FAM, MEET FAM

“Oh…”

Ploy seems suddenly uncomfortable with the shift in focus being mostly on her but she finds it hard to argue with his expectant expression.

“Well, what kind of illusion do you want to see, exactly? I don’t really know what people your age from a completely different world like. Most children like to see puppies and kittens or an army of balloons, but I don’t know if that’s stuff you’d be interested in.”

Eidolon takes charge of mostly holding Lunath, taking him complete from Ploy’s arms, standing him up in the water, making sure she has a clear view of his eyes, preparing for the moment Lunath says what he wants to see.

“What does THAT mean?”

She playfully scoffs at Dolan, flicking the holster.

“I will throw a card when I feel the need has arrived. If you don’t give me a reason, then you won’t have an ace of spades fly across your vision. It works both ways.”

Digging her heels into the sand, she pivots a bit, looking to and fro for anything that would even resemble a date.

“I uh… I’ve never been on a legitimate date before, just missions. That said, I definitely have no clue what people do at a beach for a date. If Nameless were here, he could conjure up something but… I guess we’re kind of left to our own devices.”

Her eyes land on the three playing out in the ocean then scan back over to the small gathering of palm trees several yards from the shore.

“Dates are such innocent sounding things when you’re not trying to con someone out of money or information.”

Smirking, she looks back over at him, stepping back so they’re at least near each other again, making very intentional eye contact, the kind that makes people question motives because the stare is so passionate and intense.

“Not to say I’m not conning you or looking for something. Or maybe this is an innocent gesture? Who knows. Gotta keep you guessing.”

“Hmmmmm.”

Nameless’s tail is nearly stained black by the water, leaving his white fur in the dark liquid too long but he’s preoccupied with watching the sky and listening to Shand’s story for more clues.

“Shand, what is the being that haunts Lunath and what is its fascination with you? If you don’t know much more than what you told me, that’s fine. It just seems a little more than odd that someone connect to you would be haunted by something that causes you such pain. It’s a little too coincidental. How many enemies do you have that would absolutely love to sick cursed spirits into your life and watch you wither away in agony?”

A glazed look comes over Lunath's eyes all at once, and his body becomes slightly more rigid- it's discernible enough for Eidolon and Ploy to notice. The waves lap against them still, but Lunath seems to be more solid against them, as if he barely even notices their pull and sway.

"Hmmmm." Lunath looks toward the darkening sky as if he's counting his options, a sinister something lingering behind his eyes. "How big of a wolf do you think you could conjure up for me?"

"If I'm still in the guessing phase, then I'm at liberty to pull out my garrote at will too?" Dolan asks mostly just for the fun of it, resisting the urge to wink at Trita sheerly out of nervousness of being under her intense gaze. When she turns, he watches her scan the beach for some sort of place out of the open for them, and he smiles.

"Also, full disclosure, I️ did murder my last girlfriend. In my defense, she did turn out to be...we can calling it conning me. Yeah, let's stick with that." Dolan shrugs innocently. "The girl I️ was interested in before that was killed for lying about my whereabouts, and Shand's mother met a similar end." Dolan pauses for a moment, realizing he's suddenly shifted the mood into something less than desirable.

"I️ guess I'm just saying to keep your wits about you and try not to die. And don't say I️ didn't warn you."

Shand sighs, but not in the causal way he's perfected. This one is heavy, like it's pulling him down just to try and inhale. "I️ don't know anything for sure, and it feels like describing colors to a blind person trying to explain this to you, but I️ have... suspicions. It's all in these strange feelings I️ get. I️ don't want to call them premonitions, but. I️ think sometimes my visions might show me the future. I️ don't know if its for certain, or if it's alterable, but I️'m pretty sure it's the future."

Shand swallows hard, seeing rain begin to pelt the tumultuous surface of the water way out on the ocean, and he longs to be out there again. To sail, to dive, to sweat under the harsh beat of the open-sea sun. To go back to when things were simple and he had the illusion of safety, or at least the luxury of nonchalance toward danger.

"Whatever it is that comes and goes with Lunath..." he shakes his head. "I️... I️ feel like I️ remember it from somewhere. Like, from a memory I️ can't place, or that I️ can't tell if it was a memory or a dream. But every time it's there, I️ feel this pull, like something's tearing, and I️..." Saying all of this out loud feels impossibly irresponsible, more reckless than he's ever been in his life. As if it hasn't been real up until this moment, and speaking it finally has made it so.

"It's been with Lunath, haunting him, possessing him, whatever. But I️ get the feeling that it wants me. And I've seen a future where it gets what it wants, and it wasn't pretty. Between not being able to control all this other stuff, the chaos, the power, the destruction..." Shand shakes his head like he's shaking off the idea, not willing to let himself go that far out loud, not yet.

“A… Giant wolf?”

Her brow furrows over her bright multi-colored eyes, not understanding the request, or, rather, the logic behind the request.

“Hey, bud, did you see Nameless? I know he’s not technically a wolf but he’s pretty similar and much bigger than any dog you’ll ever see. How much bigger could you want?”

Eidolon seems blissfully unaware of the true impact of this situation but something about it doesn’t settle well with Ploy. Something about manifesting a known predator at an unbelievable size per the request of a small boy who had just previously been playing sweet matchmaker waves a red flag in her mind so she hesitates.

Trita looks over her shoulder at him, eyebrow arched.

