Welcome to Gaia! ::

Halle took a moment to just inhale the air and orient himself. If was a lot easier than adjusting when going to and from Earth. It was weird that it took so long, but it finally really sunk in, "We're really just on the same world, huh? Wonders seem so like, contained."

Following his brother, who seemed a lot more sure of himself than moments before, Halle went on, "I wonder how far apart Lisse is from Halle."

Cottages and windmills and tulips. They seemed cozy and it suited Lisse, who wanted his big adventure in space to end with a nap among flowers. Halle chuckled to himself and gave his brother's back a fond look.

"Maybe she has maps of it...or more memories at least?" Halle scrunched his nose as he gazed into the distance. Having seen a couple now, and noticing where they showed up and where they did not show up, he'd formed a few opinions on princesses in general. But those conclusions didn't mean they had to be entirely useless, right?

Princess Cybele had thrown what had amounted to a fun field sports day. Princess Ganymede won at arm wrestling. Maybe Princess Lysithea could give them street directions. Sure, they'd yet to show up and be useful in a battle or in cleansing chaos on Wonders, but he'd begun to think of them like king pieces. Very powerful, extremely limited, and if they were too active on the field it was probably a sign that things had gotten pretty bad.

Peering past his brother and into the cottage, Halle gave Lisse a pat on the shoulder, "It's probably just the power surge that the Code was talking about. Maybe fixing it will help clean it up?" Wouldn't that be nice. "Or," he offered, a little more practically, "I can help you clean up after you get synced with your piece, before we go back."

Halle didn't feel the need to comment on how creepy the abandoned windmill was. Old, abandoned places were always pretty creepy, including his lodge. But there was something extra creepy about the abandoned building being a windmill. Maybe because they were buildings that moved? All that creaky wood?

Well, his brother didn't seem deterred by it, and Halle wouldn't let himself be either. Anyway, this was space. There wasn't going top be any sack-faced slashers or undead scarecrows in space.

Wait...wasn't there a Jason movie...

No.

And weren't the sidhe on Hy-brasil kinda...

Absolutely not.

Halle was not going to spook himself here. Lisse had to be a weenie before he was going to be a weenie. That was the job of being the older brother.

"Stairs seem stable enough," he commented manfully.

Ready for the wait, Halle settled in to make himself more comfortable and enjoy the view while Lisse synced up with his Code. Somehow the cheery flowers outside made the creepy windmill even more creepy? Especially when the wind picked up and made them move. And the windmill creak.

No. No. This was supposed to be what people called cottagecore, right? Not...not folk horror.

It'd just been a long week, that's all. Halle anxiously drank a bottle of water as he waited for the telltale glow of the Code to brighten. He tried to think about his own recent interaction with the piece inside his forest, the trance-like sate and tracing paths that he knew were paths within his Wonder. But right now it was hard to focus on anything except every stupid creak and groan of the windmill and the whistling of the wind outside.

When the area lit up, he let out a huge sigh and quickly tried not to look too relieved. Hurriedly standing up, he ineffectively smoothed out the wrinkles from where he'd been clutching at his shorts. "See? Nothing to worry about, you did great!"

Actually Lisse did do great, and looked a lot better.

"This has all been pretty hard on you, hasn't it?"

Wow that grinding noise...did nothing to soothe the anxious tightness of Halle's spine! "Yeah let's head back," the words, maybe, came out a little quicker than he'd intended.

And then Halle whipped his head over to stare at his brother, "You go into a fight. With a General. For making fun of your clothes?"

Thankfully, his (increasingly unhappy) incredulity at that series of events nearly replaced all of the creepy dread that the haunted windmill had instilled over the past hour.

"What the-"

He was clearly ramping up to a Lecture.