niteo_logs | (no subject)

You know the saying 'when it rains, it pours'? Well, it's stopped raining here in Nesreca but in exchange it's rather begun to pour. She lost her PDA. She lost her PDA. Normally Lenalee would not be the sort to care about this, but given that surviving here hinges rather firmly on using it almost daily, she does in fact care.

It's been days since the fog rolled. Days since every building more than a knee-high wreck of decaying wood and mortar vanished, leaving little more than dead silence (and recently, not even that). Lenalee has spent the last four days wandering. Wandering (most likely in circles) and rebuking herself almost non-stop for going to the library alone-- for falling asleep inside-- and, worse still, for making the rookie mistake of putting her PDA aside for even a moment, because damned if she isn't paying for it now.

Four days alone can be a long time. They get longer once the separation anxiety sets in. And when you start hearing sounds every evening? Well.

"I knew there was going to be something worse..."

At least pretending to be angry is better than revealing that you're breaking down.

"Something the matter, lady Exorcist?" Tyki's voice came from somewhere in the fog, amusement obviously laced in his voice, including something else. Though, what that something else is, is rather a mystery at the moment.

The first thing she would probably see is Tease, not doing anything but flying around her.

It's second-nature, really, the way Tyki's voice immediately sends her into a soldier's stance: feet braced apart, head held high, eyes neither narrowed nor wide but very alert, flicking over everything-- or nothing, as it were. It probably also speaks volumes of how much faith she has in this truce's ability to weather the test of time.

Because when the first and only thing she can see in the deep haze is a fluttering, carnivorous golem lazily sweeping its way over to her, she finds herself wondering if maybe it's already collapsed. She has no way of knowing if it has-- not without her PDA (stupid! so stupid!), so as well as she knows, the butterfly is simply hunting stragglers down. Tyki's amused tone does little to help her growing unease.

But given that he's the first voice she's heard in days to have come from a set of tangible vocal chords, she'll give him the benefit of the doubt just this once and not eviscerate the Tease on sight. So long as it doesn't touch her.

"Where are you?" There's a pause, then she tacks on, in a tone of blatant world-weariness, "Yes, I happen to have been wandering in the fog for the last several days."

She does not say 'alone'.

There was a moment of silence as Tease continues to lazily fly around her. It's not being threatening at all, surprisingly enough. Instead, it just seems to be waiting for its master to come out or awaiting for its next orders. Either way, Tyki suddenly appears behind Lenalee, mouth close to her ear.

"Right here~" And then he quickly moves back before he gets hit. He didn't really want to be hit by those boots of hers right now.

The back of her neck erupts into goosebumps while she strains to listen for footsteps or breathing, though she knows Tyki can and will forgo anything like that if he really wished to sneak up on her--

Warm breath near her ear and a lilting voice. Lenalee jolts as if tapped by a live wire.

Ohhh, no. Nope, sorry, this isn't going to fly tonight. She doesn't want to play this game. Twisting round with a hiss of breath, she does well to keep both feet planted firmly on the ground, but her Boots unfurl in a flash of muted red that briefly illuminates the fog. It's more intentional than she'd ever admit, and most definitely a warning.

"This isn't the time to play games, Mikk."

Tyki watches her, more wary than anything. He knows that even though he can take Lenalee on, now just wasn't the time. Though, he did have to silently admit to himself that it was rather amusing watching her reaction. He glances down at her boots before looking over at her, hands held out in an amiable gesture - one that signifies that he isn't there to fight.

"No, it isn't," he agrees, lowering his hands and tucking them into his pockets. "Though, I do appreciate it if you deactivate your boots, Lady Exorcist. Now's not the time to start anything either."

She is far slower to relax than he. In fact, it looks at first as if she isn't going to comply to his request at all-- why should she if he has a Tease out and about-- but with grit teeth, she ends her invocation and the crimson metal spirals back down. Herein lies the problem with interacting so little with the Noah of Nesreca as she has: she hasn't learned to trust them beyond the bare minimum.

"Where is everyone else?" Verbally, at least, Lenalee is still very much on the offensive. So sorry.

"By the river. I've come to find anyone else who got lost in the fog." The fact that Tyki's even complying to that sort of request should be saying something, but he'd rather not dwell on it now. He gestures Tease to come back to him, and the carnivorous butterfly soon comes to perch on his shoulder.

He'll have to excuse the dubious look. A straight answer was honestly the last thing she'd been expecting him to give-- and while it does say something, the fact that she can tell he's being honest says even more. The tense line of her shoulders does relax the smallest bit once he's called off the Tease, but her gaze doesn't shift even an inch from his. "Four days after it set in?"