“Was that a threat, Dolan? Are you really already considering offing me before our first date?”

She clicks her teeth, shaking her head at him. She should probably take the warning more seriously than she is but she attempts to keep things lighthearted still, seeing that he didn’t mean for the conversation to take a turn.

“Well, I’ll be on guard but this wouldn’t be the first time a supposed love interest has threatened my life so I think I can roll with the punches.”

Taking a few steps towards the trees, she looks back at him to see if he follows her. She still has no clue what they’re going to do, but she does hear thunder in the different so she has decided for the both of them that the shelter of the palm leaves may be their best bet.

“You’re one cursed man.”

Nameless looks off in the direction of the group Shand left behind, his ears at alert.

“I know I told you I don’t have friends but I will give you some friendly advice: I’d be very aware of the presence getting close to certain people. Some people in the group have powers that may cause a decent about of harm when under the wrong influence.”

He doesn’t mention who exactly in the group, not about to give everything away to Shand, but he does still offer the warning.

“It may be too late to change this moment but you deserve a fighting chance.”

"Not a threat, just a heads up. That kind of stuff seems to just...follow me. And if you happen to be standing beside me when it hits the fan," Dolan feigns a grimace. "Well, you know."

The thunder grows deeper, louder, and nearer as rainclouds start to gather over the beach. "That came out of nowhere," Dolan muses out loud, looking out to check on the three playing in the water. He figures Lunath is in good hands with the older two and stops himself short of calling him in and being that stereotypical overprotective parent.

"Shame someone couldn't have put some shelter somewhere on this beach," Dolan says to Trita, scanning their surroundings. By the way, do we know where the others are?"

"Nameless?" Lunath scoffs like he is verbally brushing an ant off his arm. "I️ want to see something really powerful. Don't you?" Lunath stares Ploy down, eye to eye, batting his lashes manipulatively. The color has drained from his face, leaving his skin with the slightest yellow pall that gives him an almost sickly appearance, although he speaks with much more force.

"For example, did you know, Ploy, that wolves are actually known to commonly practice cannibalism? So often, in fact, that if a hunter ensnares one wolf in a trap, and doesn't come for it immediately, those of its kind are likely to eat it alive first. Some species of animals eat their offspring, but not the wolf. The offspring often eat the elders. And all of its prey, the wolf eats alive." Lunath stretches his hands upward toward the sky as rain starts to gently pelt the glassy surface of the water. "A storm, a hungry ocean, a wolf. What could be more perfect?"

"It's my dad that's cursed," Shand mumbles under his breath. "Maybe I️ got a dose of it by proxy. But whatever. Are you talking about Lunath?" Shand strains his eyes to try and see the group, knowing that they are gathered just a short ways away somewhere on the straight stretch of beach he can now see, but they are hidden from him somehow.

"Whoever it is, what am I️ even supposed to do? I️ don't know how to stop any of this. Or fix it. My whole life, I've been the person causing the problems. And now somehow it's fallen on me to be the fixer." Shand huffs out a deep breath.

"In the spirit of being open with a sociopathic fox who sees all anyway, sometimes I️ really wish I️ could talk more openly with my father about things. He used to be really powerful. He understands how this stuff works, probably, he knows how to control it. But it's such a sore spot in this family. Nobody talks about it. And somehow I'm supposed to be the one with the powers who can just snap their fingers and save everyone. And that is why all the others can never know about all of this."

Trita looks around. She had been distracted by Dolan and hadn’t looked for anyone else.

The red color returns to her face, spurring her to walk quickly under the trees, putting distance between the two of them.

“I-I don’t know where they are. It’s been so quiet around here, I guess I didn’t notice.”

Ducking under a tree, she peeks out from around the trunk up at the darkening sky then around the beach, taking mental notes of who she sees. Ploy, Eidolon, Lunath, Dolan, of course… But where are the others? They weren’t the only ones taken to this strange place, where they? She remembers them briefly. At least she thinks she does.

“We aren’t alone, right?”

Both Ploy and Eidolon take a brief step back. They remember they’re Lunath’s temporary guardians so they don’t move too far away but his odd speech is enough to make them recoil.

“I… Why… What…”

Ploy, completely at a loss for words, stares, her eyes bolting over every inch of his face, taking in ever difference but not knowing how to vocalize what she’s seeing. He was fine just a moment ago.

“Are you feeling okay?”

Eidolon gently tugs on Lunath’s arm. He’s surprised and how rigid the boy is suddenly, unable to get him to turn around even though that should be an easy task in the water.

Nameless keeps his eyes trained on the distance, a little annoyed his warning was annoyed. He, again, smacks a large paw down on Shand’s leg to demand the proper attention.

“Your transparency is appreciated but you do see the storm, right? And you do know people you care about and total innocent strangers are on this island the storm is about to hit, yes? Yet you still want to talk about daddy-issues, even after my warning?”

The large creature huffs but he doesn’t stand, not bothered to jump into action until knowing what it is Shand is going to do, not willing to care otherwise.

“Do you want me to go hunt your dad down and confront him for you? I think he’s a little preoccupied but I don’t mind crashing a party. I am here for your open moments with me but I have to wonder with the rolling clouds and all if now is a good time.”

Dolan catches up with Trita, not wanting to risk any more of them vanishing. "Dakara was here before, and Aleric and the others. What about your friends?" He turns to search the other side of the beach, where Shand had disappeared to before.

