the HQ building being surrounded by Absence. I've told you about him, right? What he does, what he is, what his... connection to me is?" That last was said quietly, almost fearfully.

[Zero Dream]

"I do not know what that is." He answered, rather truthfully. He would remember, if he had, wouldn't he ?

At least, in the state he was now, he was certain of such. In this state he did not take into account that his mind was a computer that was rather prone to forgetting.

[Sosiqui]

Riven's forehead wrinkled slightly in confusion - he was sure he'd mentioned it at some point... "Well, I know I've told you that in my first life I was intended to be a guardian. A tool. Like you, sort of." That had been only a few weeks ago, after they'd both been pulled into Airi's dreaming by Zaoll's need. "You remember that, don't you? Chaos is what I was supposed to protect the worlds from. But he's pushed his influence into this world anyway, and he didn't do it by breaking through the walls I maintain. I don't know how he did that - but I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he's the one who attacked us all."

[Zero Dream]

"Ah... Yes, you told me. But I do not think you actually named the entity back then." But that was useful information, and he filed it in his mind.

"Then it found another way to slip though." Obvious perhaps, but... "I saw... nothing when I found Zero. No one had come in." His voice wavered, for a second, before the emotion was locked away again. He felt rather strongly about this, even as he spoke of it with an apparent lack of care to the untrained ear. "She is bed-bound for now, weak but alive. It looked like something tried to garrote her, but by the time I got there... it was gone."