Tyki shrugs, not admitting that he hasn't been looking for anyone after it sent it, but not really denying it either. Though, he does tilt his head at her.

"Eye-patch sent me to look for anyone else in the fog, that's all. And since I found you," there's something hidden in his voice, almost sounding disappointed, "I'm sure they'd be glad if you joined them at the river."

"'Eye-patch'...?" It actually takes her a moment to realize he means Lavi. A diluted sort of relief wavers through her-- thank god, maybe he really did mean everyone when he said it. The strange malcontent in his voice, however... that doesn't encourage her. Of course he wouldn't be particularly happy about finding her, but who else was he expecting?

...Was Rhode...?

"Which way is the river?"

Tyki knows that Rhode is okay, somewhere at least, and that the other him would be able to find her in due time. Though, he looks at her when she asks that question.

"Tease will lead you." Tease flies over to her, circling around her head and just waiting for Lenalee.

Allen is angry at a good number of things―most of which can be traced back to Libitina in some way or other―and has been angry for a while even before their fresh week of hell began. However, seeing as an actual display of it won't help their situation one whit, he's also been doing a decent job of keeping it under wraps.

Until today.

Already halfway into the week, alone in the fog with no one else around to see, and with the unbroken radio silence from three members of their ragtag community growing louder every hour, Allen is only onerashthought away from confronting Libitina over the network. In fact, he just might if this search proves fruitless. It isn't hard to hear him coming ― he's moving with firm, purposeful strides through the fog, punctuating his progress every now and then with terse calls of, "Hello? Lenalee, Matt, Riku― Can any of you hear me?"

No sense in forgoing speed for stealth when you can't see what you should be hiding from (it reminds him, vaguely, of a conversation he once had with his master regarding the purpose of an Exorcist's uniform, but that's neither here nor there).

[[ ooc: skjslf I just realised Tyki commented too. Let me know if you guys want to ballroom this or set up a posting order. XD; ]]

Edited 2011-06-16 15:27 (UTC)

While Allen may not be doing much to disguise his presence, the unfortunate fact is that Lenalee's taken to trying to ignore most voices that aren't her own. The music, the voices, the giggling and the howling; after last month's creature feature, she thinks she might go insane if she doesn't. So at first, she barely hears the crunch of gravel beneath his heel, and his voice may as well belong to the ghosts she's beginning to believe really haunt the city.

But only at first. Allen's words circle mindlessly in her head for a little while after as she strides through the fog with increasing trepidation, not entirely aware that she had even heard them-- but she had heard them. Soldier's instinct and all that. After a few revolutions, her name catches in the forefront of her mind, and while it sends a chill lancing down her spine, it also makes her pause. There hadn't been any whispers of her name before, so what was that...? Was she imagining things? She chances an uneasy look behind her, pretty much prepared to see another wispy figure barrelling towards her like back at home, and it's about then that the rest of his call catches up to her.

"--Allen?" It isn't particularly loud-- more surprised, weakly hopeful. No ghosts, no more ghosts. Please. After a pause, Lenalee takes a hesitant step forward and raises her voice to be heard over the resonating music. "Is someone there?"

On the other hand, Allen's been through seven whole months of creepiness, and since these sounds are proving to be just sounds thus far, nothing he has to worry about protecting people from, he just finds them really bloody annoying. Eerie music? Can't even compare to the abject horror he feels at the sound of Cross popping yet another bottle he can't pay for. Wolves? Better than no game at all, really. Disembodied voices? Been there, done that. In his own head.

Suffice to say Allen's a little desensitised, and unlike Lenalee, he's actually keeping an ear out for her voice. The final note of her call has yet to fade away before an answer is already ricocheting back at her, familiar, strong, and so very relieved.

"―Lenalee, it's me!" And if it also sounds kind of raspy, hopefully that isn't half as important as the fact that it's close. A pause before he shouts again, quite aware that it's a ridiculous question in context, "Where are you?"

And her heart makes a valiant stab at doing a backflip. Oh, thank god, a voice-- a friendly one, most importantly (though she'd be a petty liar to deny that it being his doesn't help)-- and luckily for Allen, that alone overwhelms her concern for the hoarse quality to it.

Uselessly, Lenalee casts a strained look around, running a hand shakily through her hair, before remembering herself; the frown returns and increases twofold. Fog. Fog everywhere. No buildings, no shadows, and nowhere for the source of the noises to hide. Just a heavy white cloak that seems to verge on suffocating at times.

