post-dungeon regroup

[discutio]

[Obviously, they had to pull back and recover; Phoenix thought it would be best to head to the pseudo-headquarters in Invidia and settle back into the mansion to recover as well as consolidate what they all knew. There was a lot to get through, and a lot of recovery to be done by some of them. He'd need to talk to Etoile, thank Ariel, thank Medic again--]

[...But for now, he just about immediately collapsed on a couch and decided he would exist there for a while. You're on your own for food this time, kids.]

Comments

[emberserker]

I take it she's strong. But what in any god's name was that?

[discutio]

Don't know. [half mumbled into the couch because let him live he's exhausted.] Whatever she was...wasn't quite like us, I don't think. Ask someone who could see her, I'd imagine they would have caught more than I could. For my part, she just felt...wrong.

[emberserker]

Not a true Executor, then... Perhaps a demon.

[And something about that makes her shift; maybe it's just the way she calls Sword a demon when he makes some comment or deliberately ignores her, which is always.]

At least whatever she is, we seem to have answers as to what happened to Rei's memories and her team. And presumably, we'll be recovering Chiron's memories in butterflies soon enough.

[discutio]

I don't know what she is. All I know is that it's going to take more than three of us to stop her.

[Something about calling her a demon made Phoenix vaguely uncomfortable; like it reminded him of something or someone else.]

...I hope that you're right. I'm worried about him.

[emberserker]

He'd just gotten back to infuriatingly normal, too. ...The lot of you are always together, aren't you? I suppose if something's off with one of you, the others would notice the most.

[discutio]

We were...call it 'acquaintances' when we were alive. I suppose that lends itself well to companionship.

[emberserker]

I do wonder how it is that some of us knew each other in life, and some haven't seen a familiar face even as a Spectre.

[discutio]

I wish I could answer that. I'm afraid I can't even begin to guess.

[emberserker]

Fate, I suppose. Some people are just destined for different circumstances. Ability, place... and what layer they end up on, apparently.

[discutio]

...I suppose that you could have a point. Though leaving it to fate seems almost too simple.

[emberserker]

What's so simple about fate? I'd think something that controls everything would be complicated.

[discutio]

I think there's a frustrating simplicity in the preordained. The idea that everything can and will go exactly as it should, with little to no deviation...the concept that such things are instead a matter of pure chance is where I find complication lies, in the endless possibilities that entails.

[emberserker]

But then if you think that, then what makes you special or not? Some people are just meant for success! Did we all awaken by chance, too?

[discutio]

Nothing, I suppose. Does there need to be something that makes one special?

[emberserker]

But --

[She digs into her palms with her fingernails and groans.]

Ugh. It doesn't make any sense to me.

[discutio]

Very little of this whole predicament makes sense, truthfully.

[emberserker]

That's sure enough. But we should be on the right track now, and at least we aren't trapped in Superbia.

[discutio]

Indeed. We've an insurmountable amount of work ahead of us and will need to exercise an abundance of caution, but it's still something.

[emberserker]

Regardless, she doesn't seem to have followed us back. Although I'd hesitate to leave anything important up here anyway, after all that nonsense in Superbia.