"Shand went off that way, didn't he? Wasn't he looking for Nameless? I️ don't...I️ can't seem to see him at all anymore." Dolan's voice has become more frantic, although at a carefully controlled level. He can't afford to play cool much longer.

"Lunath! You guys come on in. That storm's about to hit hard!"

Lunath turns his head almost mechanically at the sound of Dolan's voice. "Aw. Do you hear how unsettled he is? He naturally thought of Shand first, you know." A pained look crosses over Lunath's face before it is hardened almost immediately by his previous, detached expression. "We're always the second thought. But that's alright. We can take care of ourselves, can't we?" Lunath smiles a tight-lipped, closed-mouth smile and evaluates Ploy up and down.

"Of course, I'm feeling perfectly fine, dear, aren't you?" Lunath looks out to where the sea meets the horizon again and his grin widens. "I️ don't think I️ even need you to make me that wolf anymore. Do you hear him howling?"

The wind is indeed howling as Shand looks sideways at Nameless and his sassiness and looks down in slight offense at where Nameless has smacked his leg.

"Excuse me, fox face, you're the one got me started with all this purging stuff and apparently once you start letting out years worth of crap, wouldn't you know, it is actually really hard to stop. But fine, let's focus on the storm. But I️ think you're missing the fact that, as I️ told you, this storm is obviously my doing, although how is beyond me, and I️ have no clue how to stop it. Or get us all out of here. Forget Pops. If you have any advice on what I️ should be doing right now, I'm all ears."

Trita looks around with him, pushing her hair out of her face as the wind pushes it around.

“I thought I saw them when we got here but I don’t see them anymore? I didn’t imagine that, right?”

She looks out at the sea where the trio wades the now growing waves.

“Hey, he was serious! Come back!”

The wing rips leaves off the trees, throwing up in the air. Eidolon looks back at the shore then at the two with him in the water.

“They seem worried, we should go.”

He tries to tug on Lunath’s arm, not feeling the need to pull Ploy along as she seems more than ready to go back to shore.

Despite her fear, she reaches a hand out towards Lunath and keeps it extended, waiting for the boy to take her hand. It shakes a little as it stays extended in the air but, to her credit, she doesn’t move even in the face of her concern, suspicion and fear.

Nameless sighs then butts his head against Shand’s.

“Maybe go check on people? That’s a start. I don’t even care about people and I know THAT much.”

He sits back up and stares up at the sky, his fur ruffling in waves like the ocean.

“Or at least move from the water. Being swept away isn’t going to solve anything.”

Sent from Topic'it App

Dolan watches Trita's hair get whipped by the wind and instinctively puts a protective arm around her shoulder. He sighs at her surprised look.

"I'm not being pushy, I️ just thought you might like to not get hurt or blown away." He turns his back to the ocean, and spots a small grove of trees further inland.

"I'm thinking we should head that way... maybe everyone we're missing is further that way, too."

Lunath slowly puts his hand in Ploy's, the devilish look never leaving his eyes. He nonetheless lets the two of them guide him gently in to the shore, releasing their hands once he can stand solidly on his own again, going so far as to wipe his hands off on his wet shirt.

"Hmmm." Lunath hums to himself, moving across the sands after Dolan and Trita, seeming to care very little whether or not Ploy and Eidolon follow after him. "Where oh where has that little fox gone. Where oh were can he be."

With each step, he puts more distance between him and the other two, seemingly forgetting of their existence altogether.

"OKAY WISE-ASS." Shand sends Nameless a sassy look of his own.

"So tell me, oh wise one, my great sensei, how would one endeavor to check on a group of people that ONE DOES NOT EVEN SEE. See, I️ can't see anybody. All I️ can see is, well, the sea. What about you? You seeing anything other than sea? Like perhaps a cliff I️ can go jump off?"

Shand rolls his eyes as Nameless stares unblinkingly at him. "Uh, but really though, are you gonna zap us down or abracadabra, or something like that? Because I'm not lying, it looks to me like we are totally and completely alone on this beach."

"Ok, yeah, fine. As long as you're aware that this is going anywhere without getting me a proper first date first, then I think we understand each other."

Trita walks with him towards the grove, blocking the wind from her face with her hand, shooting him a quick cocky grin before adjusting her eyes to look back ahead of them in this storm. She notices her hair smacking him in the face every now and then and she has to stifle laughter, knowing this has become a situation better suited for a serious mindset than jokes.

"Lunath, wait!"

Eidolon quickly snatches Ploy's hand in his and sets their path to follow Lunath. Ploy allows herself to be swept away by Eidolon though she appears to be the only one with hesitation between the two of them. She is, in fact, the only one that got a good view of Lunath's face.

Her natural desire to protect is temporarily winning against her instinct to turn and run even though she doesn't have a concrete reason as to why.

"I know basically everything going on in this space."

Nameless holds his head high, puffing out his broad chest.

"A group is running towards the center of the small island as wel speak looking for cover. Little do most of them know that the Lunath they love is not the Lunath that is following them to their temporary sanctuary. Your father and Trita seem to be close suddenly but also very concerned with the others that they don't immediately see. Most of those others are fine but a couple of them are, indeed, missing. Still within this space but they're rather far away. There's a decent cliff to fling yourself from on the other side of the island though it would probably hurt more than you would like considering all the sharp rocks in the water. The high was a nice eighty degrees, low in the mid-sixties, with ninety-percent humidity until you ruined it. Now it's a breezy sixty-eight degrees with a humidity that doesn't matter because you're going to get wet in the pouring rain anyway."