"In-- fog," she says, haltingly, and it sounds as if she might yet come up on the point where that stops being nerve-wracking and becomes a ridiculous hassle instead. "The buildings are gone, I can't-- there's nothing to coordinate myself with!"

A beat before he's laughing, not out of any real humour at the absurdity of their situation, but because it's better than nothing. Well, not quite nothing. Here's one out of three missing people found, she sounds unhurt, and everyone else back at the bridge's fine. Take that, Libitina.

"Sorry, I suppose it is a silly question. How about we just keep talking and try to find each other?"

He seems to be taking his own advice, voice getting nearer as he speaks... But at a tangent. Still, it's nothing that can't be fixed with more verbal cues and some careful navigation.

"You can't be too far away, if I can hear you without you having to shout."

This feels crippling, somehow. Being so close to one another and yet still completely incapable of handling the problem without resorting to playing follow-the-sound. It's like scrabbling around in the dark. Lenalee doesn't like it. Yes, one of three missing people found, but four days late-- and part of her wonders if this is Libitina's way of proving just how easily she can tear down a group of so-called "organized soldiers". What good has their lifetime of training done to prepare them for this? If the girl wanted to hurt them... well. Lenalee at least is still of the mind that she could. Very easily.

She sets her lips in a grim line and strains her ears for which direction Allen's coming from. Moves a little more to the right.

"I've been looking for everyone for days! I lost my PDA--" In a quick change of tone, she goes from verging deep agitation to so very chagrined. Verbal whiplash.

...Lenalee lost her PDA. So that's why she seems to have fallen clean off the network. It's such a mundane reason compared to all the other theories Allen has had four whole days to fabricate, the only reaction he can muster at first is a half-dazed sort of, "Ahahaha..."

But it doesn't take him long to partake in some verbal whiplash of his own either, glossing right over that and straight into his usual warm inflections of it's alright, really.

"Don't worry about it, I'll help you look when the week's over."

A simple solution to a complicated situation, but who's to say it isn't enough.

"We're all staying together at the bridge, so you won't even have to use the network. It's been rather quiet, actually. You haven't missed much."

He's still picking his way through the fog as he chatters on, and she'll be able to tell by the increasing proximity of his voice that he's barely a few feet away now. Close enough for her to catch the slight strain of worry when he adds, "Almost everyone's been found, too. Matt and Riku are the only ones still missing."

It's all right, really. God, his tone of voice practically does bleed those words. After going so long with only her own muttering and the ghostly sounds to keep herself company, she's honestly a little relieved to hear it.

"But what if it gets crushed when the buildings come back? ...Can that even happen?"

This close, the hoarseness to Allen's voice is as apparent as the worry. Sad to say she doesn't particularly reciprocate his concern towards the others still MIA, however; for his sake, she murmurs a quiet, empathetic "oh...", but doesn't remark beyond that. They're less important to her than to him. Lenalee twists her lips into a frown and her head to the side as she catches a flicker of a shadow-- a-ha. She reaches out a slightly shaky hand.

Hey, Allen.

It is with a decisive sort of positivity when Allen answers, without further mention of the missing residents, "I wouldn't worry too much about it."

...Because if Libitina wants them to have continued access to the network, she'll make sure they have it, but Allen isn't about to explain that. He recalls hearing about someone who lost their PDA on purpose, only to have it delivered right back to their room.

"Libitina took away everything we didn't have on us at midnight, right? That's― A lot to crush. I'm sure the buildings will come back with everything in them, just as we left them. Where did you..."

Leave your PDA, he's about to say, but that's when her hand finds his shoulder, making him stutter around to face her with a soft sound of surprise. His eyes flick over her once, quickly checking for injuries, then crinkle slightly at the edges from a wound-down smile that speaks volumes in its understatement.

"Ah, that went faster than I thought it would."

She looks tired—exhausted, really—with enough dark lines beneath her eyes to give Miranda a run for her money. Of course, there are no injuries to speak of, because she can handle herself, contrary to what she feels everyone seems to think. Her eyes flick over him in an almost mirror-image, instinctive motion, but this time Allen doesn't get a smile in return; just a blunt, "Good," to cover up her half-grab for his sleeve.

Faster is better. Faster is what she needs. The anxiety that's been wringing in her chest the last few days finally fades a bit. "You sound hoarse."

(no subject)

June 15th, evening; SOMEWHERE FOGGY

/couldn't resist, sorry Lena

asdfjlk oh yay a Tyki to snark at

pfffft. Snark all you want, Lena xD

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Re: June 15th, evening; SOMEWHERE FOGGY

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