Welcome to Gaia! ::

Seph looked up at her and grinned briefly before wriggling his nose. He tested the nosebleed, pulling the paper towel from his nostril. He dabbed a few times then, unsatisfied, re-clogged his bleeding nose.

~Phairen, you know a thing or two about viruses, right? Is there anything you can do to.. keep it at bay, at least?~

Seph grinned, ~He's claustrophobic.~

And the Protector rebutted, ~If I was claustrophobic, I wouldn't take residence in your head in the first place.~

All of this was broadcast.

Seph nodded and leaned his head forward, wriggling his nose again.

~What do you have in mind, Phairen?~

Seph relaxed, his breathing became metronome-ish. He kept his eyes open, a subtle answer to Nyl's statement about him passing out.

Seph's eyebrow twitched, which was all the physical reaction there would be. Mentally, though, he had to immediately fight off the urge to throw up mental blocks. He assumed it was an automatic reaction, until the Protector announced to him that he was doing well keeping the viral strain from blocking Nyl out.

Three weeks had passed since Seph had last slept, during that time, he was being worn down and attacked on all fronts by this virus. Since it was a virus, it had one main goal: Reproduce. That's just what it had done. Confining the virus to a single area, by now, would be impossible.

The major strain seemed preoccupied with something else within Sephiroth's being. Instead of focusing it's full attention on Nyl, it seemed to simply brush her off as an inconvenience, leaving it's 'sub-routines' to get rid of her.

As Nyl dug deeper into the subconscious, she'd hear a single word repeated over and over: "Rest."

There weren't many cells in his body that weren't infected. Despite having a stronghold in his cellular structure, though, the virus seemed to have a one-track mind. The word 'rest' continued repeating. It was becoming agitated, causing a new wave of blood to pour from Seph's nose.

He pushed the paper towel deeper into his nostril.

Finally, the inconvenience became an annoyance, and the virus turned it's attention to her.

It seems I've underestimated you, Nyl. If you would be so kind as to leave; I need to focus on stopping this nosebleed.

It almost turned away from her, then thought better of it.

This is my domain, now. I have other plans for you, I don't intend on infecting you just yet.

And with that, it turned away, layer upon layer of webbing, net, and impenetrable iron separating Nyl from the virus. She still had access to the majority of the infected cells in his body, but it either did not realize or did not care. Considering the level of intelligence the virus had shown, the latter seemed the more likely at the moment.

Outside, the forced raise of these barriers made Seph flinch. The Protector fell silent, 'knocked out' by the sudden mental shift.

I think you are. The voice matched Seph's, but there was an intensity in it that Seph's voice did not harbor. The walls seemed to explode towards her, forcing her into the remotest regions of Sephiroth's cellular structure. Places clean of the virus, probably places the virus assumed were unimportant. Quantity seemed more important over quality, but convenience and speed of replication seemed just as important as how many cells were infected. It was as if the virus was building towards a specific number, and once reached, it considered the remained of the cells unneeded. The walls kept Nyl in an area where should could not harm the virus.

For now, at least.