He cuts his eyes at Shand with a low rumble like snicker in his chest.

"Then again, what do I know."

Though he does pause after his statement, looking back up to the sky.

"As your babysitter, if you would like and if this gets too out of hand, I could zap this place from existence if you would like and take us all somewhere else."

"The only place this is going is over there, to shelter." Dolan nods toward the grove and gives a lopsided grin. He looks back to see that Lunath and the others are following.

"Uh, I️ know this is not the appropriate time or place for this question, but I️ gotta know. Can you wear hoods at all? You know, with the uh," Dolan makes the symbol for bunny ears behind his own head.

Lunath slows a bit and turns toward Eidolon and Ploy, facing the ocean. He gives a light little laugh and twirls around once in the rain. "My my, Dolan's boy does love a good storm. You think he would have learned his lesson by now."

He returns to his absent minded singing and humming.

"I️ love the sea, and the sea loves me. To the sharks with you, in the ink black drink. The plank leads straight to the wishing well. Nobody but the mermaids for your story to tell. That will teach you all to try and disobey. I'll see you very soon down to your watery grave."

Shand raises one finger. "Um number one, show off. Number two, how come I️ created this space and I️ can't do that, and three, once this is all over I'm going to need you to zap me to that cliff then. K, thanks." Shand's mouth curls up on the sides in a displeased half smirk, half scowl.

"Also, rewind, what did you say about my father and the rabbit one? We need to be there right now. Like immediately."

"Uh, yeah probably bad timing, you're right."

She laughs and the wind seems to settle the closer they get to the grove, not really because it's dying but because it's finally being blocked by objects.

"But, yeah, I can wear hats and hoods. I have to wear hoods all the time to hide them when on missions. They kind of stand out and give me away. Ears can bend, they're pretty flexible. It's not like they're stiff cardboard or wood."

For demonstration purposes, she smacks him in the face with one and his immediate recoil nearly makes her erupt in a fit of giggles. She's used to people asking questions about her odd features but the people are usually much more judgemental and cold. Having someone seem innocently and genuinely curious is a breath of fresh air.

Eidolon can barely see the details of Lunath's face but he can see enough to know it's different and off. He looks at Ploy who stares ahead like she's seen a ghost.

"What's up with him all of a sudden?"

She shakes her head, skin pale.

"I almost don't think that's still Lunath we're seeing unless he's majorly bipolar and nobody told us. Dolan doesn't seem concerned, though."

Nameless finally stands, removing his stained tail from the dark whirlpool for good.

"I'm sure you'll be able to read closed spaces after a couple hundred years of living in them. I'd teach you but I think that falls outside my title of your babysitter so you'll need to pay up for further services."

As he turns, his wet tail smacks Shand in the face but he doesn't care, continuing to walk away.

"I am a bit confused why your father's interest in potential mates is what spurred you to find the group and not their safety, but I'll take you to them."

Nameless's use of the word 'mate' seems very indifferent and detached from the idea of love and anything surrounding the feeling, as if it's all just clinical, animal-instinct emotion and evolution. It's disturbing, but probably especially so for the son of the man being spoken about.

“And that’s not uncomfortable at all.” Dolan looks disbelieving. He is trying to think of something to compare it to for reference, but decides it best not to go down that path. They’ve nearly reached the small grove now, and underneath of it, Dolan can see Aleric, Kvanne, Aoife, and Thrandr as well as some of Trita’s companions.

“Thanks for letting us know you hadn’t died during the move,” Dolan yells dryly to Kvanne.

“What even is this place?” Aoife asks, clearly disgusted by the humidity. “How did we get here.”

“That,” Dolan sighs as he pulls Trita under the cover of the trees. “Is something I️ don’t have the patience to discuss right now.”

Lunath skips happily to close the gap between them and the grove, reciting to himself and glancing back with dark eyes every so often.

Once they are close to the grove, though, Lunath’s gait changes, starts dragging slightly more, and the steady stream of talking and song stops. He folds his arms and his shoulders hunch in on themselves. When he looks backward now, there is an abundance of terror in his bright green eyes.

“You don’t understand, obviously. ,” Shand insists, following Nameless in their descent off he rocks, more or less ignoring the swishing is his tail and dodging it here and there.

“What with the no feeling thing and all. But if anyone knows how to get himself into trouble with women, and if that person isn’t going to be me, it’s Pops. And you know what they say. The estranged son who can’t make human friends always knows best. Speaking of which, I’ll probably  take you up on your offer eventually, but if you’re gonna wait around, I’d suggest packing a lunch. I’d prefer to take the several hundred years’ route, but we’ll see where I️ am then.”

"Where on earth have you been?"

Axel stumbles over to Trita, clearly still very drunk, placing his hands on her shoulders mostly to keep himself upright as he sways.

"With... Dolan... On the beach... Like, right over there."

She points down the path they just took and there's a clear view of parts of the beach through some trees. In well-hidden disgust, she gently takes both of Axel's wrists and moves his hands from her shoulders, keeping space between them.

He almost instantly falls over. All she can do is sigh.

"I can't believe you raised me for most of my free life."

