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Xiao Lang

He still wasn't entirely sure that he'd managed to make her believe that he was truly apologetic - maybe because he was only half so - but either way, he'd managed to sort of distract her by asking about her lineage. Kiki looked - and spoke - and acted - as though she belonged at the top of the tier of Horsemen, though it wasn't as though Xiao could entirely say that she wasn't meant to be there.

At any rate, it was a little irritating, but also a little amusing nonetheless. Xiao was used to plenty of people acting in similar fashions, after all; he didn't mind so much her needling, or her pride, mostly because he'd heard it all before from others. And maybe beneath the prickly attitude, she wasn't that bad.

Maybe. If he dug a little deeper, he possibly could find something that suggested she wasn't entirely snippy, but the Conquest nobles did tend to be a little...on their high horses, so to speak (Xiao wondered vaguely if that was where that phrase had stemmed from in the first place). Still - he didn't mind it enough that he was about to just walk away.

They were interrupted in their attempts at speaking, however. Xiao's question went largely unanswered in favor of the War Horseman poking into the conversation. His gaze flickered curiously across the man's face, Jinhai shifting beside him, head tilted in the direction of the newcomer.

"The Lady Kiki doesn't like to be demeaned," said Xiao, with a touch of dryness. "She and I were just having a conversation about the royal lineage, after all. What is your name?"

There was no annoyance in his voice, just a straightforward sort of interest, Xiao's brows raising.

Aric

There were a great many people milling about that would have, had he been any other person, made it difficult to get around. But since Aric was a large, muscular man with a great deal of girth and width in general, he had no issues making his way through the throngs of chattering Horsemen, his height giving him an extra advantage because he could clearly see his small, beautiful priestess over the heads of the others.

Something brushed against his side before he reached her. Aric glanced down and found a short, brown haired Famine beside him, looking like a little creature, swathed in the muted and earthy tones of their clan. He wasn't exactly looking at Aric, but Aric didn't need for him to look at him to know who it was.

"Little bird!" he said joyously, reaching out a large hand to first ruffle Owl's hair and then drag him into a one-armed hug, squashing the other Horseman against his side. "There you are. I was wondering where you had gotten to! I am glad to see that you are all right. Here, I have found the lady, did you want to come along with us?"

Without waiting for an actual answer, he towed Owl towards Llydia even as he watched her face break out into the wide, beaming smile that he had easily gotten used to. Her outstretched arms were met with his own two arms wrapping around her middle, and Aric lifted her off of her feet in a crushing embrace before setting her back down again. Then he carefully patted her shoulders, trying to smooth down some of the fabric he'd just displaced.

"My lady!" said Aric with a wide grin on his dark skinned face. "I am glad to hear of it. Look, I have found Owl!"

He slapped a palm onto the Famine's back cheerily. "He is here and you are here and I am very glad of it."

Oops, it was easier to maneuver in the lee of Aric's muscular bulk when he wasn't getting ruffled and mooshed and pulled around, but that was just the Death clansman's way. And it was some relief to be in familiar company again, even if he had yet to run across any acquaintances from his own clan.

When Aric's attentions turned to his priestess, Owl fell back into Aric's shadow where he was less likely to be jostled. At least, he tried to, but Aric was not done demonstrating his happiness yet, and cheerfully showed him off to the diminutive priestess.

"Llydia," Owl greeted quietly, his voice almost lost in the crowd, and his little smile hidden by burrowing his chin into the folds of his cowl. His large, pale eyes glanced between the two. And for a second he wondered... had either of them found anything tasty yet?

[ REHAB CENTER ]

Something felt off, and Xia glanced around the room, trying to place it. He was in a fairly ordinary room, a bright white and very modern. It was kind of dull, even. The table was more interesting, well made, but Xia's attention was drawn to the note.

A survey?

How interesting.

Well, he saw no reason not to fill it out, and thought about it for a moment. It wasn't like he was in a hurry afterall.



Let them make of that as they may. He left the paper on the table, and then continued to check out the room. Somebody had thrown a javelin through the window, getting it stuck without breaking it. Probably some war horseman, and if they had done because they were frustrated with this mess, Xia couldn't blame them.

He made his way, but not before pocketing his cellphone. It was his, and there was no way he would leave it behind. Maybe it even held clues? Maybe not. Still, it was filled with useful looking apps, though he didn't precisely remember putting them on there.

No one stopped him on the way out, and the hallway outside was quiet. There were a coupld of horsemen out there, and Xia waved down one of the Famine Sages.

"Xia," he answered, the name unfamiliar but clearly his. The sage responded with what he felt was a slightly sarcastic answer, but also with the useful information of where the exit was. He didn't feel like conversing farther, and merely nodded his thanks before leaving.

He boarded the elevator, and then checked his pocket. His phone was still there, and so was his key card. He pulled it out, and checked it before pushing a button.