Lancer and Hito, both also incredibly drunk, scramble to help Axel up, mocking him and struggling to keep themselves upright all the while. She takes a step back from the scene towards Dolan again as the group watches these drunk idiots... Well, be drunk idiots.

Eidolon and Ploy catch up to Lunath now that his pace has slowed in a matter of no time, both trying to catch their breath as they slow their pace to match his new one.

They take glances at each other awkwardly, trying to assess what to do or say, clearly seeing a change in his demeanor without even seeing his face.

"Uh, hey, you okay? Are you cold?"

Ploy speaks quietly, barely above a whisper, probably too low for Lunath to hear, but, to her credit, she tries.

Nameless trots into the nearby growth of trees, leading Shand deeper into the "forest," or as much of a forest as this small island can have.

"Well, you better take me up on my offer before I am inevitably killed. I can't stick around forever. If only you had met me a couple of thousand years ago."

Unlike the fox spirit from before, Nameless checks on Shand over his shoulder from time to time to make sure he's keeping up.

"Your concern for your father and his previous poor choices is oddly charming in its own right. Who would have thought you could be a decent son."

"And you called me drunk," Dolan laughs quietly at the sight of Trita's companions, half hoping she doesn't hear him.

Kvanne eyes the two closely and makes a questioning face at Dolan who simply shakes his head with an authoritarian gleam in his eye, which prevents any further berating expressions from the elder brother.

"I'm glad you all found Aleric- which, we need to have a talk about you wandering off at some point- but the more important thing here is- where is Dakara?" Dolan peers through the tree trunks to try and catch a glimpse of her, or at least the very recognizable red hair.

"We haven't seen her since the bar," Thrandr glances at Aoife to confirm the story, and she nods.

Dolan lets out a deeply frustrated sigh. "Why can we not keep up with everyone in this family, ever. Shand is going to kill me."

Lunath looks up at the soft of Ploy's quiet voice, his eyes wide and full of fear. His voice trembles a little in sadness. "You...you guys aren't scared of me now?"

Shand feels like he's following Nameless blindly, which, he thinks, he supposes he has kind of been doing all along. He has to duck at points to miss tree branches tall enough not to hinder the fox.

"Clearly, I️ was joking," Shand calls ahead as a thick branch nearly whacks him in the face. "I️ don't plan on living anywhere near hundreds of years. You're the crazy weird fox spirit. Normal human over here."

When Nameless turns around to make sure Shand is keeping pace, he takes the opportunity to continue. "Oh yeah, and also. Just so you know, I️ definitely do not care about my father and he can make whatever choices he likes. I️ just really, really enjoy rubbing his face in all his mistakes. It's very cathartic and I'd easily call it one of my favorite pastimes."

Trita leans over and whispers to Dolan without making eye contact with the man, still looking off searching for Yvaine as she's already taken tabs of Luna, Ivor, and the rest of her group.

"Hey, one fun thing to remember about rabbit ears while we're on the topic: I can hear extremely well."

His wish of not wanting her to hear him was not lost on her but she decides not to overly call him out on it now that they're joined up with the rest of the group.

"Even under a hood."

Finally, she steals a quick glance at him, chancing a quick wink, before turning back to Axel.

"What did you do with Yvaine?"

"I dunno, do I look like her keeper? She's probably out reading some sad woman's palm or crystal ball."

"That was incorrect on so many levels, I can't even be bothered to correct you."

Trita rubs her temple in every growing frustration of her own mentor figure. It's clear who is actually the responsible one in their dynamic.

Eidolon immediately shakes his head but Ploy pauses.

"Not of you. Some of what you said was weird, but why would that make us afraid of you?"

Smiling gently, he turns to Ploy for backup but all she can do is chew on her lip for a couple of seconds, picking her words carefully, straining over the right thing to say.

The pause is strained and awkward, but, it does come to an end and she sighs, letting her face relax into a soft genuine smile as well.

"Safeguard deals with a lot of situations with a lot of different people that are unexplainable most of the time. That doesn't mean we think less of the people we've taken under our charge because we were all the weird outsider at one point. Why should we treat you any differently?"

Nameless's ears twitch forward and his head turns to look ahead of them again.

"You calling yourself a normal human makes me want to laugh and that's not something I've wanted to do in years, so congratulations. Come find me in a couple decades once you've finally noticed you haven't aged if I'm still around."

The sound of talking can finally begin to be heard over the wind, giving Shand some sort of signal that Nameless is actually leading him in the right direction.

"And call it what you will. Doesn't bother me one bit what you decide to tell yourself and other people."

Dolan doesn’t see it coming when Trita leans over so close to his ear, and he pushes back some embarrassment.

“I️ will definitely keep that in mind. Hood or no hood.”

Kvanne seems to be getting impatient with all of them. “We need to find Dakara, but how are we supposed to find her if we don’t know where we are, how we got here, or if she ever made it here along with us?”

Dolan sighs, knowing that there is probably not a good way out of this, and it’s better to do this while Shand’s not around.

“Shand created this island and put us here.”

“EXCUSE ME?” Kvanne looks as if he might have an aneurism at any moment. “He MADE this place? Out of what??”

“His poor social skills and repressed trauma he blames me for, I’m sure.” Dolan folds his arms and prepares himself for the heated lecture.

Lunath looks almost like he’s about to cry as Ploy and Eidolon walk with him. He glances up at the grove of trees, where Dolan is still well out of earshot.

“I️ can still hear what’s going on when he comes out. I know you heard him. He won’t let me talk, but I️ can hear him. And he really scares me, but everyone else would think I’m crazy. They don’t understand.”

Lunath hangs his head, watching his feet move slowly against the heavy drifts of sand.

“Why does that make you want to...wait- what do you mean, when I️ haven’t-“ Shand loses focus on his surrounding so much that he walks full-on into a horizontal branch.

He rubs at his nose hard, but it doesn’t deter him. “What do you mean, when I️ haven’t aged? What is that even supposed to mean?” Shand has paused now, even though Nameless has not yet noticed the pause.

Shand is pretty sure he’s given himself a bloody nose, but beyond that, is head has been slowly but surely starting in that old ache, and the world spins around him here and there.


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"I think, regardless of where this all came from, we do have at least two people missing, yes?"

Trita sighs, looking around the group.

"Yvaine when outside of the bar when we were all still there."

Lied offers from where she stands next to Luna, braiding pieces of the other girl's long plum hair to Luna's obvious discomfort.

"Yeah but so did Aleric and a bunch of others and they're still here. Not to mention Dakara never left, she was there with us, right?"

Ivor adds, holding Luna's oversized hat to give Lied better access to her hair.

"It may be too soon to say this but Yvaine's disappearance may be self-induced. She can't create dimensions but she can travel between them... Well, some of them. She seemed uncomfortable at the bar so she probably stepped away."

Through drunken hums, Hito slurs out his sentence, clutching his head in his hands where he sits on the ground, unable to hold his liquor as "well" as the other two men.

The conversation doesn't lead them any closer to the two women's whereabouts.

"I can go scout the island and see what I find, but I realize that will only split the group up further. However, it is an option."

Trita puts the offer out on the table since no one else seems to be added a plan of action to the discussion. Something deep down in her gut feels off but she adds it up to the stress of being somewhere new and missing people from the group.

Cautiously, as if afraid of scaring the poor boy even further, Ploy rests a hand on his shoulder as their little unit takes slow steps towards the other.

"Yeah, people are usually afraid of what they don't understand. But I wouldn't take it too personally. If anything, it at least seems Dolan would still love you even if he knew the full extent, and that love and acceptance isn't something to take lightly."

Eidolon frowns, watching Ploy as she speaks, knowing good and well where she's coming from but he keeps quiet and lets her continue.

"You know, you never did tell me what kind of illusion you wanted me to show you. If you're still interested in seeing what I can do, I'd love to show you."

Nameless lets out a long and loud sigh as Shand asks questions like a lost child, suddenly starting to feel like this is a true babysitting job.

"You can't honestly tell me it's never crossed your mind that your aging process may be different than that of a normal human's, can you? Creating dimensions comes with double-edged blessings and a bag of curses. For most, elongated life-spans is one of them."

The fox finally slows to allow Shand to catch back up, taking note out of the corner of his eye of the scratches appearing on Shand's face and the dripping blood from his nose, but he decided to keep quiet on that matter.

Dolan seizes his chance before Trita can leave. “You’re definitely not going back out there alone, and we definitely don’t need to risk losing any of these folks we thought were lost to begin with. So you and me, let’s go.”

Kvanne hides an eye roll from Dolan, who catches the tail end of it anyway.

“If Shand and Nameless get back, please nobody tell him Dakara is missing. I’m not sure what would happen to this reality if he has a meltdown.” Dolan says.

“When your son gets back, he’s going to hear quite a bit from me.” Kvanne is muttering like a bitter old man.

“Everyone lying RIGHT to my face about what he is and isn’t capable of. Just hang me out to dry. Build our whole campaign on a bunch of foundless lies. Make me look like a blustering idiot. Its fine. I’m fine.”

Lunath sighs a little raggedly, not wanting to talk about what the admission of his state would do to Dolan. He’s not so much concerned about Dolan still loving him, but there is a shame that comes with this territory that he’s not ready to share with his adoptive father, with the whole family yet.

“Maybe... I’d really like it if we had a campfire to sit around. Me and Dolan used to do that all the time when I️ was little.”

Shand sniffs back some blood and stares at the exasperated fox. “I grew up in an experimentation facility and then immediately after spent 5 years nearly all the way through at sea. I️ don’t know what’s normal for people who aren’t normal. Let’s be honest, it’s a miracle I turned out even this well. So could you be even slightly less judgy, please.”

Shand calms down after a moment and checks to see the state of his nose, which by the cleanness of his hand, has stopped bleeding.

“Okay, this is going to sound dumb, but let me remind you that I️ just asked you not to judge, not five seconds ago. Although I️ know for a fact that I️ just really can’t seem to die, ever, it actually has never crossed my mind that I️ could live any longer than anyone else.”

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Trita glances at Dolan with an arched eyebrow, not expecting anyone, including him, to tag along on her scouting quest. Not that she's complaining, of course. Their flirtations have been fun and distracting, but she was definitely expecting him to want to stay back since they finally had most of the group together.

Axel, even in his drunken state, watches how Dolan offers to go with Trita and how Trita watches him after the offer. Slowly, wheels in his head start to turn but not before the two begin to walk away from everyone.

"Ok, well the rest of you just stay here and don't do anything stupid."

She mostly points her question at Axel but his steady stare on her and the waggle of his eyebrows shoots a strong wave of embarrassment through her. Without too much thought, she grabs Dolan's sleeve and tugs him along to walk away faster.