First his room, and then exploration.

[exit]

"I'm here, mistress," Fest responded, at Lydia's side as if he had never left. He could not access the Bond that could have been extended if he had been born to the right bloodline, and so he had to compensate. Compared to the Guardians, it was as if he was blind. He needed to be stronger, faster, smarter, take care of her needs and whims, but he'd never see the way they saw, connect in a flash of minds and share Lydia's abilities.

Priestesses could take more than one Guardian, if they were powerful. As was their right.

But still, he hoped against that too. In fact, he didn't think he could stand it if there was someone closer to Lydia than him. They had known each other since they were foals, and had never been very far apart, then and now.

In his darker moments, he hated them. They could feel it, he was sure, under his cool gaze that was never cool enough. He was too filled with a Fear that always threatened to boil over, wrought with violence instead of meditation. Not a soldier fulfilling his duty, but something with claws and teeth that only wanted to rip and tear until the only thing that decorated their palaces and temples was blood.

"Is it...the work of your sisters?" He asked. "Here," he took out a fine silk handkerchief, embroidered with Conquest's threadwork, and dabbed Lydia's forehead. "Can you stand?"

The trances were taxing work, beyond his understanding and often taking Lydia far away, out of his reach

[ Rehab Center ]

Chao stared at the white walls for a moment before taking a look around the room. It was annoyingly bare. Not a single work of art or decoration. The only other object besides her bed seemed to be a table. At least the table looked nice. It was clear that they desperately needed to redecorate the rooms. The most interesting thing in the room was the window as it had a javelin stuck in it. Well it’s a start for decorating she supposed, not a very good one either.
Looking outside the window, it seemed like a boring and rainy day outside, the view showed the various shops that had set up around the tower. She made a mental note that it seemed like no one was leaving the tower.

Since there was nothing of interest inside the room Chao got off of the bed and headed outside. There where various famine doctors running around with their insect instruments, she decided to call them insectstruments. When one of them walked by her, Chao, called out to them.

The famine sage she stopped had a cricket shaped insectstrument. “Chao Tsukino” She replied when cricket guy asked for her name. She did not like being dismissed with barely a word. Before the cricket man could leave she cornered him with another question. “What is the memory rehabilitation thing?” She asked as cricket said they were busy. With a sigh Cricket man started his explanation. Which sounded more like why the needed it instead of what it actually was. “Wait the crystal was Green?” She asked in surprise as she looked to where he was pointing. “Yes yes very strange, but is I said we are very busy” Cricket man responded before shuffling off.

Chao put her hands in her pockets as she thought about the fact that the crystal had changed color it was strange, or was it? The sage had made it seem like it was but she couldn’t remember if it actually was. Noticing that there was something in her pocket, Chao, pulled the item out. Oh it was her phone, luckily it still had her room key in the case.

She hummed as she tried to decide if she wanted to head up to her room or investigate the crystal, the fact that it had changed color intruded her.

Jian slipped his arm around Harrison's waist, holding him a moment longer before he let go. "The foals are also missing memories of yesterday," he answered, "but we all are, so I'm not inclined to be too worried until we have further information about the memory gap."

"There are too many people milling about here. Somewhere quieter would be nice," he agreed.

"I am sure your flies are well. You take excellent care of them," Ferros said to Bones, attempting to be soothing.

"I am [never/always] hungry," Noah said. The word in the middle overlapped, said in a two-toned, buzzing accent that was almost like two voices speaking at once. "We shall go home and find something. There's no further reason to stay here."

He turned toward the exit. "How did you rate the Dorothy program?"

[Rehab Center]

Ellaren did not move for several moments after she came to, body still as the corpse she no doubt resembled in her frailty. Rather than hasten to her feet, she took stock of what she knew and what was still just a blurred edge of memory, what she could see and, if she could put her finger on it, what she had expected to find instead. Something about this situation, about the white of the room and the drawn out information the Dorothy had spelled out to her as if she was a child, was wrong. Her inability to put a name to that wrongness irked her.

Her own name, at least, was not lost. She knew who she was, if not all the events that had led her to that state. Famine clan, colony soldier, one of many. It was that thought drew her to her feet and into the hallway, through the short and clipped conversation with the sage she found there. He was unfamiliar and busy, and thus unlikely to have all the answers she felt she needed about herself specifically anyway. She pulled her tattered wrap more securely around herself at the sight of his open rib cage and moved on to leave him to his work.

It wasn't long before she found a familiar face amongst those passing through the hallway, though she registered surprise that it belonged to another clan. She couldn't recall how they'd met, but there was a name there, just at the tip of her tongue. "Ilker," she said after a moment, and smiled to find that it felt right in the rasp of her own voice. "What do you remember? They say the crystal was green before today." The more information they had, the better she would be able to protect her own.

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quite uneventful