"She's so stupid."

Axel mumbles, his eyes flicking to the back of Dolan's head as they leave, nearly glaring holes into his skull.

Ploy smiles, the earnest request sending a flood of relief through her after hearing about the giant wolf and cannibalism not too long ago.

"Let's do that when we all get a moment. I can get everyone to see it or just you and Dolan. Whatever you want."

The offer of making the entire group see the illusion causes Eidolon to frown further.

"Ploy-"

But she quickly waves off what he was about to say, quieting him on the matter.

Nameless has to fight the urge to smack Shand in the face with his tail again as they walk.

"How many times should you have died but didn't? How many times have you questioned how you're still alive? If you say more than five and you still hadn't questioned your possible immortality or something close to it, then I can't promise I won't judge. But I will try to keep it internal."

As Dolan and Trita move out of the safety of the grove, Dolan glances back at the others, taking the opportunity to scan the beach for any sign of where the missing people could have gone.

“Hmm. So what’s it feel like to be the mom friend? You and Kvanne are clearly living a very different life and I️ think he needs to take some tips from you.”

Before she can answer, Dolan spots something moving on the horizon. It’s nothing but a black speck, but he squints and can make something out... “Oh, this is not good. Where in cold hell is Shand?”

Lunath opens his mouth to answer the request, but sees Dolan and Trita moving away from the group ahead. He watches them talk and walk closely and furrows his brow.

“Uh, that’s okay. It can just be for me.”

Shand holds off on giving Nameless his answer as he peers through the foliage and makes out the small grove of trees on the beach.

“In my defense, all the times I️ almost died, I️ was much more concerned with trying not to die than I was with pondering my mortality or lack thereof.” Shand pointedly stares at the Fox.

“You saw like ten highlight reels of my fun kick the bucket runs. That wasn’t even all of them. So go ahead and do your judgy Fox thing. Honestly, I️ thought I just had impeccable luck.”



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“Stressful-“

There’s definitely a small little rant of a speech at the tip of her tongue but she holds it back once Dolan cuts her off, following his gaze. She notices the speck but the sight of it means nothing to her.

“What am I looking at here?”

Her eyes snap back to his face, trying to judge his expression to see how she should be reacting because, for all case and purposes, nothing terrible seems to be happening other than the rain.

Both Ploy and Eidolon note where Lunath’s attention is and watch the two leave the group. They exchange another frown.

“Hey, mind if I join you by the fire illusion? Seems like fun. Wish we had s’mores to make, though.”

Eidolon laughs, patting Lunath’s shoulder to try to distract him, mostly from himself. Ploy eagerly nods at the suggestion, giving him a small thumbs up. They two obviously tag-team situations like this often.

“Yeah, once the rain stops or at least once we find a nice dry spot, let’s have a campfire. It’ll be fun.”

Nameless scoffs, pausing so Shand walks in front of him then he pushes the man forward with his large snout.

“Living is not always lucky. I feel like you should know that more than anyone.”

It’s a rather dark statement but there’s a sense of humor in the fox’s tone, jokes of mortality also seeming to be another thing that doesn’t bother him, though it makes sense.

“I don’t know how long you’ll live but, if someone doesn’t kill you, you’ll live much longer than your average human counterparts. Don’t worry too much. After a hundred years, time means very little and you start to realize you exist outside of it.”

His eyes look past Shand at the approaching clearing. Upon seeing Luna and Ivor, his posture changes completely, ears perking up and tail swaying in what would usually be considering a happy motion but it seems more muscle memory and forced habit for him.

"Uh." Dolan's brain seems stuck for a few moments before he swallows and clears his throat.

"What you are looking at is a ship flying a flag most traditionally only flown by people that we really, really don't want here." Dolan looks back toward the grove at Lunath and the others taking shelter there, and an almost visible weight descends on him.

"This seems to be your classic, seventeenth-date material invading a first date kind of scenario What a nightmare."

Lunath cocks his head and looks humorously close to a baby bird. "What's a s'more? We normally just ate stolen stuff by our campfires, but I️ like to try new things, too."

Upon joining the others, Lunath is barraged right off by questions from Kvanne.

"Lunath- what have you all been doing? Where is Shand?"

Lunath inhales deeply and struggles to mask the displeased look on his face that, simply because of the nature of his face, can't avoid also appearing somewhat cute.

"I️ don't know where Shand is." He stops short of what he wants to say, that he doesn't care where Shand is and hopes he stays there, because it's not entirely true. Only sometimes.

Shand scoffs. "I️ don't think there's anyone left who hasn't been there done that in regards to trying to off me, but if there is, I'd certainly like to see him try." It sounds right off like an arrogant statement, but there's a darkness behind his eyes that betrays a different meaning.

"And, let's get real, I️ kind of had my suspicions that it was beyond luck when even I️ couldn't get the big sleep to stick." Shand follows up his statement quickly, not wanting to leave it hanging in the air too long, lest Nameless start poking at that corner of his messed-up mentality, too.

"What are they all looking at?" He squints to try and get a better view of the group gathered at the small grove, who are all facing the ocean. "I️ mean, sure it's a rather pretty storm, if I️ do say so myself, but..." He stops himself short when his eyes hit the horizon and the humor drains out of his face.

"How appropriate that we would be talking about my pending death right now. Looks like you're going to get to meet Hadrian and all the other little demons after all."

“This relationship is moving kind of fast, huh?”

Trita attempts to joke to lighten the mood but even she gets nervous about the impending doom based on Dolan’s reaction so the joke falls a little flat and lacks a strong mocking tone. She doesn’t entirely get exactly what this all means but a sense of fear does start to build.

“Didn’t even get a proper dinner… What should we do?”

Deep down she realizes there’s only so much they can do, but especially only so much she herself can do. In comparison to her super powered companions, she’s a little lackluster and her main weapon she has in this limbo is her deck of throwing cards. She has a few strategically placed knives, but nothing compared to how she normally prepares for a serious encounter. She mentally curses herself for being normal and average, which is something she never thought she’d do given her physical appearance.

Ploy watches Lunath’s expression change with the questioning carefully. She’s sure that, much to Kvanne’s displeasure, she partially interrupts, carrying on the previous conversation as if this new one never happened.

“S’mores are this sweet treat people make over campfires. You roast a marshmallow then sandwich it between two graham crackers and a piece of chocolate. Maybe whenever we catch back up with Nameless we can get all the stuff to make them.”

Without taking her attention from Lunath, she gently elbows Eidolon who had seemed content with Kvanne speaking due to the serious sounding nature of his question but he quickly hops on Ploy’s side of the situation with the nudge.

“They’re pretty sweet though so you probably shouldn’t have too many.”

He teases the boy, ruffling his hair.

Nameless flicks his tail, his odd animalistic smile appearing on his face again, indifferent to the new threat.

“Oh I can’t wait. Did you summon them here just for me?”

His eagerness is disturbing and probably the last thing anyone who understands the situation wants to hear.

“Should I greet them or do you want the honors?”

"Okay, let me try to give you the quick version of this." Dolan wipes his forehead with the back of his hand, more trying to ease the duress than anything else.

"Seeing as how the man that murdered my wife and has been hunting my son since he was born is most likely on that boat, I️ think we keep a really wide berth and try to find a way out of here before this turns into a really big bloodbath."

Dolan's breathing deeply now, trying to shove every part of himself down and summon back up the tactical and stoic assassin. "Okay. The others have most likely reached the same conclusion by now and if I️ know Kvanne, he's taking them all further inland for better cover. What we need to do is focus on finding Shand, and then Dakara."

Lunath's eyes get wide and he starts to forget about being upset. "M..mug mellows? What's a graham cracker? Are you talking about making sandwiches with chocolate?"

Lunath is obviously taken with the idea, and his mouth hangs open slightly. "Nameless can get us mug-mellows? I️ really wanna try them."

"Uh, Nameless, I️ don't think you're following," Shand chuckles uncomfortably. "These are not the kinda folks you greet at all. I️ didn't summon them at all, or... or at least I️ didn't mean to."

Shand sighs, overwhelmed. "So let's recap. I️ moved everyone to a weird island where I️ proceeded to whip up a hurricane and then dropped our most dangerous and hated nemeses into the mix. I️ know I️ like to live on the edge, but this seems like a little much, even for me."

As Shand peers through the last of the wooded area, he sees Dolan and Trita pushing against the wind, making their way down the beach toward them.

"What I️ would love for you to do, actually, is stop that." Shand eyes the two of them walking in such close proximity. "Like, throw them each in one of those chaos rooms like I️ was in. Keep them in there til they know how to behave like grown ups without disappointing us all."

“Okay, great. Easy.”

She laughs awkwardly, having been thoroughly annoyed enough with her long hair to reach around her and tie it up into a messy bun on the top of her head. It takes longer than usual with the intense wind but she manages to get it done.

“That son of yours better be around here somewhere.”

It would be a lie to say the shift in tone doesn’t send some panic through her, especially as she keeps counting over the minimal amount of weapons she has on her in this moment. She tries to think up several different attack plans for her group based on their odd powers, though she’s sure they can do that themselves, but she wants to feel useful. She’s not even with them to tell them her ideas but at least thinking of them makes her feel like she’s helping and is more prepared.

Her eyes dart to risk a glance at Dolan who appears to be just as on edge which only makes her feel even more tense. After talking the talking mere minutes ago about fighting and weapons, she can’t get cold feet now. She takes a deep breath and swallows hard, attempting to push herself further. Bad, stupid idea. She takes in quite a bit of the sand whirling around in the air and she starts coughing but she keeps the fit under control, just covering her mouth with her hand to stifle the noise and hide how much she wants to die.

Axel always had a saying, “The second you have someone to impress is the second you look like an idiot.” That’s really only part of his long lecture on relationships in their career field but it’s the part that applies the most currently.

“Nameless can basically do anything he wants.”

Eidolon pushes Lunath further under the trees out of the rain, ushering Ploy to do the same.

“So we’ll get that campfire all set up when things settle down.”

Ploy’s eyes look out over the horizon, catching sight of the form closing in on the water, realizing the list of things needing to settle down is only growing.

Nameless smacks the side of his body into Shand with enough force to make the poor man topple over.

“Anyone and everyone is a prospective experiment if you try hard enough.”

Clearly, Shand’s warnings fall on deaf ears.

“Besides, it’s not my job to break up flowering relationships and I don’t really care who people decide is a good mate, be it for life or for momentary physical gratification. That’s all bland and boring. I have better things to observe and interfere with.”